Theres a point where microsoft needed to decide what type of person they wanted to appeal to, the gamer or the soccer mom. I am just using generic examples gamer meaning someone who probably has a decent knowledge of computers, and the soccer mom who doesn't even know how to change her router password. Windows 8 is made for the soccer mom, it is probably the most user friendly OS and many people love it. It does receive hate from a lot of gaming communities. I love windows 7, don't mind windows vista, and miss windows xp. We could debate for hours on which OS has more advantages and disadvantages. In my opinion yes, microsoft failed with windows 8 and 8.1