Early in June the latest Mac operating system was released and it looked so much better than Windows 8 and because of this I think Windows 8 is not going to be very sucsessful. There is a big price differance between Windows PC's and Apple PC's (on average it is about £1000). So Microsoft is better in that aspect but for another £1000 Apple computers are alot quicker and a more easy to use.
Whenever Apple releases a new product or operating system it is kept a complete secret until it is completely finished and relesased however Microsoft's Windows 8 had features offically anounced about it almost a year before it was released. I think Microsoft needs to copy of Apple's technique and keep their products behind closed doors until they want them to be released.Because I think Windows 8 is going to be so weak compared to the Mac OS, Microsoft needs to advertise the fact that their computers will bring Microsoft Office to the tablet market and they need to push for simplicity (because nobody want's a computer which is hard to use.)
Microsoft also needs to make a cheap gimmic (like Siri for Apple), I think this will make their products more fun to use. I also don't think that the Metro styles home screen is very good on Windows 8 however at least it is new and original.
Also in an attempt to catch up with Apple, I would get Microsoft to release a free upgrade to their operating system quarterly for the next year. For the updates they will ask for feedback on the operating system act on that to make the operating system better.
Only if they do this, will they maybe have an operating system as good as Apples (In my opinion anyway).
(So when I take over Microsoft Windows, that is what I will do!)