RE: By and large people either hate windows or, at best, tolerate it. Nobody (that I know of) actually likes it.
So, the fact that Windows dominates over 90% of the world’s operating system requires some explanation.
Why can’t LINUX dominate? I’ve waited a decade for it to overtake Windows but we’re still in the same status quo.
No one that you know likes Windows 8. Well, that dooms it to failure. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that your friends wont make or break this product. There are going to be 500 million people who do like it. All the Apple fanboys and Microsoft haters criticizing Windows 8 probably haven’t even used it. I’ve been running it for months. It convinced me to switch from OS X. Its that good.
Wait, this is the opportunity! Yes, 2013 will be the year of Linux on the desktop! LOL
It’s a bit like your cable company, or like the phone company back in the day. Huge market shares, people can’t do without them, but they don’t actually like them.
Linux actually is dominating, or at least holding its own, in phones, servers, and tablets. In desktops and laptops I sense that the combined shares of apple and linux have made inroads in the past 5 to 10 years into windows dominance (definitely the case in my workplace and definitely the case among students).
I think two cards that MS still holds here are 1) Active Directory 2) VMware integration - but overall - they will be sharing market share and mind share with apple and linux.
Linux is doing fine server side.
Android is based on Linux and Android is expected to surpass Windows in the number of computing devices within 4 years. (Gantner).
That might be why Microsoft is developing a version of Office for Android and IOS.
They see the writing on the wall.