There you have it, Microsoft’s new logo for Windows 8. It’s a dramatic departure from the logos of the past, where color and flashiness took an increasing role, and it looked less like a window and more like a flag. But why so minimalist? It accurately portrays Windows’ future.

Recognize the color? You should, as it’s one of the primary colors of the tiles in the Metro interface. The flag is now back to being a true window, and its size and shape are reminiscent of the tiled interface that will play such a big part in the platform from here on out. It says simplicity.

I have heard criticism already that the logo is an Apple copy, which I could not disagree more with. Microsoft’s Metro interface is built on simplicity, and really does not have an equivalent in OS X. I am the first person to criticize Microsoft for its blockheadedness in not adapting to trends in technology or in how it runs its business.

If anything, Microsoft is following a pattern that’s apparent across the entire technology industry, that less is more. Technology consumers no longer need flashy doo-dads to attract them; they have matured enough to want things to work more than just look good. Yes maybe Apple started this all, but Microsoft is hardly copying — it’s finally adapting, and we should congratulate them on it.

Windows 8 is a big departure from the “Microsoft Way,” thus it requires an completely different way of looking at the brand and a big shift from the past. This certainly captures it, and I am very impressed that the company seems to be thinking out of the box. For a company that was stagnant for so long, this is a breath of fresh air.

Good job Microsoft, you impressed me.

Microsoft has spilled the beans–lots and lots of them–on the Windows Store app market that will be in Windows 8. Presumably, it would never exist in this form if Apple had never introduced the iPhone App Store. But it does look good, with a slick interface and developer-friendly terms that offer more flexibility and a higher revenue share for programs once they hit $25,000 in sales.

The one thing that bugs me about the Windows Store is that it’s going to be the only way for developers to distribute Windows 8 apps with the new Metro interface to consumers. (Businesses can circumvent it for programs they provide to their own employees.) Am I being inconsistent, considering that I live reasonably happily with Apple’s identical restriction on iOS apps? Maybe. But maybe I’m just grappling with the fact that Microsoft is eliminating a PC feature that’s existed for decades: The liberty to install any program we choose. I’ll reserve further judgement until Windows 8 has shipped and the Windows Store is open–and hope that it, like Apple’s App Store, ultimately feels bountiful rather than limited.

• When Microsoft decided to, um, put all its tablet eggs in the Windows 8 basket–which it presumably did quite awhile ago–it knew that the move meant that it was pushing out the availability of good Windows tablets, thereby losing whatever early momentum it might have had. If the company has the courage of its convictions, it should be okay with short-term bad news.
• Android is performing more poorly in the tablet market than most of us expected; the BlackBerry PlayBook is a fiasco; HP’s WebOS is dead, or close enough. Which means that there’s still plenty of opportunity for someone–including Microsoft–to become a robust #2 in the market after Apple. We already know that won’t happen this year, so Windows 8 tablets showing up next year sounds like decent timing.  
• Most consumers aren’t yet paying attention to Windows 8, so no survey is going to capture well-informed opinions about the new operating system and its strengths or weaknesses as a tablet platform. If Windows 8 tablets are fabulous, they stand a respectable chance of doing okay; if they’re lousy, they’ll surely flop.  
• By choosing to reinvent Windows itself as a touch-centric environment–rather than, say, gussy up Windows Phone and slap it on tablets–Microsoft is clearly trying to do something bigger than simply come up with a plausible iPad rival. It’s Windows users in general that it’s going to need to address, not just prospective iPad buyers.

I’m not saying that Microsoft’s Windows 8 tablet strategy is going to be a surefire success. Actually, it’s one of the biggest gambles I can remember in the technology industry–and in a world in which Windows XP remains the dominant operating system a decade after its release, it’s entirely possible that most people won’t want to make Microsoft’s great leap forward. But it’s okay if interest in Windows tablets is weak right now. If there’s anything we know from the history of post-iPad tablets to date, it’s that expectations don’t have much to do with reality, and rushing into the market doesn’t seem to help.

It’s not going to lure everyone who’s reluctant to upgrade–for one thing, you’ll only be able to perform a full upgrade, with existing apps remaining in place, on Windows 7 machines. But if it works as planned, it sounds nifty, and should be a good starting point for versions of Windows beyond 8.

As a holdover until Microsoft ships the tablet-friendly Windows 8, I like the idea of a Windows 7 tablet that also runs Android. Sure, Windows 7 doesn’t play nicely with touch screens, but it’s a great operating system for getting work done, and when you’re finished, you can switch to Android for leisure.

