Win8 to drive market share, for who?

It's been some time now since Microsoft has had a truly outstanding release of it's flagship product.  While Vista was a complete failure, even Windows 7 was mostly only a great launch when compared to it's predecessor.  You'd have to drop back to XP before finding a Windows release that the tech community was almost universally in support of.  That said, largely due to it being pre-installed on PCs, 7 has realized strong sales numbers during it's time on the market.

Consistant sales are old hat for Microsoft.  The formula, while not always flashy, has been drafted with a rigid standard going back to when Gates was at the helm.  Enter Windows 8, the first Windows to take a large step away from the user interface that so many of grown to, if not love, understand.

Discontent with the new Metro Modern user interface has been common among developers, upset about learning something new.  Ultimately though, developers desires never really matter.  If the market share is there, developers will come on board.

USA Today has a piece, similar to so many that have been floating around lately - traditional windows users are confused with 8's UI.  This end-user issue has potential to be a much larger problem than any developer drama.  Unlike many previous windows releases, it is no longer a PC/PC world.  Today people have options.

Let's be realistic, people hate learning anything new.  This goes for companies that don't like re-training their employees (why XP still dominates), your parents, or even just an everyday over-worked adult.  Learning a new piece of software, while ecstasy for a geek is a chore for most. Microsoft comes out with a product, that regardless of it's merits will require learning something new.

Anyone who has ever been in an Apple Store, or trying to sell a new kind of device at Best Buy knows the most prevalent complaint  is about having to learn something new.  For years Apple, and others have had to implement all kinds of methods for overcoming this (one to one, to some extent programs like Fusion).  In an early Christmas gift, Microsoft comes out and eliminates this long held hang-up for Apple as well as Android Tablet OEMS (both of which are now clearly cutting in to PC sales).  It's simple, if a user has to learn something new whichever OS they go with, there is all of a sudden a lot less reason to stick with their current platform.

With an innovative, industry leading range of computers coming out of Cupertino - as well as a myriad of tablets coming from everywhere - Windows 8's new interface might be just the catalyst to drive users increasingly to competing platforms.  Microsoft's new release may very well be a defining moment in the move towards a post-pc world.