Posted on 04/23/2013 2:18:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
FROM COMPUTER WORLD
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9238523/Microsoft_Mum_s_again_the_word_on_Windows_8_sales
EXCERPT:
When Microsoft has highlighted Windows 8 sales before, it said they were roughly in line with Windows 7 at the same point in its sales cycle. The lack of any recent trumpeting of sales suggests that Windows 8 sales now lag behind those of Windows 7 two quarters after its release.
That supposition is matched by recent data, which shows that Windows 8’s usage share badly lags behind Windows 7’s at the same point after its debut in 2009.
During the first quarter, the Windows group recorded revenue of $5.7 billion, or 23% above the same three-month span in 2012. But because $1.1 billion of that was simply shuffled from last year — deferred from the sales of Windows 7 under a free Windows 8 upgrade program — the adjusted revenue of $4.6 billion was the same as last year.
Windows accounted for 28% of the company’s total revenue of $20.5 billion for the quarter, slightly above 2012’s fourth-quarter contribution. Microsoft’s Business division, the part of the firm responsible for Office, was the largest supplier, however, with a 31% share of all revenue.
Microsoft acknowledged that Windows sales had been hit by the slump in PC sales, which IDC last week estimated had contracted by 14% from the year prior. “OEM revenue performance was in line with the underlying x86 PC market, which continues to be challenged as the PC market evolves beyond the traditional PC to touch and mobile devices,” Chris Suh, who heads Microsoft’s investor relations, said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts yesterday.
That Windows managed to remain flat in the face of the drastic fall-off in PC sales — IDC said the quarter’s decline was the largest in nearly 20 years — was impressive.
Everyone I know that has W8 is sorry they bought it.
I am very pleased with Windows 7. Great OS IMO.
However I have no interest in Win 8 at this time, because it’s design does not suit my uses or tastes.
However I don’t want to see Microsoft fail, I use their products, so if in the future they modify 8 so that it is a product that suits my uses and tastes, then I will certainly consider buying it.
Mainly, it has to be -the same- as what I’m used to. I don’t give a damn about change, I like what I like, and if you want my dough, you will have to give me what I like and not what you like.
That’s how it is, Microsoft.
I still use XP at work, all in all I like Win 7 better.
I broke my Win 7 computer and bought a touch screen Win 8 computer. It was frustrating enough to make me spend $300 to get the Win 7 computer fixed.
Since then I have installed a start button on the Win 8 computer and changed all of the file associations to keep the metro from firing up. Those changes have made Win 8 better for me than XP but I still prefer Win 7.
I have to admit that the hardware portion of my Win 8 computer is sweet and I have started using it more than the Win 7 computer despite the software.
Not sorry to have Win 8, it can be be fairly good with some customization.
Due to problems with my Vista computer, I bought a new laptop that had W8 preinstalled. Foolishly I didn’t find a way to downgrade to W7 but instead upgraded 2 other computers on my home network to W8 from Vista to be more compatible. Nightmare ever since. Finally replaced all HDD’s with SSD’s, doubled my RAM, and system is stable for the moment.
In retrospect I should have found an XP or W7 computer.
RE: I don’t want to see Microsoft fail
Merciful heavens — FAIL? NO, no no.
I have staked all of my Software Engineering and Programming career on their Operating Systems, Programming Languages, Database, Servers and Development Environment and am getting too old to start anew if they were to fail...
Loved XP, skipped buying Vista, bought Windows 7 really like it, then bought a laptop with Windows 8. Really, really dislike Windows 8. If I had known it was that bad, would have searched far and wide for a Windows 7 laptop.
Yeah, definitely not looking for them to fail.
I do wish they’d be smarter about product development though, they seem like they be obtuse from time to time.
I’m amused by all the exposure for Windows 8 in TV dramas and cop shows. The scene will show a tech about to explain a clue to the other cops and pull up a screen with Windows 8, which looks like a kiddie computer or something designed for a 3 year old. He then punches a big icon and click/click/zoom throws the image on an 80 inch plasma monitor for all to gawk at in amazement. Captain Microsoft, the Crime Fighter!
Yep. I’ve got one each now of Windows 7 and Windows 8. Anything Windows 8-ish about Windows 8 is useless slop you want to work around (except some of the touch screen is okay), and my all-in-one printer doesn’t have a drive for Windows 8.
Windows 7 is quite good, however.
I'll consider an upgrade to Windows 8 sometime in the future only if they release a service pack update that natively supports an easily configurable alternative desktop-friendly UI, rather than the handheld Metro UI that I think is ludicrous for a desktop computer w/large monitor & mouse instead of touch screen.
Yeah, I know you can go through hard-to-find gyrations or install 3rd party apps on Windows 8 to get a decent desktop UI back again, but it's the principle of the thing. Given that MS has basically said "screw you" to desktop users with their new OS, I say screw you back.
Plus, it IS nice to have actual resizable/stackable windows on an OS called "Windows," vs. full-screen or half-screen only apps w/o windows (i.e., Metro phone/tablet UI) that look like they were designed for kindergartners.
Fedora 18 now - Fedora 19 in a month or so. Works great.
And another thing. I remember the last Microsoft operating system that had a default user interface (UI) that launched all new apps to be full screen with no window frame. It was called "DOS."
Windows 8 does the same thing, yet it is supposed to be an advancement somehow? Yeah the underlying OS itself is, but the UI is highly regressive.
Count me as one. Had XP.
Windows 8 looks like it was designed by children for children.
Even their commercials show it’s designed mainly for play.
With a few tweaks, Win8 would be great. Tweak 1, they need to make the Start screen more of an option for desktop use. Then make the Start button an option on the desktop. Boom, basically you would have a souped up Win 7 with optional Start screen interface.
All you have to do to make windows 8 perfect is install classic shell.
It does all of that.
Takes 2 minutes to install
http://www.classicshell.net/
But I thought that's why they were calling it Windows "8"!
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