>>>>>>Speaking of programming messes.. it would be hard to top this one!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>http://www.cnbc.com/id/100713593
>>>>>
>>>>>I was just wondering, even with the benefit of hindsight, what MS should have done after W7 ?
>>>>>
>>>>>(a) Ignored the huge surge to tablet/ touch devices and stuck to desktop/laptop based OS.
>>>>>(b) Written a separate OS for the phone/tablet market.
>>>>>(c) Develop an OS capable of a similar look and feel across all platforms.
>>>>>(d) ?
>>>>>
>>>>>Seems to me that (c), which is what they attempted, would be the best option.
>>>>>FWIW nearly all W8 complaints I have seen/heard come from existing MS OS desktop users. Most people I know who have bought a W8 phone or tablet seem to like or even prefer the interface if they have previously had Android devices.....
>>>>>
>>>>>My guess is that MS will just make it easier to work with W8 in the classic mode.....
>>>>
>>>>Seemed to me an obvious feature (maybe it's there - know nothing of Windows 8 just as I have never tasted New Coke ) would to sense if it was running on a touch-screen and launching classic if not and Windows Touchy if so. For my money for a mouse, keyboard setup "metro" ( which I really think is ugly ) is just annoying.
>>>>
>>>>Oh, and they should find out who authorized that god-awful TV add with the clapping of the keybaord/touchpad/kickstand thing on their tablet and have them killed.
>>>
>>>Not being a TV watcher I've no idea if that ad appeared over here. But MS, generally, seems to be crap at marketing....
>>>
>>>On one of my original points : Have you heard anyone except existing MS desktop users complain about W8 ?
>>>Seems to me there is a large element of the 'don't like it because it is different' syndrome....
>>
>>Frankly, I only know two or three people who have Win 8 because they got it on a laptop they bought. All they wanted to know was how to get rid of metro. But my world is very small these days, so I'm sure there are hundreds all over the world who think it is cool.
>>
>>My objection to the ad is that it is based on the pitch :
>>
>>"I want a pretentious ad campaign that looks like it was developed by 40 year old failed creatives and aspiring pretentious hipsters that focuses on some ostentatiously displayable feature that has nothing to do with the technical merits or utility of the product's original purpose but will appeal to anyone so low in their own self-esteem that that will buy that somehow owning this magical object and ostentatiously performing this pretentious act in public will make them cooler than they are or suddenly cause girls to start showing up at Comicon.
>>
>>Apple is the master of this and trying to beat them at their own game is a fools' errand ( hmmm perhaps this is why MS thinks they have a chance)
>>
>>But it is not a good precedent. Imagine ad campaigns for power drills, microwave ovens or tampons developed with this brief. ....
>
>Oddly, because I watch TV so rarely, I find myself actually watching the ads - not because I'm interested in the product in question, just curious as to what the advertisers think will sell it.

It may have a subliminal effect but I can't think of anything I've ever bought because of advertising.