Windows 8 Sales Well Below Projections

[Rogifan]

Really good piece from Paul Thurrott. What baffles me is why Microsoft didn't time it s Surface Pro and Windows 8 came out at the same time. Windows RT has created a lot of confusion and right now it's a compromised device in many ways. And Thurrott's comments on OEM's going wild wild with a ton of Windows 8 hardware designs is spot on. Some might call it innovation, but the average consumer will just be confused.

Is too bad that Ballmer will run Microsoft until he chooses to leave. They need new blood at top, but Ballmer has too much control, owns too much stock and Gates will never get rid of him.

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-8-sales-well-below-projections-plenty-blame-go-around

 

[spinedoc77]

Really good piece from Paul Thurrott. What baffles me is why Microsoft didn't time it s Surface Pro and Windows 8 came out at the same time. Windows RT has created a lot of confusion and right now it's a compromised device in many ways. And Thurrott's comments on OEM's going wild wild with a ton of Windows 8 hardware designs is spot on. Some might call it innovation, but the average consumer will just be confused.

Is too bad that Ballmer will run Microsoft until he chooses to leave. They need new blood at top, but Ballmer has too much control, owns too much stock and Gates will never get rid of him.

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-8-sales-well-below-projections-plenty-blame-go-around

They screwed up big time. The OS itself is not meshing between touch and desktop as well as it should. But they really screwed up on hardware. RT is a joke and a huge mistake that just confuses consumers. They should have just released windows 8 pro, at the low end with the atom processors priced like the iPad, which they are doing but the manufacturers should have been ready on day 1. Only Samsung has trickled their win pro tablet out and its difficult to find one. It just takes all the excitement out of the entire release contrasted with apple and how they have their hardware available with no issues.

 

[ChazUK]

Something very odd is going on at MS, especially with whatever has gone on with Steven Sinofsky. They've taken a huge gamble with Metro which seems to be really struggling with consumers. To put it in their flagship product (Windows) was a huge risk.

I must admit I've been pleased with Win8 so far despite having some reservations on it first of all. Once I get into the Desktop mode, I completely forget about Metro when using it on my desktop and none of the Metro apps have replaced their Desktop counterparts at all.

That saying, if it wasn't for the low upgrade cost, I very much doubt I'd have bothered at all with it.

 

[mantan]

I cussed a lot at Windows 8 early. It wasn't intuitive and the second day completely locked up (and wouldn't Restore). Like a lot of people I loaded Stardock just to get the old look back.

On the plus side, my entire system is much faster and I'm starting to get used to it. But I'm very hesitant to put it on my wife or mom's computer. Metro makes things more confusing and frankly a lot of apps are still half baked.

I can't imagine deploying it in an Enterprise environment...it would be a fiasco.

 

[zbarvian]

I blame the inadequacies of PC manufacturers. They can't make a truly premium product, and Microsoft just showed them all up with Surface RT. I think we're moving to a time where Apple's model of all hardware and software being made together by the same company will prevail, and OEMs will be no more.

 

[Rodster]

They screwed up big time. The OS itself is not meshing between touch and desktop as well as it should. But they really screwed up on hardware. RT is a joke and a huge mistake that just confuses consumers. They should have just released windows 8 pro, at the low end with the atom processors priced like the iPad, which they are doing but the manufacturers should have been ready on day 1. Only Samsung has trickled their win pro tablet out and its difficult to find one. It just takes all the excitement out of the entire release contrasted with apple and how they have their hardware available with no issues.

Agreed, I think RT was a huge mistake as well as W8 on PC's. Microsoft screwed it up. W8 on a tablet in W8 UI mode is fabulous, I gave it a whirl yesterday at Best Buy and I was VERY impressed. No reason to include desktop mode.

The same goes for W8 on a PC. This OS should have been renamed to something else and should have been a touch device exclusive. Windows 8 should have been an evolution of W7 and a PC exclusive only. And just like Apple is bringing bits and pieces from iOS to OSX, MS could have learned from that and could've have seen what works and doesn't work in a PC environment. Instead they have a jack of all trades RT tablet OS and a jack of all trades, master of none PC OS and PC users are revolting from W8.

I can't complaining because W8 Pro upgrade only cost me $15.

 

[gdourado]

I actually think windows 8 is a very good concept but it will only takeoff with surface pro...

