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Windows 8 sales fall short of Microsoft's internal projections
Apple Insider ^ | Monday, November 19, 2012, 04:26 pm | Slash Lane

Posted on 11/19/2012 4:39:36 PM PST by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at appleinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: microsoft; surface; windows8; zune8
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I have Windows 8 on a notebook and hate it, but I need it for work. I think it might be reasonable on a tablet.
1 posted on 11/19/2012 4:39:44 PM PST by tje
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To: tje

An OS licensor telling it’s customers that they make crap is really going to turn this thing around!

I smell Ballmer.


2 posted on 11/19/2012 4:43:49 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: tje
I have Windows 8 on a notebook and hate it, but I need it for work. I think it might be reasonable on a tablet.

Does the interface have a classic (Windows 7) mode?

3 posted on 11/19/2012 4:46:25 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: tje

Last Friday I visited a “shopping mall”.
Something I do about twice per year.

The Apple store was mobbed, with at least 10 additional people lined up outside waiting to be admitted by a bouncer.

The Microsoft kiosk selling the “Surface” had 5 employees and no customers.

BTW I’m no fan of either but I use Windows on my stuff.


4 posted on 11/19/2012 4:47:12 PM PST by nascarnation (Baraq's economic policy: trickle up poverty)
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To: tje

I hate Microsoft windows, it always crashes, lockups, malfunctions but I will still use it because it beats the alternative of owning an Apple which is gey.


5 posted on 11/19/2012 4:48:51 PM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (Someday our schools we will teach the difference between "lose" and "loose")
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To: tje

The OS isn’t suited at all for Desktops.

You know if Best Buy is offering “Free Windows 8 Training”, you have a problem.

I never thought it possible, but this thing may bomb more spectacularly than Vista....

I believe it may do ok on mobile devices though.


6 posted on 11/19/2012 4:51:02 PM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: tje

Windows 8 will go down as Microsoft’s biggest mistake of all time. Worse than the OS BOB.

There is already a pretty large group of companies that sell software to strip out that horrid interface as best it can be stripped down.

I have been in the technology industry for may years and Windows 8 is so stunningly bad on the desktop and notebook that I’m amazed. Maybe it is aces on tablets but why Microsoft would push a touch interface on regular machines is so odd. It is as if they did not research with end users.

Windows 8 is the best thing that has ever happened to Apple and Linux that I can recall.

The should have not called in Windows 8, it should be called Windows Vomit 8.


7 posted on 11/19/2012 4:53:38 PM PST by isthisnickcool (Sharia? No thanks!)
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To: Zhang Fei

It sort of has a classic desktop, but it’s very clunky to navigate.


8 posted on 11/19/2012 4:54:20 PM PST by tje
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To: isthisnickcool

I believe you’re correct.. I posted this from my MacBook Air.


9 posted on 11/19/2012 4:56:11 PM PST by tje
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To: Zhang Fei; catnipman

According to another FReeper it’s not what you’d expect:

Q:

“But are you saying that even after switching to the conventional desktop that conventional laptops and desktops are not usable with W8?”

A:

“Correct. No Start Menu on conventional desktop, running the mouse into various corners and sides of the screen cause various popout menus to appear, and some of those hiddend and fateful mouse positions and various other activities can cause the conventional desktop to be repeatedly replaced with the useless Metro UI.”


10 posted on 11/19/2012 4:56:43 PM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

I recommend a good stable Linux install for you. Ubuntu, maybe.


11 posted on 11/19/2012 4:57:00 PM PST by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: tje
Windows 8 isn't useful for Desktops or Laptops. If you don't have a touchscreen the OS is just a waste of Disk space. If MS had an option to disable Metro they will have something useful for most users.


12 posted on 11/19/2012 4:57:01 PM PST by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
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To: tje
I will never ever buy Apple again. I bought one once and it was really really reeeeally really really really really slow.

Look at these specs, what a ripoff!

CPU MOS 6502 @ 1 MHz

Memory 4 KB standard expandable to 8 KB or 48 KB using expansion cards

Graphics 40×24 characters, hardware-implemented scrolling

13 posted on 11/19/2012 5:01:30 PM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (Someday our schools we will teach the difference between "lose" and "loose")
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To: KoRn
The OS isn’t suited at all for Desktops.

That's exactly it. That Metro UI is crap on a desktop, but makes sense on a tablet or a phone. I think if they gave desktop users the ability to blow off Metro, it'd be okay.

14 posted on 11/19/2012 5:03:40 PM PST by tje
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To: Zhang Fei

This very machine has Windows 8. I plan to remove it this next weekend and go back to Win 7 pro.

Essentially, to the user, Win 8 on a notebook or desktop is Win 7 with a fancy start screen you put away (by clicking on “desktop”) as fast as you can, and then the UI is remarkably like Win7.

However.

They took away the start button in the lower left and kinda sorta put it in the lower right, but you have to hover your mouse just right to find it.

Multi-monitor systems work oddly, and the screens don’t go where you expect them too.

A number of Win 7 programs DO NOT work well in Win 8, despite MS promises to the contrary.

“MY COMPUTER” is gone as a default.

Control Panel is redesigned to the point of being stoopid.

Win 8 REALLY wants you to be on line AT ALL TIMES. And logged into an email ID and your LIVE ID too.

It’s not any faster, is harder to use (learning curve), does NOT boot any faster [ MS LIES ] and my CPU runs hotter.

I see NO reason to keep it. NONE.

Why would I want a MS tablet when I have WONDERFUL iOS and Android choices?


15 posted on 11/19/2012 5:03:52 PM PST by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitur: non vehere est inermus)
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To: tje

So an Apple article about Microsoft is critical?

Somebody needs a life.


16 posted on 11/19/2012 5:07:09 PM PST by Erik Latranyi (When religions have to beg the gov't for a waiver, we are already under socialism.)
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To: tje

I need to upgrade to a better desktop machine.

I think I will get a Win8 box and install Linux and Win7 also...perhaps XP as well. This way I will be prepared for whatever.


17 posted on 11/19/2012 5:07:36 PM PST by Bobalu (It is not obama we are fighting, it is the media.)
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To: Oberon
I recommend a good stable Linux install for you. Ubuntu, maybe.

I have and like Ubuntu.. I've got red hat too.. Most of my days computer time is pretty much evenly split between Mountain Lion and Win 7.

18 posted on 11/19/2012 5:08:52 PM PST by tje
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To: tje

It’s the UI, stupid.


19 posted on 11/19/2012 5:09:13 PM PST by ari-freedom (It's the bennies, stupid.)
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To: Blueflag
Why would I want a MS tablet when I have WONDERFUL iOS and Android choices?

Because an MS tablet runs a PC operating system and not a phone OS?

20 posted on 11/19/2012 5:09:13 PM PST by Erik Latranyi (When religions have to beg the gov't for a waiver, we are already under socialism.)
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