Re:Creating the Windows 8 user experience
by WiseWeasel on Friday May 18, 2012 @06:25PM
(#3994343)
But if people delay purchases or go with competing products instead of buying an HP, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, etc. with Windows 8 pre-installed, then they've all got a problem on their hands.
Also, do you remember how long manufacturers were offering laptops with Windows XP pre-installed? I think you may still be able to buy one somewhere.
That's great for the desktop and notebook market. But now you have to convince people to buy Windows based tablets.
Microsoft OEMs will build them in order to qualify for discounts in desktop and laptop W8 licenses. And x86-based tablets will be able to go into classic mode (and JIT JavaScript) and run current x86 apps.
Why would anyone desire a W8 ARM tablet instead of a much cheaper (as in "you can buy two of them") Android-based one or an iPad is an excellent question, but we should never underestimate the power of advertising.
Remember Windows Vista was considered a great success (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2130290,00.asp).
When you buy a generic x86 computer (any non-Apple x86, that is) you have 3 choices of OS: you can leave whatever came on the machine (most likely Windows), you can install a previous version of Windows you already had floating around or you can install any of the fine *nix-based OSs that will run on it. Most people opt for #1, some resent change (or just dislike what came with the machine) and opt for #2 and a tiny minority goes with #3 (me included).
That means I am part of Vista's and 7's success stories - I bought computers with them installed and never bothered to return the licenses, although I never used either. From a sales perspective, I'm a happy Windows user.