Posted on 01/07/2014 7:50:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Regardless of how stalled Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) MSFT +0.69% business seems to Wall Street analysts, the fact of the matter is that this company powers 90.73 percent of the Desktops and Notebooks around the world. Its nearest competitor at second place is Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) AAPL +0.14% Mac operating system which has only 7.54 percent market share.
Microsoft released its latest upgrade to the much discussed Windows 8 operating system, Windows 8.1, in October of 2013. Last month, during December, devices running the Windows 8 and 8.1 crossed over 10 percent market share for the first time. A month earlier, in November, it only had a 9.30 percent market share. Effectively, last month Windows 8.x versions gained over 1.49 percent market share, reported The Next Web.
The gain represents a fundamental shift in the Windows userbase, as Windows XP users were forced to abandon the platform as Microsoft is discontinuing support and security updates for XP from April 8, 2014.
As Windows 8.1 was offered as a free upgrade, it will not provide Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) MSFT +0.69% with any revenue gain. However, discontinuing Windows XP will eventually drive the sales of Windows 8.x operating system further up over the course of next few quarters. Back in the first quarter of 2013, Microsoft’s revenues went up 24 percent (in the first three months) compared to the previous year’s first three months; as Windows 8 sales pushed revenues of the Windows division alone to US$ 5.7 billion from US$ 4.633 billion. However, overall as a company, Microsoft’s revenue has been declining since the start of 2013.
In the third quarter of 2013, Microsoft generated only US$ 18.53 billion revenue from its operations, indeed a sharp decline.
However, Microsoft has maintained profitability since the sharp decline it observed during the first two quarters of 2012. As of the third quarter of 2013, its EBITDA has gone down amid declining operating revenue but earnings per share is still at US$ 0.63.
However, sales estimates are looking good for Microsoft this year, the current estimate is set at US$ 25.05 billion by the end of 2014. Microsoft has a lot of new guns to fire this year in order to generate revenue instead of solely relying on its Windows division. The Surface line of products is doing well, as its sales doubled in the third quarter of 2013. Moreover, Microsoft is partnering up with various low cost phone manufacturers in the emerging market segment to sell Windows Phone 8 based cheap phones. Rumors include a deal between Microsoft and Micromax, an Indian phone manufacturer, and even Sony may have joined the bandwagon.
Based on the growth forecast, Zacks just upgraded the company from “underperform” on December 19, 2013. If anyone is looking for investing in an established blue-chip company with growth in mind during 2014, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a good option right now, as the 1 year forward P/E is only at 12.86.
I have no interest in selling Win 8 to you, only to allow others on this forum to see an opinion based on facts that is not like yours.
"that they join the Customer Experience Improvement (ahem - spy on you) Program"
That's very telling. Yea, MS is spying on you! LOL Have you ever investigated the data they send? I have and it's non specific to your personal data. Here's a link that describes it.
"I want what I want because it's what I want for my own reasons. They question of "why" should not enter into the minds of the people who want my money."
So MS should bow down to 1 user (and likely 1% of users) and keep support of something just because they want it. Yea, that's a great business model.
I finally got a new computer for Christmas, still using my old desktop. Had XP on both and never wanted to make the switch. Finally had to, so the new laptop has 8.1. I am pleasantly surprised, easy to use and it makes sense.
“Do you have proof that they don’t, or is this just your opinion?”
It’s my inference. Companies that do decent customer outreach just don’t have the kind of debacles with their rollouts that MS constantly does. So, either MS doesn’t bother with that, or they do a very poor job of it. What other explanation is there?
“Do you even have access to a running copy of Win 8? If you did you would realize you still have a start menu.”
Are you saying there was a Start button and classic-style start menu functionality in the original release of Window 8 (not 8.1), before customer demand forced MS to add it back in?
“I’m not a MS fanboy by any stretch, but I don’t get all the Win 8 bashing.”
Probably because you waited, and got Windows 8.1, which includes some changes that alleviate what started all the Windows 8 bashing in the first place. It would be like someone getting Win 98 after Service Pack 2 and saying “I don’t know why everyone was complaining about Win 98”.
No, I had Win 8 running on three desktop machines for several months before 8.1 came out. All was fine. I did (and still do) use them with the Start8 addon, though, which made things totally seamless.
