“Seen lots of people that huffed and puffed, when it came to having to learn new programs critical for the department, get passed over for more enthusiastic younger people that were more open.”
Dude, I worked military test. Now tell me what Windows 8 does that is “critical”. In business, you don’t spend time teaching people new interfaces for fun. You only do it if you get something out of it. If 8 gives me something “critical”, I’ll do whatever it takes. What is that “critical to the department” function?
“Windows 7 Overtakes Windows XP As the Most Popular Desktop OS”
Ummm...yes. After MS stopped selling and supporting XP.
From your link: “It took three years for Windows 7 to become the world’s most popular OS.”
That is why I now have Windows 7. But I would be happy to still be using my XP machine, except the keyboard wore out and the USB ports were dying.
Windows 7 didn’t do anything that helped me, but MS left me with the choice of using 7 or going to Linux or Mac. The interface change between XP & 7 was minimal. If faced with that choice for 7 going to 8, I might defect and use a Mac.
Great post.
One giant mistake technology companies make is assuming the entire world is going to wholesale abandon the old in favor of the new.
W8 is an operating system for touchscreen computers - full stop.
They are betting the ranch that the desktop/laptop market is gone.
They see dragging the legacy market behind them as a giant liability and they are trying to cross the chasm to portable computing in one OS release.
A ham handed product strategy from a company that was never strong at product strategy in the first place.
Ummmm..Microsoft initially, officially stopped selling XP way back in 2008(http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/products/software/2008-06-30-microsoft-xp_N.htm?csp=34&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-TechTopStories+(Tech+-+Top+Stories)), but that still stop XP from having by far the biggest desktop/laptop install base by far for another 4 years. It was only in August this year that Win 7 overtook XP. So you can't claim that merely stopping XP sales caused Win 7 to overtake XP
Futher, you entirely fail to mention the netbook craze which started in 2008, and sold tens of millions of netbooks, most of which run XP, which Microsoft sold at a cheap price to OEM’s in order to undercut and overtake Linux in then etbpook market, Linux having earlier on been dominant in netbooks, until low cost XP powered netbooks from Asus and others clobbered Linux in netbooks.
“That is why I now have Windows 7. But I would be happy to still be using my XP machine, except the keyboard wore out and the USB ports were dying.”
Speak for yourself. Win 7 is vastly superior to XP,and is vastly more secure and easier to administer in a Windows server shop than XP. Most corporates decided to move to win 7 for those reasons, even tho Microsoft is still supporting XP till 2014.
“Windows 7 didn’t do anything that helped me, but MS left me with the choice of using 7 or going to Linux or Mac. “
Nope.
Its very easy to buy a modern, new PC with no OS installed on it,and simply install your own OS if you like. You had plenty of choice, mate.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=119&name=No%20OS%20Systems
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_nf=3&gs_mss=buy%20a%20pc%20wi&cp=20&gs_id=26&xhr=t&q=buy+a+pc+without+os&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=buy+a+pc+wiyth+no+os&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=39618ea2901acf65&bpcl=35466521&biw=1920&bih=989
“The interface change between XP & 7 was minimal. If faced with that choice for 7 going to 8, I might defect and use a Mac”
Good riddance to a professional whiner, that's what I say. Meanwhile, win 8 pre-order sales have been pretty brisk, and Win 8 will proceed to sell in the hundreds of millions, with or without you.