No, we all know that Elvis died from Diabetes in 1993.
Posted on 12/04/2012 6:07:15 AM PST by SmokingJoe
Sales of the Windows 8 operating system, which was launched on October 26, were driven by upgrades rather than users purchasing the software on new machines, according to Reuters.
Microsoft sold 60 million Windows 7 licenses in two months, compare to 40 million licenses of Windows 8 in one month.
Tami Reller, finance and marketing head of Microsoft's Windows division, said yesterday: "Windows 8 upgrade momentum is outpacing that of Windows 7," speaking at an investor conference held by Credit Suisse.
Previous versions of Microsoft operating systems sold considerably fewer licenses than Windows 8 in a comparable period, with XP shipping 8 million units in the month following its launch in 2002, and Microsoft Vista selling around 10 million licenses in the first 30 days following its introduction in 2006.
In raw figures, Windows 8′s first month has been around twice as strong as for Windows Vista, and four times as strong as that of Windows XP
However, there is now a much higher volume of PC users worldwide than in 2001, and Windows 8′s upgrade price is far less than it has traditionally charged for new versions of Windows.
Upgrading to Windows 8 costs £43, compared to £88 for the full software package or £399 for the new Microsoft Surface tablet running Windows 8.
Many of the sales are to PC manufacturers, who in turn sell a large number of machines to companies, very few of which are using Windows 8 yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I smell BS.
As pointed out, a promised cheap upgrade to 8 for those who bought machines with 7 counted in the figures.
Of course they also get the Fisher Price start menu for their trouble. Ugh.
The first command required for a PC with Windows 8 or Vista on it is “format c: /q”
My week or so of experience with a new Windows 8 machine taught me that this operating system is 85% devoted to playtime IMHO. Just like the brain of your typical under-30 Obama voter. I’m sure the business community will just LOVE having to pay for Windows 8.
In it’s defense it seems far more stable than Windows Vista, but what isn’t?
Boot the machine with a recent Ubuntu CD in it.
Duh. All new machines are coming with it.
Yup.
From the article
“Previous versions of Microsoft operating systems sold considerably fewer licenses than Windows 8 in a comparable period, with XP shipping 8 million units in the month following its launch in 2002, and Microsoft Vista selling around 10 million licenses in the first 30 days following its introduction in 2006. “
In raw figures, Windows 8’s first month has been around twice as strong as for Windows Vista, and four times as strong as that of Windows XP"
How many milli-seconds can you use it before the error message pops up and it locks up?
I just got a replacement laptop under warrantee.
slightly different computer with windows 8 instead of 7.
now if I had a touch screen in might come in handy, but I do not and I am waiting for my son to get the skinny on removing it...or changing it to bypass all the silly touch screen icon defaults.....
useless.
FYI I am NOT a computer nerd(though my kids are to a point)....I just want these things to work without jumping through hoops.
You can download Win 8 for $40. If you have an older machine with Vista it’s probably worth doing the upgrade, as long as you have the memory and hardware that can handle it.
“How many milli-seconds can you use it before the error message pops up and it locks up?”
Long enough to realize that microsoft still owns 85% of the OS market.
Bought a new computer with Windows 8 and upgraded others from Vista for consistency on my home network - pain in the neck to buy and install new software that wasn’t compatible from Vista and has been a disaster from a printing perspective - took both a Brother and an HP printer out. Have upgraded drivers... but HP still pretty much dead - will print test page ok on reinstallation and say it’s offline. No help from HP (tried all their website suggestions)- at least Brother provided some online support that solved its problems.
Complete BS. I am a field service Technician.
Those that have windows 8 hate it.
Many have asked “can I down grade?” I always reply “yes”
Many have set up appointments to do just that.
I won’t switch to Win-8; not even at gunpoint. I’ve got 3 Win-7 new install CDs, and 2 Win-7 upgrade CDs, for my home and former office HP units.
Mac O$? From those Califags?
It’s Linux, baby. Linux all the way.
..if I can\could get security patches, I would use my XP Pro SP3 for 10 more years...
Incorrect. It may be 85% of the desktop market, but not the entire OS market.
As I understand it, W8 requires fewer resouces than WVista, being targeted more at "mobile" devices. I've got an ASUS EEE PC "convertible" netbook that also can function as a tablet (screen rotates and swivels to lie flat over the keyboard) that has a touchscreen and W7. I'm thinking about putting W8 on it just to get an idea of W8's performance.
MSoft's "will it run here" program says that W8 will run on it, but that the touchscreen "isn't fully compatible".
Windows 7 is actually pretty good, so maybe people are willing to trust Microsoft again. They seem to forget that every good OS from Microsoft is followed by a disaster, then MS corrects the mistakes.
I'm not trusting them any more. My next machine will likely run Android.
If you download and install one of the freeware “Windows Start-menu” programs (I prefer Classic Shell: http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/) and you’ll have a Win8 box with a Win7 GUI.
Regardless of adding a start menu or leaving as is, you’ll need about an extra 20% hardware to do the same things as you could do with a Win7 box.
http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0
This site shows the operating systems in place. Windows 8 is about 1% (or a 4th of what Windows 7 was 2 months after it was released)
If there are a lot of copies being sold, it is because Microsoft is buying the copies from themselves.
Which reminds me of another thing. When Windows 8 starts up you get a prompt that says “Checking Media”, followed by the word “Fail” twice.
Then the machine boots normally. The word “Fail” concerned me so I called the help desk, and after an extended period of being taken on and off hold, was informed that Windows 8 by default boots to the disc, and there is no way at this time to change that. So if you don’t have a disc in the drive it is gonna flash “Fail” at you until booting normally from the hard drive.
