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Windows 8: The Most Confused OS Launch Ever

35 points by draegtun 14y ago

FreshCode 14y ago
It feels like this linkbait title was upvoted by haters without reading the article. Complete FUD before Windows 8 has even officially launched.
- flatline 14y ago
  Remember the Windows 7 launch party? Their marketing department has some issues if nothing else, and I think that's most of what the complaints ultimately focus on. They seem to have thoroughly blurred the lines between the tablet OS and Windows 8 leading up to launch, possibly just through incompetence in their presentation.
  - Sumaso 14y ago
    As long as the guy at best buy can explain the difference between Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT, it doesn't matter. The uninformed consumer will go to others for guidance. As long as the CSR's are informed there won't be a problem.
    - tomrod 14y ago
      It will matter. As the unofficial family tech guy, I promise you, it will end up mattering to the uninformed person who thinks they know something.
- powertower 14y ago
  I'm no longer shy about flagging submits like this. You shouldn't be either. Flagged for being - Windows FUD tripe.
kyberias 14y ago
I think the journalist here is confused for no good reason. Perhaps because he likes to make his own definitions of things. Windows 8 is the new release of Windows. It will be delivered in two builds: ARM and x86. The former being more limited and called Windows RT. They share the Metro UI but not very much of the traditional desktop UI. There. That's it. It's not really confusing at all.
- cwilson 14y ago
  While you summed it up in far less words than the author of this post, I'm pretty confident the general consumer would have no idea what you just said.
  - neovive 14y ago
    It's unlikely that the average consumer would care much about the difference. Consumers might just want a portable tablet that they can use for email, Internet and read/write Microsoft Office documents. Business users will just use what there IT departments give them and if Windows 8/RT can run their legacy apps, that is a big win. It might take a few years for Microsoft to adjust, iterate and revise, but I don't think they will let Windows 8 fail. Recall that it took the XBOX a few years to break into a market with two, very strong, established players (Nintendo, SONY) and now XBOX is leading that market.
    - aristidb 14y ago
      "if Windows 8/RT can run their legacy apps, that is a big win." Except Windows RT cannot, and Windows 8 can...
  - herbshire 14y ago
    Agreed, it's not rocket science. Some of these articles from 'so called' techies over the last week or so are really starting to feel like a bit of a click through bandwagon.
- mgkimsal 14y ago
  But... it's not called Metro anymore. And Windows RT and WinRT are different things. And there's new tablet offerings of Windows 8 that will be Windows 8 (not just look like them with the Metr... Modern UI) in a few months. If I didn't know that, I'd be pissed in a few months. If I do know that, I'll probably wait to see what the options and pricing are in a few months. Even for those 'in the know', there's a lot of confusion and decision making. EDIT: I say this as someone who has fond memories of MS from many years ago, became an antiMS bigot for a bit, and now just would like to see them succeed. Not as a huge fanboy so much, but as someone who likes to see a marketplace of good options/ideas. MS has often botched good tech seemingly because of internal politics, and that's sad to see.
corporalagumbo 14y ago
Pfft. This is humbug. He's just conflated the NYT article and his view on Visual Studio. Watch the W8 ads; they're all pretty great.
melling 14y ago
I'm a Mac/Linux guy so I really don't care that much about Windows. However, I am a "let's just roll with it kind of person," so if you do like Windows why not just give Microsoft a chance? They are taking a bold step forward. How about giving it a chance? Even if it's a "failure", it'll still be bigger than my two favorite OS's in a matter of ... weeks ...or months?
- bitdiffusion 14y ago
  It's like this for every major product launch - gives the techbloggers something to talk about. Give it a few weeks and they will be bemoaning the next IOS / Android / Ubuntu release. I put this kind of thing into the "Bad News Sells" category. See http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/NewsInterest1986-2007.pdf http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/NewsInterest1986-2007.pdf
andrewla 14y ago
I agree with the statement about confusion here, though of course only the future will tell how successful it is. Of particular note to me is that on Amazon, you can now preorder Windows 8 [1]. The options are "Windows 8 Pro", "System Builder 32/64-bit", "System Builder Professional 32/64-bit", and "Windows 8 Pro Pack". So is Pro 32-bit or 64-bit? The "Pro Pack" says it upgrades from "Windows 8" to "Windows 8 Pro" -- where is "Windows 8" available? Thinking that this was just because Amazon hadn't yet gotten the full list of items, I went to the windows site [2], expecting to find the usual matrix of options and features, but found nothing -- just a link to a blog post that talks about pricing scheduling for updates for Windows 8 Pro, with no indication of what the "Pro" means or what the alternatives are. So, yes, confusing. [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000843871 http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000843871 [2] http://windows.microsoft.com http://windows.microsoft.com
san86 14y ago
When apple does something new it's a "breakthrough" and "innovation". When Microsoft does it's "confusing". Surely the launch(es) are more complicated than most MS launches, but that is because this a bold complex move. It's a humongous achievement if MS can make it big in the mobile world.