The ipad and android tablets are good devices for media consumption.
But the surface pro can be a tablet to reply be productive, do some actual work and also do some couch or casual browsing...

That is something the ipad and android can never do...
They are based on mobile phone operating systems, and are limited by nature...

Also, their stores are low budget apps...
Everybody buys angry birds or another game for one dollar...
But because everyone thinks a mobile app for 20 bucks is too expensive, nobody develops serious apps for the Android or ipad ecosystems.

That's where Microsoft Windows 8 ecosystem can take off...
A serious platform, for both work and leisure, with devices that can be as powerfull as a desktop computer, as convenient as a tablet and as present as a mobile phone. All in sync and based on the same source code...

It is just the beginning for Microsoft, but from my understanding, they are already ahead of the game...

Cheers

 

[NT1440]

I blame the inadequacies of PC manufacturers. They can't make a truly premium product, and Microsoft just showed them all up with Surface RT. I think we're moving to a time where Apple's model of all hardware and software being made together by the same company will prevail, and OEMs will be no more.

There's definitely some truth to this. You can't imagine how many low end laptops are for sale at Best Buy (I work there) with touchpads that completely ruin the usability of gestures, and in many ways the overall experience of the computer.

I read somewhere that synaptics had finally made a truly great multitouch trackpad at a low enough price for OEM's to include across the board, but I still see nothing but ****** implementations (many have textures on them which basically kills swiping or even two finger scrolling detection) from every major player, that goes tenfold for you HP.

 

[Rogifan]

I cussed a lot at Windows 8 early. It wasn't intuitive and the second day completely locked up (and wouldn't Restore). Like a lot of people I loaded Stardock just to get the old look back.

On the plus side, my entire system is much faster and I'm starting to get used to it. But I'm very hesitant to put it on my wife or mom's computer. Metro makes things more confusing and frankly a lot of apps are still half baked.

I can't imagine deploying it in an Enterprise environment...it would be a fiasco.

Where I work (Fortune 50 company) we haven't even deployed Windows 7 yet, or Office 2010 for that matter. They'll be on Windows 10 before we're ready to get off of 7.

 

[Black Magic]

Metro is a mistake plain and simple. Why would Microsoft ignore history and try to push it down people's throats? Let's look back....

1. Zune = FAIL. Metro probably was born here.
2. Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 = Fail. Die hard fans will try to say otherwise but it is a failure.
3. Windows 8 Preview = FAIL. Bloggers and beta testers were bitching left and right about it.

Metro just is not taking off and there needs to be a serious rethink at Microsoft. I believe new leadership is needed.

Steve Ballmer refuses to give up the reigns and will fire any executive that seems to be gaining momentum for the top spot. He fires them all. ELOP, Ozzie, and now Steve S. have gotten the ax.

Steve has no vision and clings to the past.

 

[Rodster]

Metro is a mistake plain and simple. Why would Microsoft ignore history and try to push it down people's throats? Let's look back....

1. Zune = FAIL. Metro probably was born here.
2. Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 = Fail. Die hard fans will try to say otherwise but it is a failure.
3. Windows 8 Preview = FAIL. Bloggers and beta testers were bitching left and right about it.

Metro just is not taking off and there needs to be a serious rethink at Microsoft. I believe new leadership is needed.

Steve Ballmer refuses to give up the reigns and will fire any executive that seems to be gaining momentum for the top spot. He fires them all. ELOP, Ozzie, and now Steve S. have gotten the ax.

Steve has no vision and clings to the past.

Nope, Metro came from the XBOX 360 UI.

MS wanted to integrate the look of that design with their OS. Like I said, in a tablet environment, Metro rocks !

The space is fully utilized with Live Tiles.

 

[ReanimationN]

Nope, Metro came from the XBOX 360 UI.

MS wanted to integrate the look of that design with their OS. Like I said, in a tablet environment, Metro rocks !

The space is fully utilized with Live Tiles.

Metro's first outing was on the Zune HD.

 

[Rodster]

Metro's first outing was on the Zune HD.

I still own a Zune HD, love it btw. That tile based UI is in no comparison to the XBOX 360 Metro UI. In fact MS carried the name over. Owning both products I can't see the similarities between the Zune UI and the XBOX 360 design.

The W8 UI looks almost identical to the XBOX 360 UI.

