Oh good, I was afraid I wouldn't have enouch versions of Windows 8 to choose from

[Lemur]

Appears that Windows 8 will come in no fewer than nine delicious flavors. Honestly, I expect there will be even more.

If you thought Microsoft produced too many versions of Windows 7 or Vista, it sounds like you haven't seen anything yet. It's too early to know for sure how Microsoft will package Windows 8, but it's unlikely the company will give up on offering six different of its trademark OS as it has with both Windows 7 and Vista. Add to that version mix four variations for ARM tablets and possibly netbooks, and you've got a recipe for confusion for the non-techie consumer. [...]

It's not clear what Microsoft has in store for Windows 8, but current rumors suggest Windows 8 for mobile devices will include an interface based on elements of Windows Phone 7's Metro UI.

Sigh. I'm with Xiahou on this one; Microsoft should have one version of Windows. One. Uno. Their pointless market segmentation just leads to support pain and consumer confusion. Fire the marketing people, and horsewhip them through the streets. There can be only one.

[Tellos Athenaios]

They make only one per architecture, actually. Then they cut features until they have as many different ones based on the number of features they cut.

[Gregoshi]

People want choices. The "you can have any colour as long as it is black" era of Henry Ford is over and dead...and I don't like it.

[drone]

Why Windows 8, much less 20 different versions of Windows 8? What's wrong with just supporting Win7 and porting it to ARM (apart from the obvious license money grab reasons...)?

iOS and tablets are killing them, and by pushing the XBox they have severely cut into the only real reason to have a Windows PC, gaming. Desktops are on their way out of the casual user's home, and Linux will do what most casual users want anyway. I'm curious to hear their pitch on why I should buy Win 8.

[LeftEyeNine]

As long as they can break their recent one-sucks-next-rocks cycle this time, I'm fine with whatever they do about their stupid segmentation strategy.