Riskiest Product Bet For MS: Windows 8?

Steve Ballmer has said in an interview that the next version of Windows will be their riskiest product yet. Let’s hope it is as revolutionary as they claim. I’ve been waiting!

But when we saw the leaked Windows 8 slide deck which looked to be from Microsoft (dated April 2010), the supposed early feature set concepts for Windows 8 looked solid, but weren’t anything I’d call “risky.” Fast startup, facial recognition as a security option, better support for slates, a possible app store — all good, but not amazing. The one feature on the list that might be considered remotely risky (mostly in terms of the ability of Microsoft to deliver it)? Push-button reset, which allegedly would reinstall Windows while maintaining all of your personal files, applications and settings.