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I'm not, but Stallman makes a very strong case in his recitation of how all three are compromised. I agree, but Microsoft does employ some incredible talent, and it is disappointing to see the direction(s) they're taking with so many things we've taken for granted for so long -- and that hasn't exactly hurt them financially... And I'm not so sure Microsoft's decision making is effected much by consumer OS sales or the few of us that use alternatives.

It's not what we can see, trace and measure that concerns me; as I'm sure Microsoft already has some well composed 'plays nice' legal boiler plate about how this is just anonymous information collected for security and 'making your product experience better'. What worries me is what we don't see, that doesn't show up via Windows Performance Counters because it's totally obfuscated by design the Windows network stack -- and the only indication we'll have that anything is going on is something will show up in WireShark (if that)... However annoying you may find him personally, Richard Stallman seems to be hitting on all cylinders with respect to closed source hegemonic OS publisher/developer with big government contracts and the ultimate outcome this has with respect to privacy, security and freedom...

Wholly SHI*! Handsome work Tihiy! Posted about your project on the Server as a Workstation Forums here -- hope you don't mind

While obviously Microsoft will (and already has) lock down ARM platforms it licenses Windows RT with OEM partners as well as ARM hardware it licenses outright -- the good news is ARM licensure is not mitigated by just three licensees, so we'll likely never see Microsoft prevailing on ARM the way it has on x86 -- there are just too many licensees, and anyone that wants to can inexpensively license ARM and build a new system with any BIOS boot configuration, that loads any OS (or excludes any OS) that pleases them. ARM hardware and licensure is and should remain very free market so, and if alternatives to Windows RT are as competitive and credible (as we know them to be), it's a forgone conclusion that Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot with a triple salvo of: 1) a higher price point, 2) exclusivity with their OEM hardware partners, and 3) an even more exclusive Microsoft ecosystem... Who is going to pay more for the same hardware just because it has Windows RT on it, when you can run Linux or Android on it and Run Windows 7 under emulation for substantially less?

While Windows 9 might be the 'tock' that saves us from the cringe fest that is Windows 8, it seems a safe bet that we're not far from Microsoft taking the old 'hamburger scam' t the next level; 'Hambugers 99¢! (cooked and with bun $5.00)'... Or, god forbid, a 'subscription OS'!

Holly Shi...! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! We have arrived here... There has to be a rule of thumb about what it means when a company spends eleven fold on marketing what it spends on product development....

Hmm, no really strongly negative opinions via those links -- mostly just a recitation... The guy blogging at the second link seems more surprised bewildered then disappointed... I wonder who the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese equivalents of John C. Dvorak would be...

Yes jaclaz, 私は理解して -- that was part of my point... What I'm wondering is how is Windows 8 actually perceived in the Asian markets, i.e. do they feel there's any functional usability value in NCI, or think it's as dumb as we do? I also wonder if there's any deliberate motive on Microsoft's part in this direction...

One thing not really discussed in going deeper with the 'deeper impressions'; is that NCI does appear to play nice with Asian Languages... Metro/Modern/NCI looks like it was made for Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana when you see Chinese or Japanese Windows 8 sites. Considering a substantial segment of the U.S. economy is floating on debt to Japan and China, and that China (even with the slow down) is still estimated to be one of if not the largest growth market -- one has to wonder if there's not more here then just Microsoft jumping the shark...

As someone that collaborated on a project that took a similar approach to what Tihiy is doing, that actually became a retail 'product' called 98lite, now hosted and still sold apparently here -- I can offer that we contacted numerous Attorneys and even Microsoft and no one felt there was ground for concern none less legal redress. While Microsoft may have become a more litigious company since then, their attitude toward small independent projects, even those that make money and/or may walk a thin line of legality (like MDL) has ranged from benign curiosity to passive indifference. Many Micrisoft Employees used Mark Russinovich's System Internals Tools before he was hired by the company which he sold (and did require substantial reverse engineering of Windows System Internals); as well even more Microsoft Employees use Nir Sofer's excellent tools and utilities today, some of which take a far more aggressive approach then anything Tihiy has done... I can confidently report there are Microsoft employees that are as pleased with Tihiy's project as Fans in this thread, and if there is ever any contention over Tihiy's work he'd have probably heard from Micosoft already and will have a very generous notice if that changes...

