8 ms·

Exciting times. My predictions: Developers download it on August 15th and we'll see many reviews like we've seen about the RP. Some will hate it, some will lov

Exciting times. My predictions: Developers download it on August 15th and we'll see many reviews like we've seen about the RP. Some will hate it, some will love it. The fact that it's going to be much less buggy than RP will help a lot. Then on October 26th, all of the new touch devices will launch. At that point, we'll actually see why they focused on a touch interface, and things will make more sense. Some reviewers should install this on a touchscreen device and give it a proper review before that date though, it'd be nice to get some insight.

eldavido 14y ago
Agreed. The breadth of engineering that goes into a three-year release cycle is staggering. It'll take months for the market to fully digest everything that went in.
stinos 14y ago
"and things will make more sense" yup. At first I was like "wtf?" but then I saw their Surface and was like "now it all makes sense". Exciting indeed.
daigoba66 14y ago
Two problems: 1. There isn't a lot of good (in my opinion) touchscreen hardware out there [yet] which can run Windows 8. 2. I do all of my programming and productivity work on a desktop/laptop using software which would likely never benefit from touch UI (e.g. programming and systems administration).
- simba-hiiipower 14y ago
  agree with you on (1), hence surface rt launching same day I guess. as for (2), I imagine everyone who does any sort of work on a pc is in the same boat on this. but I’ve found (been using the previews for a while now) that metro has a lot to offer beyond being a touch-optimized ui.. essentially, in using windows 8, the entire desktop has turned into a ‘work’ app (as well as ‘file manager’ and ‘advanced settings’ apps). I still can do everything I could before on the desktop, and still do when it comes to work-related tasks, but much of my other use has shifted to metro. things like casual web browsing, email, messaging, and music have all become metro experiences for me, and all those experiences have become markedly better (the interface just lends itself better to consumption-related tasks). in addition, it’s also pretty nice to have the ability to play a casual game here-and-there, and checking-in on news via apps is much more enjoyable then the web. that’s just my take on it. I think when people stop thinking about it as windows with metro tacked-on, and rather as a whole new experience + a very powerful ‘app’ that holds all functionality of classic windows one click away, they can better appreciate it. I think this will become more apparent once it's been out in the market and more apps are added so that people can spend more time in the metro environment.
  - Splines 14y ago
    I think you've hit the nail on the head. While Windows 8 desktop is pretty much identical to Windows 7 desktop, the rest of Windows 8 offers quite a lot. Metro works really well as a consumption interface - I was using it the other day to look at sports (looking for Olympic news), and I wished that there was an Olympics metro app. Trying to view olympic news through a browser on nbc.com feels so awkward compared to the sports metro app.
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    Maybe I work too much but I rarely find myself in metro. Also, there is no metro version of chrome yet while I'm finding IE10 font rendering hard on my eyes. So metro right now is somewhere I go to launch apps or by accident when I click on some content with a metro helper.
WiseWeasel 14y ago
My predictions are that the Surface with Windows RT will still be buggy, and will have very little software support at launch, leading to poor reviews and sales. Surface Pro will have good reviews when that comes out three months later, and that will truly showcase the design of Windows 8. Unfortunately, the bad press from the Surface and relatively high price compared to an entry-level iPad will hurt sales. For many potential desktop and laptop customers, however, Windows 8 will be frustrating, plagued with poor reviews, and there will be a huge market for computers preloaded with Windows 7 for many years to come. Here's a review of the touch aspects of Windows 8, btw: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/does-windows-8-succeed-as-a-true-tablet-operating-system/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/does-w...
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  I predict Windows RT will have more apps at launch than Android tablet currently exist.
  - WiseWeasel 14y ago
    Oh man, I'll take that bet.
    - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
      I don't know why that's so surprising. Android tablets have only gotten any attention since the Kindle Fire came out. Windows 8 was announced before that, in September. Even if Windows tablets completely bomb, there's still going to be millions of PCs with Metro on them and the Windows Store staring in their face. And even though Metro apps are (somewhat) less useful on a PC, sheer number of users tells you that there is some market there. Whereas before the Kindle there wasn't much of an Android tablet market. And the Kindle really only got developers to stick their toes in the water, Nexus 7 is what solidifies it as a platform worth developing on. So in my mind, Windows 8/RT has had developer support longer than Android tablets.
      - 14y ago
deleted 14y ago
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eldavido 14y ago

