Windows 8 sales fall short of Microsoft's internal projections

Apple Insider ^ | Monday, November 19, 2012, 04:26 pm | Slash Lane

[tje]

Initial sales of the Windows 8 operating system are said to be "well below" Microsoft's internal projections.

Citing a "trusted" source, Paul Thurott of Supersite for Windows said Windows 8 is off to a weak start, but Microsoft doesn't believe sales have been affected by the software itself. Instead, the thinking in Redmond, Wash., is said to be that PC makers have offered "lackluster" designs, along with limited availability.

That disappointment with Microsoft's PC partners is said to have further reaffirmed the company's strategy with the new Surface tablet, which is the first computer designed and manufactured by the company itself.

Thurott surmises that the initial disappointment of Windows 8 is related to a number of issues, including a slumping economy, confusing range of device types, and the touch-centric interface of Windows 8 Metro.

[nerdgirl]

Actually, that is exactly why they came out with the 'radically redesigned' Win 8. I think the formerly known as Metro interface is a disaster too; very clunky and hard to see anything other than just a bunch of colored tiles; the info is not easy to navigate.

But you can install a 3rd party tool to get your start menu back - I used the free Classic Shell one - Link to Classic Shell here

Then you basically have an OS that is an upgrade of Win 7 - MUCH faster, with browser that is faster and sleeker as well. Downside once you've eliminated the joke of a tile interface that needs to be torched on desktops... is that if you adjust your text resolution as any sane person usually needs to do if they have a higher res screen - is that a large amount of software apps will have fuzzy print. In Win 7 I don't have this problem, and as I dual boot now - I can see the difference clearly in the 2 OS's.

I think when they dumped Sinofsky perhaps they were indicating that they realize that many aspects of the Win 8 push to "reinvent the desktop" are abject failures - although that could be wishful thinking on my part. As an app developer who has already invested a couple of months doing Win 8 development, I'd like to see them at least get a better grip on what people really want out of a tablet and/or PC. Perhaps the worst thing they did to developers was eliminate the SEARCH button on the store. You have to swipe to see it - that goes against every e-commerce principle out there - impeding how quickly a customer can find something is the kiss of death to e-commerce! Yet some a$%hole at MSFT thought it would look sleeker without this button.

MSFT may be headed for extinction, but I wouldn't root for it - much of the existing workhorse software still needs Windows, not to mention all of the development software - Apple's OS is way worse than MSFT could ever be, IMHO. So since the world still needs this company, let's hope that they can get somebody with a better grasp on reality guiding their OS development.

[dangerdoc]

you just nibbled the troll bait, don’t let him set the hook

[adorno]

So, where is the data to back up the report, which report is just guesswork from somebody who is mostly doing wishful thinking.

I would’ve thought that FReepers would be more careful and intelligent about such reports which come from people who don’t even provide the information to back up their reports.

That report is pure garbage, and MS hasn’t released any figure about sales of Windows 8.

I’ve had Windows 8 installed on 2 of my machines, and I’ve no had any problems at all. There is a small learning curve with the new UI, but, it’s not something that people can’t learn after just a few hours with the OS. Even smartphones and tablets have a learning curve, but people are still buying them.

That report is coming from an Apple fanboy playground, and, they wouldn’t be lying about the competition. Would they?

Come on people. Use your heads.

[adorno]

Windows 8 is for people who want their computer to have the same template as their smart phones.

You've been misled.

The reason for "sameness" is for facilitating your communications across all of MS's platforms, including smartphones and tablets and laptops and desktops and even the XBox ecosystem. When you're UI is the same familiar one across of of the devices you might own, then access across all of them is simplified.

[for-q-clinton]

Get start8 and you have the start button back. Best of both worlds.

But the convertible I want is on backorder so yeah hard to judge sales when the device I want isn’t available.

[for-q-clinton]

Everyone that complains there is a $5 fix called start8 from stardock. Get it and all complaints are addressed until ms decides to add it back for free.

[catnipman]

You should have no problem buying a Dell Latitude or Optiplex on the Dell website with Windows 7. Businesses and government will not by buying W8, so Dell is forced to sell their hardware with W7.

As with Vista, it’s mostly the clueless BestBuy crowd that will end up with W8.

Goto dell.com/outlet and look at the biz & ed channel. Real bargains for refurbs, and with same 3-yr factory warrant as new on biz-class systems (latitudes & optiplexes). You won’t be able to tell most refurbs from brand new by looking at them.

[Dr. Sivana]

I do think that the desktop PC is dead outside of high end AutoCad NX, Solidworks, etc. applications and the new tablet type will replace it on price and functionality for most users.

There is a lot more software than that needing all the horsies you can throw at it. Besides Photoshop, animation, video and sound editing (Pro Tools, Sound Forge), development tools, InDesign, those of us who need large databases and spreadsheets with numerous calc fields and hundreds of thousands of records need the throughput and screen real estate. Besides these, having a real, full-sized keyboard that goes where you want it and a screen that sits in a fixed location on the desk are desireable things, as is the superior reliability of the classic desktop. No, we don't need 7 PCI-E slots. eSATA, USB3, etc. will do for most of it. But many of us still need or prefer a real computer. The new portable pads and notebooks will no more make desktops go away than hatchbacks made pickup trucks go away.

[FLAMING DEATH]

For some reason, all the major OS makers seem to be hell bent on pushing tablet/smartphone style interfaces to the desktop. Microsoft has now done it, Ubuntu did it with Unity, and I’ve heard that Apple is considering using the same OS for their I-Whatevers and Macs as well.

http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=17065&news=Apple+iOS+iPhone+iPad+Mac+OS+X

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_%28user_interface%29

I guess the theory is to “dumb down” the interface for the average user. It makes things a giant pain in the hiney for anyone else.

In the first article above, the author makes a very good point that unfortunately, none of the OS makers seem to listen to:

“Desktop users might strain their arms and necks trying to handle multi-touch on a 27-inch display screen, he illustrated.”

It seems counterproductive to add touch to a desktop to me, except in limited circumstances. The more input methods you have, the more time is spent transitioning between them...such as taking your hand off the mouse to touch the screen, pulling your hands down from the screen to work the keyboard, etc.

Even so, my mother has a touch-screen laptop, as it is much easier to work with her neuropathy. But, that’s kind of an extreme example.

Heck, I sometimes get aggravated by having to pull my hand off the mouse to type something!

[Prov1322]

I do think that the desktop PC is dead outside of high end AutoCad NX, Solidworks, etc. applications and the new tablet type will replace it on price and functionality for most users.

Some styles of day-trading rely on a high end PC desktop.

[for-q-clinton]

get start8 on windows 8 and you get the best of both worlds. You can download from stardock.

[teflon9]

Finally built my own desktop (all new parts except the case and PSU) after my ancient socket 939 board died of “capacitoritis”. Budget gaming machine need not be an oxymoron! And, yes, I installed Windows 7. 64 bit. Sees all 8GB of memory. Great OS. Muuuch faster than that bloated lump called Vista on Mrs. Teflon9’s laptop. 7 saved MS’ bacon after the Vista mess. Don’t see the point in W8 unless you have a touchscreen.

[ArrogantBustard]

Now she wants GoogleChrome laptop. $249 at best buy. This thing works in the cloud! No disk drive. Strange.

So ... I read that as "this thing DOESN'T WORK AT ALL when it's not on the network". Am I correct?