Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) previewed Windows 8 last week, giving reviewers a chance to check out the upcoming operating system's touch-screen, tiled user interface. Touch-screen is a bold departure from the mouse-driven, graphical UI we have long been accustomed to on our PCs, and this inspired some critics to question its aptness for business users. Others began anticipating Windows's downfall.

To me, though, there is no reason to mourn the demise of the mouse, and no reason to think Windows hasn't a chance of evolving into a touch-centric operating system. Let's face it--the mouse was weird from the outset. Sure, it has become second nature to most of us by now, but that is merely a matter of our adaptability. I can remember more than a few individuals struggling to master the strange little contraption and complaining that it felt like learning to drive a helicopter. In no way could it ever be considered intuitive. It really was a pest.

Designed with tablet computers in mind, Windows 8 mirrors the more instinctive usability of hugely popular smartphones and other mobile devices, which seems like a good strategy to me. Some of the skepticism surrounding the new OS may stem from comments Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made about it last fall. At a research analyst conference in October, Ballmer called the upcoming OS the company's "riskiest product bet." Nobody was exactly sure what he meant, but it might have been in reference to the new UI.

It may be that Microsoft doesn't expect PC users running Windows 7 to hurry out and upgrade to Windows 8. The company may be banking on a gradual phasing in of the touch-centric OS as PCs are replaced during the normal refresh cycle. For corporate users, Windows 7 will likely be sufficient on the PCs already in place. But as those PCs make way for more nimble devices, I think users will adapt readily to the touch screen. If we could learn to love the mouse, we can learn to love almost anything. - Caron