That’s what ViewSonic tries to accomplish with its ViewPad 10pro tablet. The 10-inch slab runs Windows 7, and also includes an Android emulator on the desktop, letting you run proper tablet apps without restarting the machine. (A previous ViewSonic tablet, the ViewPad 10, dual-booted Windows and Android, requiring a restart to switch between them.)

It’s a neat idea in theory. But in practice, the ViewSonic 10pro only proves that some ideas are better left unrealized.

(Standard disclaimer: This was an informal survey, and the results reflect only the experiences and opinions of the people–almost 900 of them–who happened to take it. I’m not claiming their responses map to the world at large.)

Here are the responses to the questions I asked.

More than half of respondents say they’re still using XP not because they want to, but because their employer makes them. Almost forty-five percent say it still gets the job done. But only nine percent say it’s better than more recent versions of Windows.

Almost two-thirds of respondents are at least reasonably happy with XP–they say it’s good or very good. Only ten percent say it’s poor or unacceptable.

Respondents who use XP only at work–presumably because their employers want them to do so, not by choice–don’t like it as much as those who decide to use XP. But they don’t hate it either. Over 50 percent say it’s good or very good, and only 14 percent think it’s poor or unacceptable.

Will these XP holdouts move to Windows 7? More than a third say it’s up to their employers. Just 17 percent want to actively avoid it indefinitely, but only a little over five percent plan to get it soon.

As for Windows 8, a healthy percentage of respondents reasonably want to know more about it before they make any upgrade decisions relating to it.

Here are some representative verbatim comments from folks who took the survey:

It was around for so long, that I am very comfortable with it in the context of the apps we use it for at work. I am a commercial printer prepress technician, and although we prefer Macs for creating and editing, Windows has always been better at heavy lifting.

I’m a web designer, don’t want to pay for Win 7. But the latest IE will only run on WIn 8 – so will have to buy. Expect to hate it as much as I hate XP. The contempt I feel for winxp is the same level of contempt Microsoft seems to feel for me, the end user.

I use XP Tablet Edition on a Toshiba M400 and it still does everything I need from a portable art and music machine. Plus it’s such a hassle for me to re-install all my esoteric apps and plug-ins … I’ve got a text file with about 30 serial numbers in it that I have to reference every time I start fresh. I did purchase Windows 7 for my desktop, however, as it shipped with Vista.

Only had one blue screen of death this year!

We have machines running XP because many of our clients are still using Win XP. We are a software company that sells to Municipalities that are very slow to embrace new technology.

From an actual usability and productivity standpoint, there is nothing compelling my employer to upgrade to a newer version of Windows.

It’s served the world well, but Windows 7 is most definitely superior, not to mention more secure. The world really needs to move on.

Some government programs do not run on anything but XP, a year after Windows 7 came out they “upgraded” to Vista. But we still have systems that require XP to run and will be running XP for at least another couple of years.

Although I use mostly Win 7 at work, I also use Win XP at work as well. I am a software developer and we support XP. Of all the Windows versions, XP is my favorite. It’s the right balance of sophisticated and straightforward, and it’s stable enough. Win 7 works fine, but it’s more difficult and counterintuitive to use, in my opinion. I will have to use Win 8 when it comes out for the same reason I use Win XP, but I am truly dreading it.

I find that the Windows paradigm is most perfectly embodied in XP, and consequently most easily embraced despite its relative age…Vista and 7 are, to me, merely improved versions that are better in ways that are tangible but ultimately easily discarded. I could envision downgrading to using my XP computer daily (and often do, when traveling) without missing much of anything interface-wise, while I cannot say the same about other OSs, including Android and iOS. I realize that they are not directly comparable, but the limited gardens of both systems make me feel claustrophobic on a secondary device, while XP offers a fuller and more easily tuned experience.

I prefer the no-nonsense Windows Classic look, not easily achievable on W7. Also going through the driver hunt for a new W7 installation on my Thinkpad is daunting.

I have Windows 7 Professional on my main computer at home, and prefer it to XP in a lot of ways. My HTPC runs Win XP Media Center edition, and I have a netbook that came with XP preinstalled. I don’t think it will spec for Win 7.

It’s finally somewhat stable. That’s the overwhelming priority.

When I decided to conduct this survey, I’d forgotten that I’d done a similar one back in August of 2009, when the Vista mess was fresh in folks’ minds and before Windows 7 had shipped. The two surveys involve different questions and different respondents, so you can’t compare them in any serious way. Still, I find it intriguing that back then, very people said they were using XP only because it’s what their employers provided–and with the current survey, that’s the #1 reason. I know that not all the people who choose to stick with XP are crazy dead-enders; some of the most sophisticated tech users I know still run it. But in 2011, the lethargy of IT departments may be the biggest single factor keeping XP relevant.