People have always complained about new versions of Windows. They bitch and moan and they cry and vouch never to touch it, but in the end, it does not matter.
Most people buy a new PC every few years and it comes with some sort of OS and it looks different every time. Whether that was XP or Vista or 7 or 8, they won't know. And consequently, we can complain all we want, but if it comes pre-installed and IT departments like it, it will work.
Don't get me wrong, Microsoft will die eventually (just like we all do), but it will be a gradual, less painful process. Maybe this is one of their last serious stabs at something exciting. But they will die of obscurity, not concrete failure.
As one data point I was always the next upgrade until about 2006 or so when budget PC's hit a point that they would do everything I wanted as fast as I wanted. I mainly use a mac now, but my PC is probably 5 years+ old and does everything as fast as I would need.
Not upgrading is an option if there aren't really critical issues. "looking great" is not one of them - only being compatible with multiple must-have applications would do it.
WinXP + IE6 is still an option and it has been 10+ years already. If windows 8-9-10 sucks, then win7 can easily carry on for as long as hardware manufacturers keep shipping compatible drivers; and if windows 8-9-10 sucks, then they can easily do it for dozens of years.
Right, but that does not imply a move away from Windows in general. People 'update' whenever they buy a new machine or the IT department makes them update. Whether or not they skip a version or two does not kill Microsoft immediately but it does not save them either.
I guess what I was trying to say was that Microsoft seems to be losing right now and they might just die in the somewhat near future. However, this will not be the direct consequence of a bad version of Windows or of people skipping a version. We have seen that before. People always complain about change, especially about changes in something they don't understand but have to use anyways. So people complaining about a new version of Windows is not interesting.
Most people buy a new PC every few years and it comes with some sort of OS and it looks different every time. Whether that was XP or Vista or 7 or 8, they won't know. And consequently, we can complain all we want, but if it comes pre-installed and IT departments like it, it will work.
Don't get me wrong, Microsoft will die eventually (just like we all do), but it will be a gradual, less painful process. Maybe this is one of their last serious stabs at something exciting. But they will die of obscurity, not concrete failure.