Agreed. The breadth of engineering that goes into a three-year release cycle is staggering. It'll take months for the market to fully digest everything that went in.

stinos 14y ago

"and things will make more sense" yup. At first I was like "wtf?" but then I saw their Surface and was like "now it all makes sense". Exciting indeed.

daigoba66 14y ago

Two problems: 1. There isn't a lot of good (in my opinion) touchscreen hardware out there [yet] which can run Windows 8. 2. I do all of my programming and productivity work on a desktop/laptop using software which would likely never benefit from touch UI (e.g. programming and systems administration).

simba-hiiipower 14y ago
agree with you on (1), hence surface rt launching same day I guess. as for (2), I imagine everyone who does any sort of work on a pc is in the same boat on this. but I’ve found (been using the previews for a while now) that metro has a lot to offer beyond being a touch-optimized ui.. essentially, in using windows 8, the entire desktop has turned into a ‘work’ app (as well as ‘file manager’ and ‘advanced settings’ apps). I still can do everything I could before on the desktop, and still do when it comes to work-related tasks, but much of my other use has shifted to metro. things like casual web browsing, email, messaging, and music have all become metro experiences for me, and all those experiences have become markedly better (the interface just lends itself better to consumption-related tasks). in addition, it’s also pretty nice to have the ability to play a casual game here-and-there, and checking-in on news via apps is much more enjoyable then the web. that’s just my take on it. I think when people stop thinking about it as windows with metro tacked-on, and rather as a whole new experience + a very powerful ‘app’ that holds all functionality of classic windows one click away, they can better appreciate it. I think this will become more apparent once it's been out in the market and more apps are added so that people can spend more time in the metro environment.
- Splines 14y ago
  I think you've hit the nail on the head. While Windows 8 desktop is pretty much identical to Windows 7 desktop, the rest of Windows 8 offers quite a lot. Metro works really well as a consumption interface - I was using it the other day to look at sports (looking for Olympic news), and I wished that there was an Olympics metro app. Trying to view olympic news through a browser on nbc.com feels so awkward compared to the sports metro app.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  Maybe I work too much but I rarely find myself in metro. Also, there is no metro version of chrome yet while I'm finding IE10 font rendering hard on my eyes. So metro right now is somewhere I go to launch apps or by accident when I click on some content with a metro helper.

WiseWeasel 14y ago

My predictions are that the Surface with Windows RT will still be buggy, and will have very little software support at launch, leading to poor reviews and sales. Surface Pro will have good reviews when that comes out three months later, and that will truly showcase the design of Windows 8. Unfortunately, the bad press from the Surface and relatively high price compared to an entry-level iPad will hurt sales. For many potential desktop and laptop customers, however, Windows 8 will be frustrating, plagued with poor reviews, and there will be a huge market for computers preloaded with Windows 7 for many years to come. Here's a review of the touch aspects of Windows 8, btw: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/does-windows-8-succeed-as-a-true-tablet-operating-system/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/does-w...

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
I predict Windows RT will have more apps at launch than Android tablet currently exist.
- WiseWeasel 14y ago
  Oh man, I'll take that bet.
  - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
    I don't know why that's so surprising. Android tablets have only gotten any attention since the Kindle Fire came out. Windows 8 was announced before that, in September. Even if Windows tablets completely bomb, there's still going to be millions of PCs with Metro on them and the Windows Store staring in their face. And even though Metro apps are (somewhat) less useful on a PC, sheer number of users tells you that there is some market there. Whereas before the Kindle there wasn't much of an Android tablet market. And the Kindle really only got developers to stick their toes in the water, Nexus 7 is what solidifies it as a platform worth developing on. So in my mind, Windows 8/RT has had developer support longer than Android tablets.
    - 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

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