[gurkendoktor]

WinRT on ARM seems to be what you want. The Windows 8 store will certainly cause a gold rush as well.

But are you honestly arguing for forced obsolescence here? The most agile app developers would have a chance at a quick buck. The Windows team could kick out ugly code. And then?

[fiaz]

I am most definitely arguing for forced obsolescence. The prime motivating factor being the fact that it is perfectly acceptable and "normal" to go through all of the hoops and ladders of inoculating your computer against viruses. And then when those programs fail, users have to go to take their computer to get their digital machine to be cleaned out as though it was a poorly built car in need of maintenance.

I'm not advocating that the API is cleaned out merely on the technical level, I'm advocating (with a lack of clarity on my behalf) that Microsoft needs to encourage an ecosystem of development creativity. Instead, we get a UI that is abstractly "optimized" for usage but is far removed from providing a pleasant experience for their users.

[gurkendoktor]

Apple is adding optional sandboxing to their system without intentionally breaking backwards compatibility in their APIs. Why wouldn't this work for Microsoft?

And isn't Metro exactly what you want?