Windows 8 Preview Released

[Garyvdh]

Don't like it at all... gonna uninstall it and go back to Windows 7.

[Edelweiss]

Apparently there'll be Xbox 360 compatibility with windows 8?

[Cronus086]

Apparently there'll be Xbox 360 compatibility with windows 8?

Yea, i think i read somewhere that you'll be able to sign into your xbox live account from inside win8.. yes.. no.. i dunno, lol

[ViperGTI]

With Windows Vista, I got that as soon as it was stable (just after SP1 was released)... never really liked XP. With Windows 7, I installed the RTM version before it was released to public... With Windows 8 however, I don't see myself jumping on this version. I installed the Developer Preview on a VM, and although I understand why they are changing the UI to Metro, I don't like it.

MS might have screwed themselves with Windows 7 in that it is so good, they are going to have to make a very good argument for me to change to Windows 8, and I just don't see that happening.

Besides that, a lot of large companies have still been running Windows XP up to now and are only NOW making the change of upgrading everyone to Windows 7. With their upgrades still in progress and with their IT policies requiring everyone having the same setup, I don't see them upgrading to Windows 8 ever... Windows 9 perhaps or maybe even only at Windows 10 or later at the rate MS is releasing operating systems these days.

I'll install Windows 8 RTM on a VM when I get it in September / October and use it for my VPN access, but I don't really see it going any further than that.

[Adoxographist]

Windows 9 perhaps or maybe even only at Windows 10 or later at the rate MS is releasing operating systems these days. I'll install Windows 8 RTM

MS has a 3 year development cycle. We would probably see windows 9 around 2015. Windows Vista was just delayed a lot.
Windows 8 RTM is expected around end of July which was the case with Windows 7. It just takes time for manufacturer to ship on their new computer for sale in retail channels which is around October.

Windows 8 is a interesting strategy by Microsoft. It shows that the company expect the future of computing as touch screens and hybrid laptop/tablet etc. I expect a slow start to windows 8 but as more apps and touch optimized windows 8 devices to come out with lower prices, windows 8 should see a upswing then. And by windows 9 either most our computing interface is touch based or Microsoft was wrong and Apple is right with their strategy of separate non touchscreen laptop and tablet hardware.