The Alternative-Release Law of M$ OS:
98 - good
ME - bad
XP - good
Vista - bad
Win 7 - good
Win 8...
Windows 8 is the new pre-employment training system for McDonalds.
The 60 million Windows 7's made them WAY MORE money!
“..if I can\could get security patches, I would use my XP Pro SP3 for 10 more years...”
Same here. If not, I’ll upgrade from XP SP3 to 7 Pro and then if I have to, I’ll wait for a Windows 9 or whatever they’d call it.
another thing, is that Windows 8 comes with new PC’s, but I’ve heard that corporations are “downgrading” to Windows 7 about 90% of the time since they can do that for no extra cost.
Well since this thread is about a desktop OS it certainly makes sense that the context of my post on market share was about the desktop OS marketshare.
DOH!
“If there are a lot of copies being sold, it is because Microsoft is buying the copies from themselves.”
Or it could be due to inaccurate statistics on something brand new
LOL! Point taken.
Aptly described. Downhill from there, in some Lenovo and HP models coming out, Windows updates are getting stuck during install, due to some weird incompatibility with AV or maybe the audio drivers, causing the pc to fail to restart (or complete configuring of updates). Various other bugs are being reported, which we folks not endowed with IT do not know (or care to learn) how to overcome. An even bigger hassle is possible when you actually use Windows 8 at WORK. Some people don't have extra time to spare, figuring out how to navigate in a new environment.
But if you're into games, Windows 8 is just loaded with games.
Thanks! That’s good to know. I suspect a lot of businesses are going to run this Classic Shell to keep employees from staring at sports and entertainment widget tiles all day.
Win-8 does give people a reason to upgrade, because it is part of Microsoft's "the same interface anywhere" strategy. Look at these three screen shots (Win-8, XBox, Windows-phone):
Anyone notice the similarities? You should, because they are exactly the same. Remember, the XBox (under the hood) is just a plain, old fashioned PC. Mine has recently been downloading a LOT of updates. I suspect the OS has been upgraded from the XP variant it used to use to a Win-8 variant.
MS now has 4 device families (PC, tablet, phone, and game console) running the same OS.
As a developer, I've been inundated with material from MS (to the point that it's becoming spamming) trying to get me to start writing apps for Win-8 (including offers for free training).
Microsoft's strategy seems to be "buy an app once, use it anywhere." Get an app for your phone, use it on your XBox (the kinect provides the "touchscreen"), your PC, or your tablet.
I'm not sure how this will work out, Microsoft's dominant position in game consoles gives them an advantage over their competition. The only question is: can they get their app store up to speed quickly enough to leverage their advantage?
Win7 is Microsoft’s best OS to date. It’s on a stable kernel (Vista was not), runs 64-bit natively (XP and Vista were unstable at 64-bit), is fast and easy to administer (Vista was neither), and it will likely be the go-to OS for people for the next 10 years much like XP was.
My biggest gripe with Win8 is that Microsoft has essentially hijacked the UEFI boot kernel in the name of “security.” Anyone trying to install an OS over Win8 is going to find themselves banging their head against a wall, as the UEFI boot system will need to be flashed with a non-Win8 kernel to load anything other than Win8. Way to go, Redmond!
Cool. Since I don't own an XBox and can't imagine buying a phone that might blue-screen in the middle of a call, I won't have to worry about ever upgrading to W8.
Classic shell is but one option for simulating the old start screen. When I recently tried to get the hang of 8, I searched “alternatives to windows 8 start” and found half a dozen on some kind soul’s blog. All have shortcomings IMO. Also, the HP I had, offered in one of its built-in apps a rudimentary form of start screen you could download; it wasn’t pretty.
Another way to go about it would be to customize the desktop with the taskbar on the left side, stocked with every icon you’d ever think of using...or just put the shortcuts on the desktop. How many do you really use more than “rarely” anyway?
I’m back to Windows 7, since 8 took way too much time to get acquainted with, and also it seemed to enjoy reverting to default settings, like a trail pony looking for any reason to head back to the stable.
Do people really want their PCs “DUMBED DOWN” to an app mentality? Microsoft is gambling it is yes. If enough fuss is raised, then Microsoft might bring the classic start menu back for Windows 8.
Yeah because it is bundled with every system, not because people want it. I went through that with Vista RIP.
Over 1/2 of all game consoles are XBox machines (an installed base of about 70 million). There are about 114 million households in the US.
Their primary owners/users are young adults* (the exact same market base that is more likely to use a smart phone).
When these people go to purchase their next smart phone, will the sales pitch “this will interface seamlessly with your XBox” appeal to them? For a lot of them it will.
The fact that YOU don’t own one, doesn’t mean it still isn’t going to be an advantage for MS.
It’s unfortunate, to me, that we’re migrating away from desktops. I understand the want for mobile devices, but it will be at least 10 years before we see mobile devices at speeds and performance benchmarks anywhere close to what a custom-built, liquid-cooled tower can accomplish today. Then you also have the HTPC (Home Theater PC) market that’s been growing slowly and has recently had a mini-boom thanks to custom case manufacturers and product compatibilities settling on HDMI.
I like the idea of mobile devices, but I’m still very much a desktop enthusiast at heart. I’d rather play my games on a 32” TV than have the option to move around with a 9” tablet.
Agreed. Those of us raised on a command line (DOS, UNIX, etc.) find this emulation of the icons on a iPhone silly. But it is the prevailing paradigm for interfaces in the present market. I switched it off and went to the classic desktop immediately. I will still curse the dumbing down of computers, but it is what it is.
Having some problems with 32-bit programs that you would think wouldn’t be a problem (e.g., Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.5.2 - suggested solution - upgrade.)
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