Well 'MERDA' works fine in Portuguese as well, and is close enough to the French and Spanish pronunciation that most will know you're talking about Microsoft new steaming pile of...interface....

Well, I don't know if that's really the largest or object concern with respect to processor platforms; a more realistic concern is Intel/AMD and/or their OEM 'partners' selling out to Microsoft pressure for various exclusive implementations of TPM and UEFI that exclude alternative operating systems (including downgrades) and software like this latest news gem and of course the the 'Secure Boot' Microsoft is mandating from OEM partners... With only 3.2 licensees (Intel, AMD, VIA, and Transmeta) x86 on the surface appears more likely to imperil itself through limited licensure, platform restrictions, DRM, and walled gardens that sours anything that interfaces with Microsoft into 'the' unappealing platform rather then just being run over by ARM. ARM Holdings by contrast will license its architecture(s) to anyone; with over 25 of the biggest names in hardware design development and production, and over 20x that in total licensees at a average license/royalty cost of about 7¢ per processor -- just about anyone that has the means to get a chip in production can license ARM and build anything they want from a phone, to a PC, to a massive multi core servers. And while any OEM that builds on ARM can create their own walled garden (as Apple and Google have), there's no way to exert pressure over the ARM platform for licensure to exclusivity. That ARM architecture has been primarily rolled in low power implementations is in no way a design limitation of the architecture; but that it got it's foot in the market there I think will be a tremendous boon to the platform's success; as the x86 PC is now the most expensive consumer appliance to leave running, surpassing even the refrigerator; with most PC consumers having more processing power then ran Fortune 500 companies just two decades ago, use less then a fraction of a percent of that processing capability and are only enriching power companies... Well as far as the Microsoft OS that certainly appears to be their plan to make it appear that way. But ARM architecture already will run any Microsoft x86 OS and software in a Hyper-Visor, as well as under a number of emulators -- in fact ARM servers are already doing exactly that hosting Microsoft enterprise servers and applications... I suspect if the Microsoft/x86 becomes a really ugly hegemony, by that time we'll have ARM/*NIX machines aplenty, and all the user friendly emulation you'll need to run Windows 7, XP, DOS and concomitant legacy applications will be good to go -- in fact if you're a modestly capable Linux geek this is already a done deal. There's also a cost factor here; ARM and *NIX can easily undercut the Microsoft+Intel/AMD proprietary platform; and with $85 billion in quantitative easing a month with no limit -- inflation and costs are going to prevail on the future of what happens in this market as much or more, then any 'plan' a big mucky muck of a company might have... LOL missed that one, thanks Jorge; "NCI" is certainly going to stick with me! Edit: An interesting article on the Intel/Imagination Technologies/Microsoft collusion just appeard here on Slashdot, and this article on the AMD x86 APU roadmap to Hondo -- sounds like Microsoft is throwing cash from their enormous slush fund out the window before it's devalued by inflation...

LOL Jorge, someone really should do a spoof with that there's so much good material in Windows 8 for it; the 'Charms Bar' is officially just called 'Charms' so there's the confusion over individual items in the bar or the bar itself, Start, the Start Screen, Metro, Window, Windows, Modern -- the list just goes on and it's more fun then a barrel of biting monkeys (but not much)!

Got that? Didn't think so! I doubt that even IBM could have made a more tangled mess. Microsoft Windows 8 : Metro ( Call it what you want, we got nuthin! ) LOL OMG WHAT?! That actually is more convoluted then language in an IBM APAR! I would love it if Microsoft actually tried to use language like this in a television spot, kind of like Kafka meets Escher in OS ad copy writing -- it would be perfect! Metro... What is it? Surreal!

Well obviously not today but the theory is sound; ARM architecture can scale just fine to meet high-power computing requirements, and some software Developer/Publishers might like the idea of a 'reboot' on a new platform, with DRM and a walled garden that works and offers at least the promise of more profitability. However when you factor in that it will be Microsoft's DRM, Microsoft's walled garden, and Microsoft's dysfunctional Metro/Modern/NCI (where did NCI come from?) interface -- it's difficult to understand how any Developer/Publisher without a twenty year contract with Microsoft could find this any more appealing then any rational Consumer that's functioning above the neck...