And...
I *did* touch on the differences between RT and Pro and called RT *crippled* in the article. Where did you come up with the idea that I was intentionally *hiding* a fact a bluntly confronted? I didn't spend 500 words revisiting the differences that everyone should know by now - but I certianly didn't try to pass it off as if there were no difference between the two.
For what it is worth - I agree, the Modern-UI app market is more of a "trivial app" or "leisure app" market. But that isn't really any different than Android or iOS. Remember when the iOS/Android arguments were all about, "It is about the apps"? And, to a certain extent at that time, it was true. Android reached momentum, and now it isn't all about the apps. That realization gave birth to the rebuttal, "Android doesn't need 5000 fart apps" - which was *also* true.
The point is, the MS app store will grow and mature. Android will always lag behind iOS on apps. At some point, that doesn't matter as much. You know, once Twitter came to Android, I found out it didn't matter that it was iOS exclusive. They could have kept it - I would have been fine.
I'd point out that this is how Microsoft *came ouf of the corner*... swinging like Mike Tyson and beating the competition to the canvas in some important ways. Android came out of the gate eating paste and sniffing daisies, not getting serious until they teamed with Verizon and Motorola for the Droid 1.
Now it just depends on how many consumers *get* it with what Microsoft is doing, and how many people value that. I don't honestly KNOW those details - I don't think *anyone* does. But I think Microsoft has a strong position and opportunity. I think a lot is going to depend on Microsoft being able to communicate that to users, to price competitively.
I doubt it will make a tremendous difference in the next 18 months. I think the Haswell chips and dropping prices on IvyBridge along with natural upgrade cycles and OEM license bundles will begin to change the Win32 environment, and like every other Win release, slowly this new approach will gain steam. It might be 3 to 5 years out before we see a change, and maybe Microsoft will give up before they get that far - or maybe it will move to slow and they'll abandon it. There is no doubt going Microsoft at this point is a risk.
