Sure, and maybe that accounts for Gabe's criticism. But the article greatly exaggerates Microsoft's power in the Windows gaming market. MS tried to flex their muscles a while ago with the introduction of GFWL. We all know how that worked out; that is, it didn't. Now they're trying to include it in the OS.

"By creating a Windows Store that lets you buy and store all of your software in one place, Microsoft is moving in on Valve's territory in a big way."

And how exactly does that bother Valve? Basically, MS is trying to do something Valve has been doing for what, 6-7 years? Do you really think that people will abandon an environment that has been faithfully providing them conveniently and fairly with latest games and suddenly jump overboard just so the already ridiculous Metro UI looks even more so with a few more tiles? MS has no idea how these stores work. Their XBL marketplace is marginally if at all better then competition's, which aren't that impressive to begin with. Their phone marketplace is a joke compared to Google Play and Apple Store.

I think it's time Valve created that steam box. Running Linux, Mac OS, or Windows 7 out of the box and having decent specs to run games while being a PC you can upgrade. Create the PC gaming box, something that gamers will buy knowing it's for games and will run steam and drop support for Windows 8.

I've been playing with it since the preview on VMs, it's just not a very good desktop OS, it really isn't.

I know Gabe is a bag of hot air much of the time, and that he says extreme things in order to pressure one company or another.

But at the end of the day, we know that Microsoft, like Apple, has a long history of trying to force their products and services on people through the Windows interface. And, unfortunately, they often suck at it, such as the afore mentioned GFWL (the most rage-inducing piece of garbage I've ever had on my PC) and some of the worse versions of Internet Explorer. Even worse, they often use their influence to stifle competition. That's not good. Microsoft, like pretty much anyone else, does their best work when they are forced to be competitive, such as with the newer versions of IE and producing Windows 7 after the backlash from Vista.

I'm not going to make up my mind about Windows 8 yet, of course, but I don't like to be steered around. I want my interface to be clean, simple, and with me firmly in control. If it tries to take too much control then I will definitely be skipping it, like most of the rest of the world.

If Windows 8 is even half as bad as they say and IF it ever manages to get 'too popular', I think I'll have no problem switching over to Linux (and maybe keeping Windows 7 for older games). But I'm not playing my games on an OS like that and switching over to being exclusively a console-gamer is a definite no.

I am using Windows 8 as my gaming platform now. The article is ridiculous. The actual interface seems to work superbly for a gaming machine as you get put all your game tiles on your metro start screen. Windows boots faster and I instantly have access to every game on my machine on my very first mouse click.

Not going to write them off just yet however it seems like Microsoft is repeating the pattern of making a great OS followed by one that many people hate.

At this stage it looks as though I along with many others will stick with windows 7 for the foreseeable future.
Either by luck or choice I seem to have missed out on the arguably "Inferior" OS's including Millenium, 2000 and Vista.

XP & Win 7 FTW :)