I don't think that M$ should be in a hurry or try to meet a timeframe to release Windows 8. In any case, they should give XP a proper burial first, and not release 8 until at least 4/09/2014, the day after all XP support ends forever.
If XP has rode this long, and still has over 50% of the user base, surely Windows 7 will last until XP is gone, with no problem.
And if another Windows is released before then, there will be officially four versions of Windows to have to upkeep. Note that Win 2K was quickly dropped from support, once 7 was released, although that date had been long planned.
The fact remains that Windows cannot support four versions of it's OS's at the same time. Either M$ will have to break their promise to XP users (I doubt so), or the plug will have to be pulled on Vista (more likely).
And another issue, 128 bit computing will have to be placed on the back burner, at least until XP is not supported any longer.
The XP issue is the whole problem. Vista was intended to bury it, then Windows 7 was projected to do so by the year's end, barely more than two months away. Is it going to take yet another OS to do the job, so that we all can move forward? Or will Windows 8 also offer XP Mode? It seems that pleasing the XP crowd is the priority at hand, at least that's what I'm reading and seeing.
What M$ really needs is a purge, one from the very top, on down as far as they have to go. And place someone who is fearless at the very top of the helm. In order to advance, tough decisions has to be made. We have no one capable of making those decisions. Look, Apple has surpassed M$ in total sales, with less than 5% of the computing population in their pockets. That's right, less than 5% of all PC's on the current market has the Mac name on them. Yet, they are making a fortune.
And as much as I don't really care for Apple's products, I will give Jobs credit for this, he is fearless as they come in the business world. He risked it all in cutting off past products and technologies. Some of his ideas were laughed at, even the iPod itself was, when he took on the Sony Walkman, and won big. This is the very type of leadership that M$ needs, one who looks to continually embrace the future, and continually looks to bury the past.
Ballmer was a fine right hand man for Gates, but that's all he was. A right hand man. A prodigy. One who is used to taking orders, rather than giving them. A much larger fist is needed at the podium, one that's hungry and driven to succeed, who wants to be his own, not a well traveled, worn out has been of yesterday. And not afraid of risk, can stand up to temporary boos, and not be concerned about "being popular". Jobs made his decisions, and didn't give a damn who didn't like them, while steadily chewing away M$'s once massive lead. This would've never happened at Gates watch.
As far as Windows 8 goes, if it's forced out within two years, the testing will begin within the next year or so. If it turns out to be another Vista, that 90+% lead that Windows usage carries will not hold up. XP cannot bail out Windows forever. 7 will have to carry the load for a long, long time, just as XP has to this date.
The question is, in today's economy, where people are learning to get by with what they have, will enough newer computers sell to carry that load? Or will users continue to patch and band aid their old computers, just as businesses have done, out of need?
Windows 8 in two years? In today's economy, with yesterday's leadership onboard, it will most likely be a flop. I suppose that the best thing that Windows has going for them is that 7 will be in it's prime by April 2014. Because they'll sure need it.
Cat
