As a long time Microsoft user I remember the big launch for products like Windows 95 and the genuine enthusiasm that they drove. There have been many launches since then with descending orders of excitement - Windows XP (what turned out to be a long lived version but was originally derided), then Windows Vista (a bomb), and then Windows 7 which actually was a better, more stable version of Windows Vista and is what my Windows machines are running on today. Like everything else, you can find a great time line of Microsoft operating system launches
here at wikipedia.
In the past, Microsoft Windows operating system launches drove a big boost in computer hardware spending. You'd wait to upgrade your machine to see the required specifications (and then the RECOMMENDED specifications, which were often higher) for the upgrade, and then you'd buy a new PC. If you were smart you'd often wait until after the first major service pack was launched, as well, because that would fix most of the critical bugs and annoyances that weren't picked up during testing.
In parallel, while Microsoft toiled on the successor to Windows 7, the market changed. PC's and laptops that run Microsoft Windows are now very cheap in many circumstances, and you can get a decent laptop for under $400 (it is big and not super portable, but it will run fine). Desktops can be had for even cheaper in many cases.
Not only did Windows based PC's get smaller, they aren't very cool. If you have any exposure to younger people they aren't excited about bringing a Windows laptop to college - they want a mac. This goes down into high school, as well. Certainly kids will take whatever computer is available but if given a preference it seems to be moving towards those polished and aesthetically pleasing Macs.
Then you have tablet computing and smart phones. While a new PC running windows 8 isn't getting anyone excited, you do have excitement for the new iPhones, iPads, and for a large Google-friendly smartphone segment, for the various cool new phones that come out running that system. People do show off their smart phones and can't imagine life without their iPads, but for a Windows based laptop - not so much.
Microsoft set up a "pop up" store for the Surface tablet at the mall containing Nordstrom in River North near where I live. I got a chance to talk to the staff because it was so empty that you could hear a pin drop and they were very skilled and competent.
I am not an expert but there are 2 different tablets that Microsoft is offering - one is essentially a bit larger laptop that clicks on and off the keyboard and the second is more of a traditional tablet like an iPad. The one that was tablet like was kind of cool to look at and hold and I liked the clip on keyboard but it did not have the ability to connect wirelessly (3G) to networks like AT&T and Verizon, it was wi-fi only. I asked the employee at the kiosk and he said that Microsoft did a lot of research and figured that most people don't want that and they could always tether it onto their smart phone, anyways. I was dumbfounded because I view "always connected" as a critical feature of the tablet.
Back to Windows 8 - I kept this post in draft mode for a while because I wanted to actually see a Windows 8 machine in person before I wrote about it. Recently I went to a Best Buy store and saw one on display and was able to work with it for a bit.
As a touch screen PC, it was kind of cool. You could see your email, your social media, news, and other items on the screen. You could easily go between them and look at web pages and the like. However, the problem is that these same functions are easily done on an iPad, probably better. There is little available on the Windows platform if you want to surf / communication that you can't do better at your mobile device (Apple or Android) or tablet (Apple or Android). The real reason that you have your windows machine is to do work, generally boring work in Excel or to use an application such as Quicken or Quickbooks.
Even DJ's use Macs... only the work is left behind on your Windows PC or laptop.
Thus the touch screen isn't that compelling of a feature because it does you no good when you jump back into boring Excel or Quickbooks. And it is a learning curve I don't need when I have to sit down and do my work. Another very annoying Microsoft feature recently is that they keep changing how their classic applications work, which means I also have to waste time figuring out how to do what I used to do before, with no significant productivity gains along the way. I understand that they probably have 1000 Excel programmers with nothing to do but tweak the application but it worked fine before and now it is just a learning curve that buys me nothing.
I am not an expert at any of this but generally I'd say that there is little or no "buzz" about Windows 8 or the Surface tablet and I've hardly heard anyone extolling its virtues. To me Microsoft is living off the Office Suite and their installed base on Exchange but this won't be an infinite ride. Between honking off dedicated Excel users with every upgrade and offering non-compelling also-rans against Apple / Samsung they are likely to be blown out of the water.
Another item that struck me recently is that I was at a conference and hardly anyone brought a laptop. Everyone had an iPad of some sort and 1 or 2 smartphones however. I did see a smattering of very light laptops some were Apple and there were a few of the slim Windows based laptop copies of the MacBook Air. The days of carrying around a brick laptop (unless you are a hardcore developer) seem to be mostly over. Everyone had iPads and most had attached keyboards like me.
