Windows 8 - Just a Shopfront?

[DrATty]

The more I read about Windows 8 the more I wonder just what Microsoft are selling. Media Centre is an extra at additional cost. The free developer tools for non-Metro applications have gone. They will cost £350 or more. Aero has gone. I guess it will come back via themes. Will they be sold? I was expecting to get more than I did with 7. Perhaps BlueRay playback. Instead, 8 seems to be regressing, with additional functionality costing more.
I think the built-in store is too tempting. Will 8 be little more than a shopfront for addons that we have been used to having included in operating systems. I fear that it might be.
Windows releases have followed a great-sad-great-sad cycle for long enough. I do hope that the great Windows 7 isn't followed by a failure.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I think Microsoft want some of that lovely app store revenue!!

[Funkstar]

Windows releases have followed a great-sad-great-sad cycle for long enough. I do hope that the great Windows 7 isn't followed by a failure.

Well Windows 8 should at least be stable, so that's one bonus. Vista had a massive redevelopment internally which kind of broke a lot of systems and caused problems with drivers (or should I say, some people had trouble writing drivers for it, a large graphics card manufacturer with a green logo for example), and introduced a lot of new technologies. W7 refined, fixed and optimised this system but didn't really change anything fundamentally.

W8 doesn't seem to be re-inventing the wheel like Vista did, but MS are introducing more new technologies and really modernising a lot of functionality (boot sequence, checkdisk, multi-monitor support, etc.). I can't see any of this really impacting on the basic reliability of the OS. If Metro, or at least the way Metro and the classic desktop interact with each other doesn't pan out for them I would like to think there will be a fix, or Service Pack, introduced fairly quickly.

Even though I haven't tried any of the previews I still think 8 sounds like a good OS. I for one won't miss any of these features they are removing, I don't think I use any of them.

[directhex]

Codecs are gone too, remember. DVD-playing codecs have been stripped, since everyone loves to use PowerDVD or similar instead.

[Butuz]

Where's the friggin start menu?????

Butuz

[DrATty]

Don't talk to me about Vista. I still have 2 unused licences. That's not including my 2 upgrade licences. Incidentally, I've read that there will be a cheap upgrade path for those buying 7 machines prior to the release of 8, in a similar fashion to Vista from XP.
The changes behind the scenes are welcome but I doubt whether many users will notice them. I will definitely miss the media features that are being removed and imagine many others will too.
I haven't seen much on compatibility yet. XP and 7 don't live happily together on the same network. The new Live MESH doesn't support XP. Whether or not I buy into 8 will depend in part on how well it works with 7, and to an extent, XP. I won't bother if, say, libraries won't work between the operating systems. Similarly, if older mobile devices aren't supported. My SatNav needs XP, and so I still use XP. If WM5 is dropped from 8, I'm not upgrading. Manufacturers that unnecessarily encourage obsolescence by withdrawing features or support do not get my custom. I will not forgive Microsoft for WM6 which cost me dearly.
As it stands, 8 doesn't have the carrot that I look for if I'm going to upgrade. Without the carrot, it depends on what is taken out, and it appears that quite a lot is going. That hurts more because 7 still feels new. I don't like upgrading and 8 is coming too soon. Perhaps it's a deliberate change of tack by Microsoft, with new releases coming more often. I'm not keen, especially if 8 is to be just a core OS with paid-for add-ons. That's too 'Apple'. Maybe the release of new versions of Windows is at an end. A generic Windows OS with add-ons, even subscription based improvements, might appeal to Microsoft. Buy what you need for when you need it. Office 365 is popular and basic Office features are available to all now. It's tempting, if the price is right. I think there are more and bigger changes coming than are immediately obvious.
I still have two 7 licences so there's no hurry.

[Agent]

Am I the only one who's a fan of changes like this?

I prefer the OS to contain as little as possible and rather offer a stable experience of the core things.

I suppose there is a limit though. It begs the question of 'what about normal home users?'. Lets hope OEMs don't go crazy and fill the install full of extras people don't want as usual.

