Opinion: Can Windows 8 Save the PC?

If Microsoft continue to follow the trend of releasing something completely new (Windows Vista) and then fix it and release it again (Windows 7) it may not receive a very warm welcome. However that being said if they can pull of all the new features that they are planning for windows 8 and make it a smooth transition from those still clinging to XP for grim death then perhaps it may just be the thing that the PC industry has been needing for a while. Seems that innovation itself is a big problem mainly due to alot of users become complacent with what they have and that they do not relish the idea of something foreign and new despite the added benefits. This is always going to be a problem and manufacturers will simply have to figure out a way to minimize the system shock to new users.

Metro UI is probably great for tablets & co., but I somehow can't imagine it on my home PC. It is very inconvenient to use and allows only full-screen windows that can't be overlapped and placed freely where I want them to. In this respect it reminds me very much of Windows 1.0. If MS decides that it cannot be switched off by default in the final version (right now it luckily can be disabled through a registry entry or by renaming one file), I'm definitely skipping this version, no matter what anybody else thinks. :-)

save the pc from what exactly... its still the best technology available

It seems that they finally got it and were able to come up with the best technology without compromises. Look at the usability.
I currently use my iPad for presentations at clients (and playing games :-) but can't leave the laptop behind because I will have to do real work at the client. Windows 8 will finally solve this issue.

The question in the article is: Is it innovative enough to save the PC?
The PC doesn't need any "innovations" of THAT kind otherwise it won't be a PC anymore but merely appliance for the casual consumers (who don't really need a PC, just give them the tablet for Facebook, multimedia and shopping online).

PC itself needs to be continuously enhanced (more speed, less noise, less heat, and lower power consumption all at the same time, and of course it will always need a no-nonsense operating system without user "friendly" bloat which can't be disabled - imagine giant toolbars on the browsers are mandatory that would suck).

Morphing the PC into a locked-down appliance is not equal to "saving" it. On the contrary, it's turning it into something that is not a PC anymore.

You know "Post PC" or "PC Plus" era smells like stupidification and system access restriction. At least from the today's standpoint (I'm not saying this is definitely going to happen it just looks like it's heading that way).

Let's also not forget that the PC "crash" is going on against a market that never really got out of the '08 recession and may dip into one again. Less money, less security, means companies holding out on upgrading. I'm still not as sure about tablets (read iPads since other tablets aren't making an impression) being in the end more of a fad than a genuine market shift--once it reaches saturation the bottom may drop out on them. Windows 8 will need to have the Metro UI as something that can be turned off, hardly any desktop PC's use a touchscreen and from what I've seen of it the thing is useful only on tablet or phone. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! The entire PC market will otherwise sit out on Windows 8 rather than upgrade to it.

Wolfgang, how come I hear so many bad things about of your view on the Windows (dead) scene? We understand how you feel, with your dying and all, but we the users, feel that win7 is amazing and PC gaming is strong. When you add the Live component of Win8, PC will continue to be strong. Have you tried not being wrong in speculation. I'd love to watch you lose all of your money in Vegas 'cause you can't get it right.

The PC doesn't need saving get that in your head Tom's.
If you Tom's believe that PC is dead I wander why you keep making articles about PC hardware... according to your claim no one should be reading them.

I knew who wrote this article before I clicked on the link.

here is a great idea. why re invent the wheel? its round, and we all know how it works, that was every wheel up to xp was like. they started out wooden, than went to steel, added rubber, and than finally made the modern tire. now from xp - vista it was like adding led to the wheels so if anything punctures them, its not realy a flat tire, but its not preforming at 100% either. and with windows 7, they took the lead out, but just put in a different material but are doing the same crap.

im all for changes, but not for a complete user interface overhaul and change just for change sake.

i use windows xp, but i have 2 computers that are win 7, and every time i use them im reminded that they changed everything for no real reason, and on a lucky day i find something new to hate.

and you cant tell me all the changes they made couldnt be optional, or had to be made at all.

give overhaul all the car components, but let use keep the shell we are use to because we want to.




because even the cheapest computers now have dual or quad core, we got more processing power than most people need, its not like back when single cores were the thing, and they were going faster and faster all the time. now, even a 10-20% leap in performance is not realy much at all.

So an operating system, in which the requirements to run the system, are less than Windows seven will somehow spark the sales of PCs? Short answer, no. It will spark the sales of an OS perhaps. The continued growth of +10% in any market is just unrealistic, to say other wise is just a folly. A growth of +3% in a market is healthy and appropriate especially when it is saturated already. PCs aren't going any where, but as it is, there is no need to take a great leap in upgrading them. This OS won't change that.

i am glad linux isn't head that way anytime soon

...windows 8 sucks big time... it's honorably wrong, what they are doing... is windows phone 7 such a success to implement the UI in a mainly desktop OS? I understand, what they trying to do with the only assets they got... you can see the slight blend of OSX Lion with iOS... and i understand that with the technology, the OS'es will blend... but in apples front the blending will be much seamless... but here? Windows is taking the WP7 UI and trowing on W7... the accent is on the WP7 UI, that's in my opinion is terrible... windows 8 will be the next in a ME and Vista line... them may be windows 9 will be better...

