it wasn't me but ...
I echo the question: why does it have to be the same OS?
For that matter, why would it have to be the same UI?
There is a productivity hit that businesses take when they are forced to upgrade OS's. On top of the simple loss of productivity, there is a sizeable cost in retraining, in users, but particularly in support, networking, and software development. Have you ever been part of an enterprise migration where the OS was changed/upgraded and all of the development and testing that goes into converting and/or regression testing of in-house and commercial apps? I have. It is a monumental task. First, is your old hardware up to the task? No, okay, you have 50,000 PC's and half a billion in server farms ... well, the servers will probably be okay, so lets stick with the PC's. You have to spec a hardware platform that is up to the task, won't break the bank, but will still be available for at least two years, preferably three or four with lots of parts. So it will start at a high tag for all your development and testing, and maybe $750 hardware cost for the first 10,000 machines. But lets not forget deployments costs either - that is, after all the development and testing to the tune of millions of dollars. That's $7.5 million in hardware, just for the first 10,000. And of course, I am just talking desktops, not laptops. Those cost even more - probably about $1500 a pop for a business class machine which will serve the business function for 3 years. Let's say a conservative 5000 of those for your initial deployment - another $7.5 mil ... Gee, $15 million just to start, at least a third of that more for development, testing, and deployment. You wouldn't happen to have $20 + million in your pocket to spend just so people can have prettier eye candy? Retraining, loss of productivity, all the other mishmash that goes along with it. I would not be surprised if the price tag for a major corporate upgrade like that to top over $50 million. And for what reason? What is gained by the business user by switching to Windows 8? It had better be something pretty danged big to justify that type of a price tag ... Looking at Windows 8 from that perspective ... do you see anything in it to justify the cost?
