The "dead on arrival" article is from February and before the Consumer Preview (=="Beta"). At that point, most of the criticism was valid, though some of it does not apply anymore (between Consumer and Retail Previews; the Beta and the Release Candidate).
"No one needs Windows 8 on the desktop" was subjective then and is subjective now - it's the only criticism that won't go out of date but it applies equally well to every UI advance from the mouse onwards.
"Metro: An ugly, useless interface" is also subjective, but the more specific argument is that it is unfamiliar for users. This is true when you compare it to prior versions of Windows, but any four year old that's played with an iPad will figure out "click the big coloured box with the racing car" before they get "click the round button with the flag and then All Programs and then Games and then the racing car". (Hell, when I put it like that, my grandmother would probably get there first.)
Jensen Harris pulled apart the "change==bad" myth/reaction pretty well on the Win8 blog.
"Where are the Windows 8 Applications?" is a fair call, though Windows Live has been pretty clear about how they'll be working. Office is a completely separate division at MSFT, and they were working on the next version of Office well before they got access to the new Metro stuff - most non-Windows developers didn't have access before the Developer Preview went public.
"Vexed Windows developers" is largely out of date. The tools are coming along, books are being written, and just like with C++11, most stuff will be ready for the official release.
Finally,
"Too little, too late for the smartphone/tablet market" is just completely misunderstanding the intent in a way that is inexcusable for a "tech journalist." Windows Phone is separate and different to Windows 8 - different devs, different managers, different plans. Yes, Windows Phone has made very little impact in the market, largely (IMO) due to coming in late and not offering anything new. But Windows 8 is a different strategy - Apple (with the iPad) bet that consumers wanted a larger iPhone, so that's what they got, while Microsoft is betting that consumers want a smaller laptop. There are plenty of potential (largely business) consumers that won't consider an iPad as a business tool where they would consider a Windows 8 tablet that runs Office natively.
Losing the glass is a good thing; apparently it was "in style" at the time, though the only place I saw it was in Windows...
OT, do I now have the longest post on the new forum? :icon_eek:
Cheers,
Zooba :t