 

[atthecross]

haven't followed the windows 8 stuff at all, do they have all the tiers like they usually do (home, professional, semi-professional, casual user...etc)

 

[robanga]

Thurrot's quote here is telling:

"I love Lenovo, but consider this one PC maker’s designs: The firm is selling traditional laptops and Ultrabooks, touch-based laptops and Ultrabooks, “multimode” convertible laptop/tablets (the Yoga line), a traditional convertible Ultrabook (ThinkPad Twist), slate-type tablets (ThinkPad Tablet 2), slate-type tablets with keyboard docks (IdeaPad Lynx), and then a related but separate line of Android tablets. And that’s just the portable computers."

 

[Rogifan]

IF Windows 8 turns out to be less than spectacular can Apple capitalize? Here's hoping Federighi & Ive can take advantage of a possible Win 8 failure.

 

[ReanimationN]

I still own a Zune HD, love it btw. That tile based UI is in no comparison to the XBOX 360 Metro UI. In fact MS carried the name over. Owning both products I can't see the similarities between the Zune UI and the XBOX 360 design.

The W8 UI looks almost identical to the XBOX 360 UI.

You can't see the similarities? They're not identical, but you can definitely see that the Zune HD's version of Metro was the forebearer of what we have today.

 

[jry]

RT is a joke and a huge mistake that just confuses consumers. They should have just released windows 8 pro.....

Your opinion, not fact. I'm typing this on my Surface RT, which is not the least bit compromised or confusing.

This is XP all over again.

http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/18829228/windows-xp-slow-to-take-hold.htm

 

[spinedoc77]

IF Windows 8 turns out to be less than spectacular can Apple capitalize? Here's hoping Federighi & Ive can take advantage of a possible Win 8 failure.

Apple has a HUGE opportunity to capitalize, they can put OSx on a tablet. Of course this wouldn't make good business sense as it would cannibalize their laptop market and destroy their ipad market. But if they released a full OS on a tablet I think it would be a severe blow to Microsoft, especially seeing how MS is putting all their eggs in the mobile basket.

 

[NT1440]

You can't see the similarities? They're not identical, but you can definitely see that the Zune HD's version of Metro was the forebearer of what we have today.

Agreed, they've definitely blended in all the -> arrow graphics from the Zune HDs UI, even the loading ring and the fashion in which transitions zip across the screen strike me as very similar to the zune. Hell just look at the url bar for IE 10 Metro.

 

[zbarvian]

IF Windows 8 turns out to be less than spectacular can Apple capitalize? Here's hoping Federighi & Ive can take advantage of a possible Win 8 failure.

For sure. If they bring prices low enough, that is.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Metro is a mistake plain and simple. Why would Microsoft ignore history and try to push it down people's throats? Let's look back....

1. Zune = FAIL. Metro probably was born here.
2. Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 = Fail. Die hard fans will try to say otherwise but it is a failure.
3. Windows 8 Preview = FAIL. Bloggers and beta testers were bitching left and right about it.

Someone could have said the same thing about OS X back in 2003. OS X pretty much sucked, Aqua was something that only a few fanatics liked (but most people used Windows and didn't "get" OS X. Did I mention how much OS X sucked?

 

[robanga]

Apple has a HUGE opportunity to capitalize, they can put OSx on a tablet. Of course this wouldn't make good business sense as it would cannibalize their laptop market and destroy their ipad market. But if they released a full OS on a tablet I think it would be a severe blow to Microsoft, especially seeing how MS is putting all their eggs in the mobile basket.

I think it would be too confusing and your right they earn way to much from the iOS market to deliberately mess with it. They could put more money into marketing OS X for the enterprise but what would the return be? Enterprise folks bring their macs into the job from their consumer experience.

 

[Rodster]

You can't see the similarities? They're not identical, but you can definitely see that the Zune HD's version of Metro was the forebearer of what we have today.

Nah don't see the similarities but who knows it could be the forebearer. I would have thought they copied the XBOX 360 design it was copied to the W8 UI.

 

[Rogifan]

Apple has a HUGE opportunity to capitalize, they can put OSx on a tablet. Of course this wouldn't make good business sense as it would cannibalize their laptop market and destroy their ipad market. But if they released a full OS on a tablet I think it would be a severe blow to Microsoft, especially seeing how MS is putting all their eggs in the mobile basket.

So copy Microsoft on something that has yet to be proven successful?