No the base of Windows 8 is solid. Simply not having that Metro interface, making metro the new API that ran within a traditional desktop would have been just fine.

From that, just create an interface for Windows tablets that is similar to the existing Metro interface as it does work there.

It still blows my mind that they didn't at the very least make Metro optional for Professional and Server SKUs. Or, better yet, off by default unless the setup detected a device with a touch panel.

I agree

No way. Windows 8 is a better OS than Windows 7 in every aspect. Once you are on the desktop, Metro is nothing but a huge start menu.

The folks at Microsoft must know that enterprise was never ever going to deploy Windows 8. If you need to test a new feature set why not test it on home users who have no choice? Then in five years time sell a polished windows tablet to business as peoples old laptops die.

There will always be a need to have fully functional work environment OS such as windows 7/mac os x/linux....Android/iOS/Windows 8 are for the mainstream users who just want to check email/text/watch youtube.

The confusion of windows 8 is that it's trying to have 2 different ui systems...

Mac OS X seems to have done a decent job of slowing integrating some features from iOS (app store, notifications) without without copying and pasting the iOS ui system into it

I am genuinely curious: have you ever actually used Windows 8? I mean more than just clicking around it a few minutes. I ask because I find it hard to imagine somebody who actually uses it ever referring to "Android/iOS/Windows 8", as if they were roughly equivalent.

I currently spend most of my time on a Windows 8.1 desktop with more than 20 different languages and development environments installed. I never "check email/text" on it, and only rarely use it to watch YouTube (have other boxes for that). To me, the "Modern" UI is little more than a souped-up Start menu.

The misunderstanding that Windows 8 is somehow a lesser Windows is getting old. After more than a year of general availability, surely somebody on HN should know better.

If you're a power user you just use the Super key to pull up the menu and start typing what you want and then there is little practical difference between 7 and 8.

Within 5 years Google might even figure out how to sell Android tablets to enterprises, and Drive apps might be usable offline on those tablets.