Those new platforms can't come without the software to run them, and getting that part right is apparently very difficult. It's the chicken and egg problem of developers not gearing software to small markets.

Transition to what though? Ubuntu has already made the same style of shift (radical UI change for touch ability), and other flavors are following. Apple is making the same shift, they just started a little sooner and are doing it a little more slowly. Personally, I think Windows 8 handles a straight mouse based user with a lot of new and interesting systems (having a hot corner for "alt-tab" for example is a great add). Any progress on a UI front will require retraining, so I'd rather have a single big shift than years of having to teach both styles. I had the same reaction to the missing start button, but after actually losing it, I can't say I miss it. The functionality is still there for keyboard pounders, mouse swashbucklers, and now the touchy feeling types too. And none of them have to waste pixels in the corner for something you might use once to start an application.

I prefer to take the track record of a field of sciences predictions... climatologists have yet to prove they can predict a god damn thing. They're computer models can't even get direction of temperature movement correct over a 10 year period. If anyone on this site put up code that spat out the wrong answer, after years of tweaking, we would stop listening to that person. Stop listening to people who just want your money, either big oil or big green. They all lie to get their ends.