I knew it's Gruener once I saw the title. I don't know what the hell is wrong with him, but I'm sick of his brainwashing about how PC is gonna die, "can this save the PC?", "can that save the PC?"... It's just freakin' stupid.

Can someone please sack this guy from toms hardware and get a real journalist or is the goal of Toms Hardware to be recognized as a harbor of slanderous journalists? Maby time to get one who knows his job and don't let fanboism cloud his judgment and not one who declared some kind of personal war against the most successful platform! PC Don't need rescue and is not dying.

Sales are up and that even in a economic depression time and with a saturated market where companies dont invest as much.. Rescue LMAO!

Most people see computers as utilitarian objects. The notion of being 'proud' of one is not something the average person thinks about much. They just want it to do what they need, and for most people it does, if they bought it in the last few years.

The 'death' of the PC is market saturation. Everyone has one already, and most of them are still good enough.

PCs arent going anywhere, their sales are down because you dont need faster computer novadays. tablet tauchscreens are for leisure, where u can relax and slowly navigate you device while holding it. but imagine if you get stationary with your tablet, sitting behind a table. its better controled with a mouse + keyboard, and its better to have larger screen. BOOM - its a pc. tablets will never kill pc, its like yoghurt killing milk, i know its tastier and some people hate milk, but thats just never going to happen. if holographic computers apear (imagine medalion on your neck) then oldschool interfaces could be forgoten, only then.

Sooner or later there will be a fusion of PCs, tablets and smartphones into a single system that will take advantage of and adapt to whatever input devices and displays it has available. I'm pretty sure putting smartphone GUI on top of 20+ years of bloatware isn't going to cut it, though.

Dammit Thunderfox, you NAILED IT!

Most of my customers put the PC in the same category as White Goods, like a fridge or washing machine!. It fulls a role in the house, no more! If it still fills the role it was intended for, they see no need to upgrade, the same if their fridge still keeps the food cold and the washing machine still washes their clothes!

The average 5 year old dual core PC can fulfill the basic needs of home users, online and offline, bit of e-mail, internet and shopping, with tons of facebook and the like!

Its only the people who are interested in technology that want the newest OS!

Windows 7 will be perfectly adept at keeping the XP crowd happy when support ends for them in three years or so!

Windows 8 METRO UI for desktop will be an ultimate fail if it cannot be switched off! I do not see that much traction in the marketplace on tablets anyways. Just like PC Market, saturation will hit, from my experience with my customers, every one who will use a tablet already has an IPAD 1/2.

The sad thing is once a user has an iPad, you try pry that away from them!

Windows 8 has some amazing improvements, I believe in a traditional desktop form, it will be a winner, but trapped in METRO, it will TANK!

As for the PC market dying HAHA! Yes the Box and Monitor format may be shrinking, but until we have mind and proper voice control, it is still the only way to get real work done and game like it was meant to be!

I could not give a monkeys toss if it died anyways, I am sure us humans would learn to adapt and i will still find a way to profit out of it!

Finally, WHY OH WHY would anyone want FINGERPRINTS all over their 24" monitor! I just do not get it!

I know! Who wants another surface to clean?

Call me outdated but my Athlon XP (2002) computer is still running as a family print server/basic productivity computer. It does what it needs to do and does it quickly enough that I am the only person who ever complains about the computer being slow.

And I have an SSD...

In my own household, I'm switching from Windows XP to Linux for my end-users with low requirements. Linux has gone far enough so that buying Windows for casual users is a dumb idea. The rest of my computers run Windows 7, not out of want but of need to support the ever increasing memory requirements of Adobe's Creative Suite and AHCI support for SSDs...

Buying a new version of Windows just doesn't make sense anymore. Between Linux and Windows 7, I don't have room for a giant smartphone OS.

^ That doesn't mean PCs are dying, though, does it?

EDIT: Using Linux for casual users IS a dumb idea. Most of them are used to installing programs from EXE installers and act VERY surprised when you tell them you can't do that in Linux, and I understand them. Linux is a FAIL as a home OS, and I guarantee that - I work with Linux all the time as part of my job. Too much hardware still unsupported (for example, NONE of the 3G USB modems I've seen have drivers for Linux), and for the most things to work correctly, you have to spend hours in front of the terminal. I don't mind. Common user does.

PCs are not dead !!!! What the hell with all these "PC is dead" threads....are you retarded?

The continued wording of the PC being dead is silly... First, growth is growth. Not decline. And in this economy, growth is not mere growth... it says your product is fundamental to our lives. Second, although tablets and touch screens may continue to capture an audience the PC will remain for many years to come. Mark that in your diary...

