I do think windows 8 is a faster os, im not the only one to say this as well.  :)

FWIW,
I'm talking about X2 performance running a typical project.
Performance is about the same under Win7 and Win8.

Boot-time is fast under Win8
I'm using a Z77 motherboard and a SSD for the OS... so boot-time is pretty quick whether running Win7 or Win8.  


Win8 is pretty slick with a multi-touch monitor... as opposed to just using a mouse.
Things like shut-down and restart are quick/easy... and you can see why certain features function the way they do...

Glyn Barnes


The great thing about classic shell is you never see it, I don't see why Microsoft could not offer the option to boot into metro or desktop

Just took a look at the classic shell website, yeah that does look pretty cool.
 
For reference: http://www.classicshell.net/
 
I'll certainly give this one a spin when I try Win 8 next time. thanks.

Talk about gag me with a spoon. 


Bet ya havn't heard that in a while. 

That stuff's like gross - totalllllyyy

I don't have any more information than anyone else, but I think people are confusing the desktop UI with Win32 applications. They are 2 different things. The desktop UI is just the old flat screen with icons and the start menu. That was replaced by the Metro tile based UI. You can however still run Win32 apps from the tiles. 

While the start menu and Windows desktop UI will likely go away completely soon, there there is no way in hell that desktop *applications* themselves (applications based on the Win32 SDK) will not be supported in Windows anytime soon. It would be business suicide for MS to do that. I suspect it will be 10 years or more before Win32 applications stop being supported. Its possible that 32 bit applications might be phased out quicker but 64 bit apps, unlikely. Anyone remember how long it took to phase out 16 bit DOS applications?


As much as Microsoft would like to get rid of Win32 (to reduce their support and maintenance costs obviously) its going to be a long ride. There are millions of applications built on Win32 and they won't go away overnight. What is likely to happen IMO is that the new WinRT framework will get richer over time to a point where it won't have some of the limitations that it has today. At that point most app vendors would have migrated their apps to WinRT. Even if desktop UI itself goes away completely in future Windows OS's, there will most certainly have to be a way to launch Win32 apps - you can do that today from the metro tile UI. And even if MS removes that there will be 1 million 3'rd party desktop replacement's that will allow you to do this so I wouldn't worry too much.


While I personally don't think WinRT is a mature enough replacement for Win32 yet, at least for the needs of applications like ours, Win8 was definitely a step in the right direction for Microsoft. Just look at what you can do with touch and the ability to move seamlessly from a desktop PC to a tablet/mobile pc running the identical app, which is killer! I suspect some of the clunkiness with the initial Win8 transition will be improved in the next generation OS. Most of it is just the user interface dealing with the new UI paradigm and not the OS core itself. 

Noel - really appreciate you taking the time to respond to this thread - reassuring indeed and also adds some much needed clarity on this subject.  Great to get direct feedback and reaffirms what I said about a brilliant product and user forum.  thx.

I really think the discussion of Win 7 vs 8 is like deja vu all over again.

I seem to recall when Windows 3.0 came out almost everyone was critizing it , including me, in my most wonkish voice proclaiming the UI as "user condescending". Bring back the C:\ prompt for gods sake (nicely formatted with ASCII escape codes ;-)).

So even though I currently await new drivers for my soundcard I will be moving to Win 8 in due course. Undoubtedly I will scratch my head over the Metro scheme, and then I will dig in and learn it's advantages and try to turn them to my advantage.

Personnaly, I applaud Cakewalks effort to start incorporating the latest Win 8 features in Sonar. Here's to the future!

Regards,

Microsoft is going nowhere.  The company is doomed.  They can now only milk their declining desktop business.  Even that isn't going so well.  Windows 8 now accounts for 1.5% of all windows installations since launch.  That makes it the slowest launch ever for them.  People just don't need to upgrade.  Also where a home may have had multiple desktops and laptops once upon a time, that is being changed by the emergence of mobile.  A market that microsoft famously missed.  

 http://www.forbes.com/sit...me-over-ballmer-loses/

This article made some waves when it appeared.

So where is the future?  The cloud?  Apps?  Mobile?  Desktop will probably be reduced to a niche market for specialized applications.  There is no rule book that says that music must ideally be made on a desktop.

And what does that mean for us?  My hunch is that 5-10 years hence few of us will be on windows as we migrate to other hardware platforms.  So what does that mean for Sonar?  Don't know.  But if  I was Cakewalk I would be creatively thinking through future servicing models for their user base.

And just to add to the above, here is what market shares for windows looks like when pooled with mobile devices.  It is no longer the biggest player and it is losing share.  That must be concern for cakewalk.  Everytime someone gets a tablet, they will not use Sonar.  And that seems to be a trend that will continue.

Microsoft is currently headed the way of Kodak.  Once upon a time Kodak were just as dominant.  Nobody predicted that they would be reduced to bankruptcy.

The desktop wont go away for a while but in future versions, it will be turned off by default.
Legacy apps will eventually run in a type of emulation mode. 
We're already starting to see parts of the desktop being moved to the
modern UI like Control panel settings in leaked versions of the Windows Blue update.

I don't think that the desktop will ever go away.  But it will be reduced to specialized applications that need the screen real estate.

Music will still be made on desktops.  But it will also be made on a host of mobile devices as well.  That is what I would worry about as Cakewalk.  Being tethered to windows only is not a winning strategy for the future.