“I did (and still do) use them with the Start8 addon, though, which made things totally seamless.”
Ah, well, there you go.
I never said 8 was perfect. For a $5 addon I was able to interact with the much more robust Win8 look just like I did XP. Why is it so important to you that people hate Win 8?
No, not classic style, for that you have to buy an Add-On. MS was not forced to add it, what they added was an easier way to get to the desktop. What I was referring to as a "Start Menu" is the Metro UI, which has the main window with a bunch of Tiles you configure (like your task bar) and then simply typing (or clicking the down arrow in 8.1) you get the rest of your apps.
“Why is it so important to you that people hate Win 8?”
Huh? When did you stop beating your wife?
“What I was referring to as a “Start Menu” is the Metro UI, which has the main window with a bunch of Tiles you configure (like your task bar) and then simply typing (or clicking the down arrow in 8.1) you get the rest of your apps.”
In other words, you were not referring to what millions of Windows users know as the “Start Menu”, which MS did not include in Win8.
Again, unwilling to accept change... It is a Start Menu and it functions way the hell better than the classic.
“Again, unwilling to accept change... It is a Start Menu and it functions way the hell better than the classic.”
If I call a tangerine an orange, it doesn’t make it one. The Start button was removed from Win 8, and even MS admitted it, so it’s quite fruitless for you to try to pretend otherwise.
Windows 8 has a perfectly fine fully capable (actually more capable) Start Menu, it’s a real Start Menu. It’s just a little different to get to it, but once you’re there you can do everything you ever could with any other version of the Start Menu plus other stuff.
Anyway, it takes some getting used to, but in general I liked Windows 8.x well enough. I could care less about the start button, since I've always put shortcuts to the apps I run on the desktop anyway. You can still do that from the desktop app (single click from default-boot metro interface), or you can add your apps as tiles to metro.
My one major complaint to counter a number of positives isn't with Windows 8.x itself so much as the proliferation of the STUPID full-screen apps & utilities that are part of Windows 8.x. They have no windows bar for minimize/maximize & resizing, and in general do not even RUN in a window at all (despite the OS name). Trying to remember how to get out of these stupid full-screen apps back to see other apps, the desktop or metro interface, etc., is REALLY annoying. I was swiping left to do that, although I still don't know if that's the right approach or not. I suppose once I learned the right way to get out of these apps and move to others I'd get used to it, but as a first impression this was the thing about Windows 8.x I really hated.
Granted, perhaps it's cool to have full-screen apps that are common across WP8 devices, tablets, and desktops, since it offers more options across a spectrum of different platforms, but on a desktop computer with a very large monitor these full-screen apps that don't run in windows are terrible. It's like going back to the days of DOS or something. Isn't the "Windows" OS supposed to have windows? Some apps still do, but not many of the new ones.
” in stats about Win 8 usage for years”
YEARS from now, Microsoft will be peddling Windows 9 and Windows 10, so indeed, business is skipping W8 just like they skipped Vista.
Huh, you have no proof that I beat my wife. Conversely you have spent this entire thread trying to convince folks to hate Win 8.
Regarding the impact of Windows 8 on PC sales, Google searching for:
poor pc sales windows 8
yields 430,000,000 hits:
“Conversely you have spent this entire thread trying to convince folks to hate Win 8.”
Nonsense. I have had a couple conversations about Win8 and MS on this thread, but I’ve never told anyone to “hate Win 8”. That’s just a clumsy accusation that is easily dispelled if anyone wants to go back and reread my comments.
Unless you are the simple minded type that thinks you must have only positive, glowing praise for everything MS does or you are a “hater”. If that’s your deal, then go fly a kite.
If Windows 8 didn’t remove the Start menu, then why does MS say it did? Are you calling MS liars?:
“Where is the Start menu?
Applies to Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1
The Start screen replaces the Start menu in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1”
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/where-is-start-menu
MS doesn’t even call it a “Start menu”, so I think it is okay for you to admit that it is not a “Start menu”.
From Wikipedia:
"A bogeyman (also spelled bogieman, or boogeyman) is a mythical creature in many cultures used by adults to frighten children into compliant behaviour."
Cheers and good night.
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