To requote your quote "We have said that Windows 8 is a complete reimagination of the Windows
operating system. Nothing has been left unexplored,"
Notice a two key words "reimagination, unexplored" The complete reimagination is in of itself an explanation. MS wanted to return to the roots of the OS. After Bill left MS they changed direction. In the beginning Widows use the Window logo the basic number scheme, Windows 1, 1.1, 2, 3, 3.11 Not until Windows 95 did they start using a naming scheme, Windows 95 for the year of release. The press and tech world raked Bill over the coals. And he took it personal. When Vista was beta testing Bill made reference to the fact the he knew what worked in Windows better then the average user, me and you. he knew what WE wanted. he proved by Vista that he did not know anything about the US of the world anymore.
The Canadian lawsuit almost ended Microsoft, came so close that they had to rush W7 to the market, and therein is why they can't change the base code; that lawsuit.
MS knew when they lost they were stuck with the current look, feel, and workings of Office and Windows. They messed up bad with that suit. So now MS has nothing new to offer people anymore, and with W7 they released the new file structure that works with Flash Drives and drives above 2TB. Almost all the changes with new releases of Windows was more about file structure than anything.
FAT (File Allocation Table)
FAT 32 (As above but for 32 bit processors)
NTFS (New Technology Filing System)
and now exFAT. Which they did release a patch for XP but XP can't support 2TB or larger driver, PROPERLY.
Moore's Law was to one day come to an end and it now has. Processor technology has reached the limit of silicon, that is the reason they went to multi-cores. File structure has reached its limit, they may improve it, but with the transfer to flash there is not much room. 3D core stacking technology is being explored as is a few other types, there is a HUGE promising technology that should hit the market by years end 2013, if it works Moore's law becomes law again, NO Limit is expected, it will be called Tesla Technology.
But unless that takes over, and we are talking 10+ years before me and you can enter that market, MS has nothing new to alter about the base code. But they HAVE to sell something, they have outlived their usefulness, so more toys.
I will miss MS when they go away, In the 70's and 80's the world thought that Steve Jobs and Apple made the mistake about holding onto their code for certain hardware, and that Bill Gates was the smarter one. I guess Steve's look into the future was more long term, Apple is for the first time the #1 computer maker in the world. (I got to buy one or two.)
