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Windows 8 Sales Well Below Projections
- Thread starter Rogifan
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I think this is one the one big thing everyone is missing out on. Yeah, the new start screen is divisive at the bets of times, but...who cares? The desktop is where you're going to be spending 99% of your time, and Start8 is always an option for those who don't want to deal with anything Metro.
...and as far as the desktop goes, the under the hood improvements are fairly substantial. Windows 7 was already a pretty fast OS. Win8 is even moreso.
While a good number in such a short period of time, StatCounter only reports on browsers that hit websites utilizing StatCounter in the first place. So chances are that number is probably a little larger than 15 million.
The only thing I see myself using live tiles / widgets for is weather. For anything else, I'd just open the app.
I did notice Win8 is faster and seemed more stable than Win7 when I tried one of the preview versions. However, is upgrading to Win8 worth the hassle? I'd have to purchase, install, then either adjust to using the Start Screen or download one of the start menu replacement utilities. And there isn't anything really wrong with Win7.
And come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I upgraded Windows on an already existing machine. I get the latest Windows when I buy a new computer, but older computers just tend to stay on whatever Windows version they came with.
Installing on top of Windows 7 is a breeze. You get a program from Microsoft that downloads the image and prompts you to either install from the desktop, burn a DVD or make a bootable USB drive. I made the DVD and the Drive but for the actual install I just did it from the desktop. It does it in the background and you can actually use your PC for a bit until it reboots about 2-3 times and installs. Very quick and painless and all your settings from Windows 7 copy over no problem.
As for the new start menu, yea it can take some getting used to. I personally never used the start menu as of 7. I just pin my most used apps to the taskbar and had least used ones on the desktop. I only ever used the start menu to do a search of applications and I go in the habit of using Windows + R to bring up run anyways. Of course everyone is different, I would assume those who relied on the start menu much more would have a to spend more time getting used to a screen instead of a small menu.
I literally haven't talked to a single person who wasn't extremely resistive to Windows 8, and I include myself in that assessment. After having using it a while, I have gotten used to it, and quite like it. Simply put it (the UI) is more different than any other Windows version to date. Having grown up using the OS for 20+ years now, I think it is understandable to have feelings of hate at first. I think people are not wanting to upgrade because it is just so different. Right now, consumers as well as businesses have also been given little reason to update. So there is a new UI. Why do I want this? To use a couple hundred lackluster apps on the store? Yeah, I'll wait until those apps are at least in the tens of thousands until I spend money on the upgrade. It's almost like a brand new OS. I am honestly not shocked at all about the resistance, and sales are better than I personally would have anticipated. It's all down to MS marketing at this point. That is going to make or break this thing by showing us why we need Windows 8.
Same here, i've been using it the past couple of weeks and i'm really liking it. It's the first content driven OS i've used in awhile. I like toggling back to the START page to check my mail, news and weather.
Everyone seems to love to bash Microsoft. Maybe they deserve it but Windows 8 is a nice improvement. Would I upgrade from Win 7, no. But I still like it. You can customize the metro ui to your liking. What's the first thing most people do with windows - fill the desktop with icons to launch applications. Well Win 8 separates with desktop from the launch function. Get used to it.
There still is launching from the desktop too... just not for the new Metro apps which werent even there before.
It'll take more than marketing since businesses and government are even more reluctant. And the marketing so far seems to be trying to out artsy fartsy Apple.
I think Microsoft started the first step into total integration. I don't doubt that we will see updates in the coming months that integrate out W8 and WP8 phones, tablets, and desktops together. If they play it right, and market the features right, they can capture a large audience even with big business. Right now W8 can do everything vista can. But for businesses, it doesn't do a whole lot MORE (except maybe run more efficiently). I think people are poopooing (not saying you are) too soon with this one.