I think Wolfgang is just "slumming" at Tom's until he gets his dream gig at apple.

i agree 100% i don't think companies should look at chaning the desk top , but just focus on it's strong points and try to implement features that sell those strong points instead of burying them in layers of simplified bull crap for the masses.

i'm ahuge PC gamer/user , i play games on it as often if not more than i do consoles , I go to school online for games and use it Soley for every thing drom drawing comcept sketches to rendering out finished models in 3ds max and maya. none of the things i use my pc for can truely ever be done well on any device BUT a desk top PC. sure some lap toops come close toa desk top in performance but only the top end uber priced lap tops and even then those only aproach high end mid level PC's ( $1,300 -$1,600 desk tops) , key word being aproach they never exceed. and if you build your own or buy botique brands like ballistic or falcon north west , there is no lap top that can come near the capabilities of a $2000+ desk top (including lap tops form those brands).

but geting long winded there , main point is you wont see 3ds max or auto cad running on a ipad or even a net book so why the hell try to water down a desktop with an OS designed more for those applications?

as for main stream consumers , no these guys don't need that that $2000 + ldesk top or even a 1000 dollar one. A Tablet or net book shoudl suit thier needs fine.

i don't see the PC industry dieing out , i do accept that maybe it will slip back inot the "office" or work force equipment it originally was back in teh 70's and 80's , but die no it won't do that.

Then again the increasing cost of consoles and teh decreasing ability to fit hot components (that keep getting hotter every generation) into tight spaces. may well become a boon for teh PC industry the price gap on consoles in teh enxt ten years may very well narrow much closer to what a gaming pc cost eliminating the whole point of a console. if this happens you could see PC repalce consoles systems perhaps , and i could see the need for a watered down OS then to bring games ot the masses via PC instead of companies bashing thier brains otu trying to increase power on smaller paltforms with out increasing the heat exponetially.

then again this may well be the number 1 reason why companies are pushing for cloud gaming in the future , teh cost of producing consoles are getting extreme , and the fight against piracy on PC is over before it starts.

Sorry to go rant about console versus Pc , i personally think that these things are not likely to happen at least not in my life tim. jsut possibilities. in all likely hood there will be home consioles and PC both for many eyars to come.

The point i'm harping at is that main stream consummers have very little use for Desk top PC's now , so why MS is wasting millions trying to water windows down further for the "mainstream" is beyound comphrension. In short they shoudl trim the fat where it need's triming , instead of cutting off the muscle as well.

Make the PC and your OS the place to be if you want to game on PC or run complex softwares (like adobe premiere or 3ds max), don't try to turn into intoa media center dock for iphones and ipads because there are less costly ways to go about doing that that doesn't require a a computer. and when i say costly i mean costly for the company , in all likely hood windows 8 will be met with more derision than applauding (at least where desk tops are concerned) the win xp to win vista issue only highlights the possible error MS is making with windows 8. Except, with win 8 the issue might be magnified because of how close win 8 is coming after win 7 , what is now arguably the best version of windows ever released. and windows 8 seems to be looking to change too much.

pc is far from dead. imho there are jut not enough warez to make it worth upgrading. once you've got anything beyond a dual core processor and 4 gigs of ram you can play / run pretty much anything (from an average to enthousiast point of view). I believe this is the reason why people don't upgrade so often anymore, and it is perceived as a "crash". Systems configs just last longer these days.

I can see a use for win8, though I think we're still a ways away from it.

Maybe if they extended the home PC functionality by combining a bunch of current separate technologies into one.

You'll have to bare with me...

Tablet- Make it act as a wireless monitor while at home, working off main pc with auto sync's on lite programs for when away from the home network.
Make it a seamless transition from normal monitor to wireless, currently open programs (open browser pages?) are there when you turn on the tablet.
Heck you could have multiple logins happening at once (decent use of a multi-core even for light pc users)

Laptop- same thing, if you want to sit in the kitchen and game with highest res settings, you can, the main pc is doing all the work
away from the house its self contained

Win8 could be useful for this.

NO shit LOL i think this guy is freaking retarded or something, yeah sure like tomorrow they are gonna magically squeeze a 2000 dollar + desktop into a freaking ipad and every one will just grab it up at a cheap affordable price. hoenstly i swear i'm starting to think this guy want's desktops to die. even if they did pull off the above tomorrow , the next day they just fit even more into said desktop

My point exactly. I'm sick of all the tablet fanboys talking about how every component will get smaller and more energy efficient and then tablets will become more powerful... well, guess what, so will desktops!

My PC's don't need any saving, they are in good health at the moment.
Let me rephrase that... they have ALWAYS been on good health, the ONLY reason why I let them "go" is because I upgrade them every few years. NOT because they are in any kind of "trouble" and "need to be saved."