I think the article is mostly a full of air. I don't think there's any threat to Microsoft in a comparison of Windows 8 vs Mountain Lion, yet the title makes it

I think the article is mostly a full of air. I don't think there's any threat to Microsoft in a comparison of Windows 8 vs Mountain Lion, yet the title makes it sound extremely dire for Microsoft. The premise that almost all features are linked to the cloud or mobile (or home entertainment, but that last one has literally always been the case with nearly every OS upgrade from Microsoft or apple) is false. Very few of the Win 8 features have to do with the cloud/mobile. Here are the major features that are cloud-related: * Arguably, Metro styling, tighter (visual) integration with Xbox/windows phone. This is an alternative to the desktop, you'll see it mostly on tablets/phones but can use it on your desktop if you like it. * Arguably, Windows app store (like steam but for everything) * Windows live ID means you can login to any PC with one account and keep all your settings/files. Here are features that are not: * Native ability to boot from flash drives * USB 3.0 support * System restore points that actually work. There will now be "refresh" and "reset", which both make a complete restore easier than a re-installation. Refresh keeps all settings/files of the user intact and only reverses all changes to Windows files to its original state and removes all installed programs and apps. Restore deletes all files and effectively re-installs Windows, but without any additional user input such as agreeing to license agreements or selecting a hdd, etc. * "Storage pools". No more need to set up RAID. You just plug in as many harddrives as you want and put them in a storage pool and windows figures out the best configuration for them (RAID1, RAID5, etc). * Taskbar can now span multiple monitors * Mount ISO natively on right click menu * Windows explorer now uses ribbon bar * There's now a startup tab in the task manager that shows startup applications * Shorter boot times (saves the kernel state to a hard disk like a mini hibernate). Out of all these features, which are a "a massive, revolutionary gamble that takes Microsoft way beyond its comfort zone" that the article claims? It seems like pure hyperbole. Most of these are either incremental or a rather obvious extension of tying together multiple successful platforms. Well, Xbox is successful, Windows Phone is very much to-be-determined!