Will Windows 8 Kill Microsoft?

I've been waiting for quite some time to see Microsoft do something incredibly stupid that would open the door so Linux could waltz in and take over the desktop. Right now, there is a mistaken belief that Linux will never be a desktop OS. I disagree. With a few lucky breaks and a misstep by Microsoft, Linux could instantly be on every desktop. From what I hear about Windows 8, this moment may be at hand.
via pcmag.com

Not my bear in this hunt, but interesting.

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5 responses
It seems they are moving to a more iOS type interface. The die-hard windows fanatics are going to have hell on their hands if they find Windows will look anything like the Apple iOS. If microsoft makes a mistake like this, it could very well open the doors to the Linux OS. Although personally I think people will simply downgrade to Windows7 as so many did to XP when Vista came out.
— Zenon
Or maybe, do you think, people might figure, if Windows is going to look like Apple, I might as well go with Apple?  
— J. Randal Matheny
looks like iOS??? really??? iOS isn't customizable, no 'widgets', no information without having to open up one of these apps/widgets etc... Windows 8 (from what we've seen so far as it's not the final product) you can choose size of the 'tiles', the colour (unless its randomly chosen so you don't have all the same colour which could 'confuse' some of the less tech savvy users out there (I don't know how it's going to work.) but they look to be almost 100% customizable to suit your needs...
Wanna see the weather, selected stock markets, facebook/twitter (seriously is twitter even that good?) youtube updates, rss feeds, all from the home screen without even opening a single app? It looks like it can be wasily done with Windows 8... can't see any of that information on the iPhone/iPad/Mac, unless you open up one of those related apps.

It also looks nothing like the iOutlay... which is the same thing on 3 different systems.

— Ian Baines
looks like iOS??? really??? iOS isn't customizable, no 'widgets', no information without having to open up one of these apps/widgets etc... Windows 8 (from what we've seen so far as it's not the final product) you can choose size of the 'tiles', the colour (unless its randomly chosen so you don't have all the same colour which could 'confuse' some of the less tech savvy users out there (I don't know how it's going to work.) but they look to be almost 100% customizable to suit your needs...
Wanna see the weather, selected stock markets, facebook/twitter (seriously is twitter even that good?) youtube updates, rss feeds, all from the home screen without even opening a single app? It looks like it can be wasily done with Windows 8... can't see any of that information on the iPhone/iPad/Mac, unless you open up one of those related apps.

It also looks nothing like the iOutlay... which is the same thing on 3 different systems.

— Ian Baines
I also don't know why it double posted...
— Ian Baines