[directhex]

Am I the only one who's a fan of changes like this?

I prefer the OS to contain as little as possible and rather offer a stable experience of the core things.

I suppose there is a limit though. It begs the question of 'what about normal home users?'. Lets hope OEMs don't go crazy and fill the install full of extras people don't want as usual.

Depends on whether "stripped features" also means "lower price"

[DrATty]

I agree to a point. I don't like bloat but I've come to rely upon Media Centre. It would seem from the Microsoft blog that it's not popular, but I've yet to find a friend that doesn't use it. If Windows is cheaper without the extras, and the add-ons are reasonably priced, it might work for me. We'll see. Unfortunately, manufacturers will undoubtedly add their own replacements for what has been lost, and removing these will be almost impossible. It doesn't help that PCs are rarely sold with proper disks to enable a clean installation. I fear the changes will just cost users more, and any benefits there might have been will not materialize.

[AlexGTR]

Until I can see it functioning properly as a desktop system then i will be steering clear of it. To me it does look good and thats it, unfortunately looks wont get you far in this case.

[Dark Knight]

I understand that some may be pee'ed off with specific components of the software being subtly stripped out however I must say with everyday usage of mainstream users I doubt this will significantly effect their functionality. The majority of software on my current Win7 OS are downloadable as I don't rate highly bundled software which comes out of the box with the OS.

[McPhee]

I think you're barking up the wrong tree Dratty. Every penny is becoming important these days; Microsoft's competitors are practically giving their software away and then making the money back on services. Microsoft can't afford to do that yet. Their services aren't successful enough (with the exception of Xbox Live). Simple things like removing Media Centre and certain codecs will shave pennies off licensing costs, making it easier for OEMs to produce Windows devices which are competitive.

I guess which slant is true will come out in the long run. I would hope the upgrade is reasonably priced, or else that the retail edition of Win8 Pro is priced very competitively.

[scaryjim]

... It would seem from the Microsoft blog that it's not popular, but I've yet to find a friend that doesn't use it. ...

How many of your friends build their own PCs or regularly reformat with clean Win 7 installs? I'd guess the vast majority of pre-built PCs come with some alternative software bundled that does the same job, and the majority of PC users use whatever their PC came with, without even considering whether there's another piece of software that does the same job.

Now, personally I have two uses for my HTPC; watching DVDs, and watching iplayer/4od/other streaming video. For DVDs, I've never started a piece of software more complex than Media Player. If they ripped Media Player out I'd miss it: Media Centre not so much. The loss of DVD codecs is a much bigger deal to me - out-of-the-box DVD player was one of the big draws of Win 7 for me, and to lose that in 8 is ... well, ludicrous, frankly. I really don't understand what MS were thinking of with that one...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

How many of your friends build their own PCs or regularly reformat with clean Win 7 installs? I'd guess the vast majority of pre-built PCs come with some alternative software bundled that does the same job, and the majority of PC users use whatever their PC came with, without even considering whether there's another piece of software that does the same job.

Now, personally I have two uses for my HTPC; watching DVDs, and watching iplayer/4od/other streaming video. For DVDs, I've never started a piece of software more complex than Media Player. If they ripped Media Player out I'd miss it: Media Centre not so much. The loss of DVD codecs is a much bigger deal to me - out-of-the-box DVD player was one of the big draws of Win 7 for me, and to lose that in 8 is ... well, ludicrous, frankly. I really don't understand what MS were thinking of with that one...

Sell it as app??

[scaryjim]

MS DVD Codec pack? Or the codecs included as part of a Media Centre purchase? Latter seems potentially reasonable I suppose - plus they could then presumably offer an OEM package as an alternative to PowerDVD, MyDVD etc.: many consumers wouldn't even know that it was an "optional" extra - and it would get the EU off their backs too, I suppose

Hmmm, actually stripping features into add-on packs would help in that respect - could well be another factor they've considered in the specification of Win 8 - can we strip stuff out without too much hassle to avoid anti-trust actions...