Lost data was a big problem once apon a time, then some smart people invented things like cd/dvd burners and flash drives for making backups.
I still say Win8 is an attempt to make a desktop PC work as a tablet. This does not work and will never work.
I think Win8 will work so well as a tablet, that in a year or so, it will take big chunks of market away from the iPad. There is a big market for a real computer in tablet form, and the problem has always been that the current Windows GUI is well proven to be no good as a tablet interface. It is partly the need for a mouse, but a bigger issue is that a comfortable tablet screen just doesn't fit modern Windows applications.
It will take a year or two for major applications to redesign their program windows for tablet and PC touch screen use, but when they do, most applications will become far more intuitive to use. Good will come from it.
I believe the issue with Windows mobile is the fact that people have a CHOICE with the OS there phone runs. People use Windows on there desktop because they have to. They are force fed Windows at school and then at work.
Not true at all. If there is an alternative to Windows for mainstream users, what is it? Linux is appalling for binary code compatibility and it has always been so. It is incredibly hard installing a 10 year old Linux program on the latest Linux release, even if you have the source code. If you are not a programmer, you have no chance. Apple is too expensive and businesses are very price sensitive. Apple has very limited hardware options as well. Apple has been pretty bad on binary code compatibility.
Once a business has developed a custom program or database for a task, they want to use it for often 10 or 15 years. If a business has a working application, they absolutely do not want to spend another $100K getting it upgraded to the latest operating systems.
In many cases, the programs businesses need to run are 3rd party, and it is impossible to get a new version compiled for the latest operating system. If I have old PEEL18CV8 projects written using the ICT PLACE tools, I need to be able to run WinPlace last updated in 2003. Windows 7 64 bit runs WinPlace fine - not the slightest problem.
ICT does not exist any more, and I do not want to have to attempt to redesign these old projects for some new different tool.
Usually Windows has just been the only viable solution - end of story.
This has made windows the mainstream desktop OS. This does not mean people LIKE Windows, it means people have no other realistic choice.
I LIKE the programs an operating system can run, but as I am not sure that liking an operating system is important at all. I think most people would be very happy with any operating system if it ran all the applications that they want to run.
If you could make a version of Linux that could run all Windows and Apple programs, users would absolutely flock to Linux.
When it comes to phones however, people have a choice of 3 main operating systems. There is no way for Microsoft to force people to use there mobile OS.
Regards
Microsoft will not need to force people to use their mobile. Microsoft have taken the huge decision to rewrite the whole of Windows 8 mobile to be more compatible with Windows 8. When users have Win8 PC and tablet, it will not be hard to sell Windows 8 mobile phones at all.
Richard.