35 points by draegtun 14y ago

It feels like this linkbait title was upvoted by haters without reading the article. Complete FUD before Windows 8 has even officially launched.

flatline 14y ago
Remember the Windows 7 launch party? Their marketing department has some issues if nothing else, and I think that's most of what the complaints ultimately focus on. They seem to have thoroughly blurred the lines between the tablet OS and Windows 8 leading up to launch, possibly just through incompetence in their presentation.
- Sumaso 14y ago
  As long as the guy at best buy can explain the difference between Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT, it doesn't matter. The uninformed consumer will go to others for guidance. As long as the CSR's are informed there won't be a problem.
  - tomrod 14y ago
    It will matter. As the unofficial family tech guy, I promise you, it will end up mattering to the uninformed person who thinks they know something.
powertower 14y ago
I'm no longer shy about flagging submits like this. You shouldn't be either. Flagged for being - Windows FUD tripe.

kyberias 14y ago

I think the journalist here is confused for no good reason. Perhaps because he likes to make his own definitions of things. Windows 8 is the new release of Windows. It will be delivered in two builds: ARM and x86. The former being more limited and called Windows RT. They share the Metro UI but not very much of the traditional desktop UI. There. That's it. It's not really confusing at all.

cwilson 14y ago
While you summed it up in far less words than the author of this post, I'm pretty confident the general consumer would have no idea what you just said.
- neovive 14y ago
  It's unlikely that the average consumer would care much about the difference. Consumers might just want a portable tablet that they can use for email, Internet and read/write Microsoft Office documents. Business users will just use what there IT departments give them and if Windows 8/RT can run their legacy apps, that is a big win. It might take a few years for Microsoft to adjust, iterate and revise, but I don't think they will let Windows 8 fail. Recall that it took the XBOX a few years to break into a market with two, very strong, established players (Nintendo, SONY) and now XBOX is leading that market.
  - aristidb 14y ago
    "if Windows 8/RT can run their legacy apps, that is a big win." Except Windows RT cannot, and Windows 8 can...
- herbshire 14y ago
  Agreed, it's not rocket science. Some of these articles from 'so called' techies over the last week or so are really starting to feel like a bit of a click through bandwagon.
mgkimsal 14y ago
But... it's not called Metro anymore. And Windows RT and WinRT are different things. And there's new tablet offerings of Windows 8 that will be Windows 8 (not just look like them with the Metr... Modern UI) in a few months. If I didn't know that, I'd be pissed in a few months. If I do know that, I'll probably wait to see what the options and pricing are in a few months. Even for those 'in the know', there's a lot of confusion and decision making. EDIT: I say this as someone who has fond memories of MS from many years ago, became an antiMS bigot for a bit, and now just would like to see them succeed. Not as a huge fanboy so much, but as someone who likes to see a marketplace of good options/ideas. MS has often botched good tech seemingly because of internal politics, and that's sad to see.

corporalagumbo 14y ago

Pfft. This is humbug. He's just conflated the NYT article and his view on Visual Studio. Watch the W8 ads; they're all pretty great.

melling 14y ago

I'm a Mac/Linux guy so I really don't care that much about Windows. However, I am a "let's just roll with it kind of person," so if you do like Windows why not just give Microsoft a chance? They are taking a bold step forward. How about giving it a chance? Even if it's a "failure", it'll still be bigger than my two favorite OS's in a matter of ... weeks ...or months?

bitdiffusion 14y ago
It's like this for every major product launch - gives the techbloggers something to talk about. Give it a few weeks and they will be bemoaning the next IOS / Android / Ubuntu release. I put this kind of thing into the "Bad News Sells" category. See http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/NewsInterest1986-2007.pdf http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/NewsInterest1986-2007.pdf

andrewla 14y ago

I agree with the statement about confusion here, though of course only the future will tell how successful it is. Of particular note to me is that on Amazon, you can now preorder Windows 8 [1]. The options are "Windows 8 Pro", "System Builder 32/64-bit", "System Builder Professional 32/64-bit", and "Windows 8 Pro Pack". So is Pro 32-bit or 64-bit? The "Pro Pack" says it upgrades from "Windows 8" to "Windows 8 Pro" -- where is "Windows 8" available? Thinking that this was just because Amazon hadn't yet gotten the full list of items, I went to the windows site [2], expecting to find the usual matrix of options and features, but found nothing -- just a link to a blog post that talks about pricing scheduling for updates for Windows 8 Pro, with no indication of what the "Pro" means or what the alternatives are. So, yes, confusing. [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000843871 http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000843871 [2] http://windows.microsoft.com http://windows.microsoft.com

san86 14y ago

When apple does something new it's a "breakthrough" and "innovation". When Microsoft does it's "confusing". Surely the launch(es) are more complicated than most MS launches, but that is because this a bold complex move. It's a humongous achievement if MS can make it big in the mobile world.