The purpose of the consumer preview is to collect data. It's not primarily a marketing tool.
If the biggest complaint one can muster is that a new OS is unfamiliar (which is the vast bulk of non-ideological criticisms), it's hard to envision a meaningful backlash among users.
As every blogger notes, Microsoft is not Apple. People will not be camped in line at midnight to purchase copies of Windows 8. Microsoft does soft rollouts of its OS - the fact that there is a consumer preview is obvious evidence of that.
Most Windows users upgrade their OS when a new computer is purchased, not upon the OS's release. The few who will upgrade their OS as soon as it becomes available probably have availed their selves of the beta or RTM versions and thus have had time to become familiar with it.
Comments
The purpose of the consumer preview is to collect data. It's not primarily a marketing tool.
If the biggest complaint one can muster is that a new OS is unfamiliar (which is the vast bulk of non-ideological criticisms), it's hard to envision a meaningful backlash among users.
As every blogger notes, Microsoft is not Apple. People will not be camped in line at midnight to purchase copies of Windows 8. Microsoft does soft rollouts of its OS - the fact that there is a consumer preview is obvious evidence of that.
Most Windows users upgrade their OS when a new computer is purchased, not upon the OS's release. The few who will upgrade their OS as soon as it becomes available probably have availed their selves of the beta or RTM versions and thus have had time to become familiar with it.