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Windows 8 to launch with mixed results, analyst says

Teaser
The next major iteration of Windows may go largely ignored, at least at launch

When Windows Vista launched to much negativity from the press, Microsoft put Windows 7 development on overdrive in order to get it out the window sooner. Fortunately for Microsoft, Windows 7 became comparatively well received by the public and quickly overshadowed Vista.

Still, Windows 7 wasn’t exactly optimized for multi-touch use or tablets in mind. Windows 8 will supposedly solve many of these hurdles, but at least one analyst believes that the Windows 7 successor will be largely ignored by users at launch.

Windows 8 will be largely irrelevant to the users of traditional PCs, and we expect effectively no upgrade activity from Windows 7 to Windows 8 in that form factor,” said researchers at IDC according to ZDNet. The incentives to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 may not be as great as moving from Vista to Windows 7.

Additionally, the analysts are not expecting many sales through businesses or through tablets either. On the business front, the source claims that many companies are either still in the process of or have only recently completed transitioning to Windows 7. Meanwhile, the tablet market may currently be too crowded for Windows 8 to make a big enough splash, at least in 2012.

Windows 8 is still scheduled for a late 2012 launch and will be the first Windows to be compatible with the ARM architecture as well.

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Allen Ngo, 2011-12- 7 (Update: 2012-05-26)