Quoting SilentBob1138:

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Ken would need to make a new interface to work with a touchscreen. Other than that it should indeed be easy to make DVDP run on Win8 tablets.
I'm not sure there will be a big demand for Win8 tablets, though. Microsoft is clearly trying to get people familiar with the Metro UI through the desktop version and the Xbox360 dashboard in the hope those people will then buy Win8 smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately Win8 is pretty terrible as a desktop OS because it is essentially two completely different systems in one. And on the Xbox I have grown to absolutely loathe the Metro UI which is much more cumbersome to navigate than the previous dashboard.
Still, with the probably limited amount of work needed to make DVDP run on Win8 tablets, I won't be surprised by DVDP for Win8.

I'm running Windows 8 Consumer Preview on my limited ASUS netbook. The problem is not so much the Metro GUI as the lack of a touchscreen. So I've basically turned it into Windows 7.5 by installing Classic Shell. I'm sure it will run nicely with a proper touchscreen though.

Quoting SilentBob1138:

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But that's just it - the system is designed for a touchscreen yet hardly anyone uses a touchscreen with a desktop PC or laptop. The desktop OS is still Microsoft's core market. With Win8 they made a product which is pretty much useless where most people will use it and they expect those people to be so amazed by the product that they will buy tablets and smartphones where the system might be wonderful. That seems like faulty logic to me.

Most people don't upgrade their OS unless they also upgrade their computer and maybe you haven't noticed but people are already buying tablets and smart phones instead of PCs so unless MS do something their core market will soon be much smaller and only for business/professional use. I don't think they would want to give up the whole private segment to Apple and Android without a fight so naturally they try to produce something more suitable for modern hardware that the public might actually want to buy. It might still fail since they are already late into the game but I can't blame them for trying. And of course Windows 8 will still run everything that Windows 7 does so it's still useful as an old-fashioned desktop client, if for some reason you still need one. It takes me all of one click to get past the Metro interface if I don't want to use it and I suspect it might be fully optional once it starts shipping to retailers. And I also suspect that in a few years I won't even bother or miss the old ways that haven't really changed much since windows and mice replaced the command prompt.

Quoting SilentBob1138:

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Of course MS needs to do something to catch up with Apple and Android in the tablet and smartphone market. I just think they are doing it wrong. They are hoping for a halo effect. They expect people in their core market to be wowed by Metro and then buy Win8 tablets and smartphones because they like the user interface. But you deactivated Metro already and are speculating that it might be optional in the final product. Yes, you can run Win8 more or less exactly like Win7, but that won't get anybody to buy a Win8 tablet or smartphone.

Like I said, people are already buying tablets and smartphones in droves so putting a product out there for people to see and buy is hardly going to hurt business. After all, what good is a core market when it's dead? And I haven't deactivated Metro, it's still my default start screen. I just don't use it much because I don't have a touchscreen and it doesn't offer many applications yet. Of course I don't recommend anyone with an old computer to upgrade to Windows 8, I just decided to try it on my netbook because it offered a free upgrade over my old Windows XP. I tried Windows 7 the same way before it was released, and then I bought it for my desktop computer, again to replace XP. Likewise, I could definitely see myself buying a Windows 8 tablet or phone somewhere down the line but I'm obviously not going to buy Windows 8 to replace Windows 7 on my desktop. I'm actually running Ubuntu most of the time and I think the new Ubuntu release will have a touchscreen interface as well so Microsoft is definitely not alone in thinking about the future in the same way. Yes, not everyone is going to be happy about it, but I think it's a calculated loss to bring in a potentially bigger user base.

Huh so there will be only ARM tablets running Windows 8? I thought there would be x86 tablets as well, I know Intel has been working on putting them into smartphones even.

EDIT: Ah, I see now that there will indeed be x86 tablets.

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For PCs and tablets powered by x86 processors (both 32 and 64 bit), we will have two editions: Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro.

Quoting SilentBob1138:

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At least they reduced the number of versions for the consumer desktop market to two.

Which are?