I would say they are directly relevant.  The upgrade cycle is much less of an issue for people now.  My mom would've been fine sticking with her Athlon X2 until the end of time, were I not around to build a comp and realize I didn't need it. And eventually she'd have gotten a tablet to replace it, because it does all she needs.  My dad has 13 PCs he doesn't actually need, and I doubt he'll ever have an actual reason to get another one.  He doesn't even play games.

Yes, Windows 7 is a solid OS and people have far less of an obvious reason to upgrade, but functionality wise?  It was Vista, with a bit of stuff changed under the hood.

Like XP was to 2000.

If MS is going to use WinRT for their future console as I suspect, the ecosystem shift will make a hell of a lot more sense to people.  MS not having 3000 different development targets would be pretty damn unusual.

Yes, but there's so much 'stuff' people will always want to be doing via a traditional PC animal....you know...real screen size too big/far away to slime fingers over.... and a real keyboard tradition because they actually can remember WHY it's a 'qwerty' and not a 'abcdef'.

It's not about dinosaurs...it's about [some people's] desire to use a real computing/game platform [not some strangled compromise closed system console] on something worth doing it on.

You'd look a real dork hooked up to an iPad with a Saitek X52 Pro and a Logitech G25 and Proseat...

Of course...then there's those commercial users....you know....employers and such...

 You'd be a real dork to hook up any machine with those, so what's yer point? 

Current rumors are that the next Xbox will be x86 based like the PS4... an ARM-based "next-gen" console wouldn't really make sense.

Yes...but when it's a desktop machine...not a portable/iPad ...you are confined to the privacy of your own home...and don't expose your dork-ness to all and sundry in the wild ...

I said WinRT, not Windows RT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinRT

As to the RT API (yay for not-the-least-bit-confusing-naming, given that every Windows ever has been referred to as WinXX...), the benefits in doing so would be very limited:

- WinRT is the solution to a problem (terrible Win32 APIs) that doesn't exist on a blank slate like a new console (unless they choose to make it so), and significant portions of it aren't terribly relevant to a console. They can of course just use it as a contract with an entirely custom underlying implementation specific to the Xbox's OS and architecture, but then we have the next point:

- WinRT isn't supported on earlier versions of Windows, nor has MS announced any plans to do so (quite the contrary, in fact). So it wouldn't make Xbox<->PC porting any easier either; inability to support 7 and Vista would make it a non-starter in that regard.

Granted, MS isn't above doing silly things, so this being one of them doesn't mean they won't...

It'd also be a common thread between tablets, PCs, and fixed form devices since it's alt architecture friendly, and they wouldn't have to spend resources into rebuilding their entire OS, apps and Store architecture all over again when they've already got working code.

I'm not going to be silly and guarantee that's what's going to happen when history deems it unlikely, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

WinRT is a way to control application delivery to your system. Nothing will run in the WinRT box that isn't signed by Windows Store, i.e. for which you pay MSTax to download. I paid MSTax for 20 years for MS-DOS i never used, no way i'm going to pay any longer.

It's just a bad Apple business concept copy, and precisely why i don't use Apple products is that business concept of a blackbox with Apple in charge.

And for those StarTrek fans that really believe fondleslabs are 'the way of the future' try and do a decent spreadsheet on them, or write a book. Do some decent surfing where you can see a whole page at once without a magnifier.

Sure, they'll have their place. Mine in the bed and bathroom as entertainment centers. Handy remotes for music and movies.

I didn't confuse anything. WinRT will replace in time Win32, after which it'll be a blackbox  as i described. There is no other way forwards for MS. W8 is dead in the water and no tweaking that mess is going to get it alive.

There are officially documented methods of sideloading apps.  It's actually pretty easy to do.

The Windows Store is certainly going to be the default method of acquiring them, but that's hardly a black box.

For now...

Cynic that I am, I'm not bettin' the farm on it staying that way.

Me neither.  I expect they just haven't finished the new installer.