Google needs to whip MOTO phones into shape fast! 

Wow. You have a powerful crystal ball to see all this in the future.

Why would Samsung fork they own version of Android? How will this benefit them? It's not like they pay for it. Why would they do this? Android is Open source and they can pretty much do whatever they want with it now.

RIM does look dead and done and I won't argue too much with you on this one although some companies do pull the Lazarus trick.

Let's see if MS and Nokia will merge in the lifetime of Windows 8 as you predicted. When Windows 9 is release and this hasn't happen I will remind you to clean your crystal ball.

Yep, the Chinese are coming but to me this is as much a threat to Nokia as it is to LG and Sony.

Then again the Chinese, Indians and a lot of other emerging economies are now seeking to replace Windows with a national OS used by all it's citizens. This makes sense. Why allowed a propietory software made by a foreign country to be the main supplier of such an important part of a country's infrustructure?

In an ideal world every country that can should have their own national OS. Such a shame that one country should reap pretty much all the financial rewards.

Instead of wasting time arguing if my crystal ball is right or not, why don't you make your own predictions...  Now I have to spend time abd explain where my predictions come from and thats not fun at all...

Reason why Samsung will want their own version of OS or is because of the same reason Amazon did it with the Kindle Fire. Everyone wants full control of their own ecosystem.

Here are a few articles that seem to think this is a possibility

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/5-reasons-google-should-be-very-afraid-samsung-1C8593123

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/25/4029446/google-worried-about-samsung-dominance-of-android

Also, take a look at what the Chinese manufacturers are making. ZTE and Huawei are making mid range to high end android phones more than low end devices feature devices.  Samsung already took most of Nokias low end smartphone when Nokia stopped making Symbian devices. At this point Nokia is selling really good cheap feature phones (like the newly announced 105 for 15 dollars), cheap Asha line basic smartphones and Windows phones. Low and mid range Android devices from China will hurt HTC, Sony and LG much more than Nokia at this point.

That surprised me too, although I still use it as well.
It's perfect for my 11 year old laptop, 1.6ghz pentium m with 1gb memory. With the low overhead of 240mb of xp it still browses as fast as my wifes i5 with win 7. If I install win 7 it's out of ram to run anything after startup. The 1400x1050 screen is perfect for browsing, 1280x720 laptop screens feel too cramped. (widescreen in general sucks for browsing)

Not going to work because it's a technical solution so is immature, lacking apps, and really only for low-end phones.

A branded Android fork is the thing that will. Let's call it, Galaxy OS.

I can't believe people in this thread are talking about Chrome OS, Linux, Mac OS.

Okay, maybe Chrome OS is growing from 0% of PCs to some non-zero number. Maybe Linux is growing from statistically insignificant to slightly less statistically insignificant. And maybe Mac OS is growing from 6% to 8%.

Wake up and smell the coffee, none of these are killing Windows. Tablets and smartphones are. Android and iOS. And despite taking the biggest gamble MS has ever taken with its monopoly and clearly targeting the tablet menace, Windows 8 is doing nothing to stop the bleeding.

The best that can be said is the Win8 may have laid crucial groundwork for a future OS which might succeed (getting Windows running on ARM, getting MS more experience as a hardware vendor, introducing the faithful to touch interfaces and getting feedback on them).

I still think XP is the best, but 7 hasn't caused me any issues so it's okay. 8 seems like it's more for mobile, so I'll stick to 7.

Not surprised, Windows 8 is nothing but a wedge to drive into the phone/tablet market and ill suited for desktop computers and laptop use, it was never intended as anything else.
I don't have a single incentive to "upgrade" to Windows 8 and I think that the majority of PC owners are on the same page, I just don't care about silly apps and shiny, tile-based UI.
Why try to force PC's to look and behave like smartphones and tablets? Its the completely wrong format for such a change, keep it where it belongs.
Moving forwards is good, moving sideways and in the wrong direction is not.

Win 7 - Win 8 will likely be a lot like Win XP - Vista, people change only when forced (DX10) or through massive campaigns with subsidized hardware and contracts with major electonics outlets and retailers.

Microsoft is losing in the Post-PC world. Somehow the anti-microsoft, pro-apple, fanboy pipe dream known as the "Post-PC World" has arrived. As strange as it sounds for everyone who grew up in the Microsoft dominated 90's.... we're all living in it. Clearly people still use PC's, but technology is moving away from desktop PCs as primary hardware. It's not a dominant player for new technology.

Microsoft's reigns of control are slipping slowly but surely, it's evident. It's their own fault. They got fat, lazy and dependent on Windows. It's understandable, but it's not excusable. Their not gaining ground, they're losing it.

I can understand why Apple receives the kudos it does. They took RISKS and those risks PAYED OFF. Good for Them.

I have experienced problems when trying to log onto my profile on start up with 7.  I used to keep a password but now I don't even bother thinking it might happen less...  What happens is that for some reason it can't log onto your profile and it boots up a temporary profile.  I don't want a fucking temporary profile.. I want my profile.  It seem to happen more with the password and I have only experienced the temp profile once or twice after removing password option on start up.  Not a major issue but still a pain in the ass when it happens with no fix in sight (any fix they put on their site is complete bs and waste of time in my eyes).

I even deleted my old profile and made a new one (because I thought perhaps some files got corrupted on old profile to cause it).  It still happened on the new one.