I've read as much as I can about Windows 8, tried the preview, worked with a Windows phone.
Honestly, I can't see Windows 8 being anything but a colossal failure on the desktop, ala Vista. Everyone on the planet seems to be telling Microsoft to have two OS versions, one for mobile and one for desktop, but they are not listening. I would be seriously worried if I was a Microsoft investor, and I say that as a guy who's built primarily C# apps for the last five years.
Well they still have two OS versions (although Windows Phone 8 now shares the Win 8 kernel). The real question is if Microsoft's long bet on tablets and touchscreen PCs being the future of desktops is a good one. For once, I think Microsoft is aiming big with its OS, and that's something to be admired. It's going to piss of techies, but it has a real shot at making tablets and hybrid PCs more useful for everyone else.
Also, it seems pretty clear to me that Win 7 is going to stick around for a long time, perhaps even longer than XP. That'll likely be the go-to OS for techies and people building desktops down the line.
Apple and Google view the tablet as an oversized phone, Microsoft views it as an undersized laptop or desktop. That's a philosophical difference right there.
The real test of Windows 8 will be on devices like the Surface Pro and other x86 tablets about to enter the market. Instead of being designed and used mostly as a consumption device like the iPad and Android tablets, you can run the full Visual Studio or Eclipse on them anywhere you go.
Microsoft hopes to leverage the sales of those and other touchscreen ultrabooks, laptops into apps and support for Windows RT.
If they made Metro run only on Windows RT tablets, it risks suffering the same fate as Windows Phone, a very nice platform with little uptake because of user and developer mindshare consumed by the iPad and Android tablets. From that perspective, Windows 8 make a lot of sense.
Honestly, I can't see Windows 8 being anything but a colossal failure on the desktop, ala Vista. Everyone on the planet seems to be telling Microsoft to have two OS versions, one for mobile and one for desktop, but they are not listening. I would be seriously worried if I was a Microsoft investor, and I say that as a guy who's built primarily C# apps for the last five years.