Microsoft Discounting Windows 8 For OEMs to Boost Sales

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Windows 8 METRO, a few extra seconds of boot advantage, a lifetime of lost productivity!
 
Does this mean a discount for OEM versions purchasable on sites like Newegg, or am I to understand this as to only being discounts for their corporate customers?
 
Hey, you got it all wrong! Stepping from Windows 8 to 7 is an upgrade. You can't upgrade to something worse! I was using Windows 8 since first builds (7950 or so), and seeing deterioration of user interface and terrible decision worsening overall OS experience made me sad. I have to give credit for Microsoft, for optimizing responsiveness, they invested incredible amount of effort and money here, and I'm still sick of performance tests for pan/flick reaction (measured in microseconds, btw), but... they did nothing on the desktop part. And most notable missteps: adding ribbon to explorer (because all the controls change/move/disappear while you resize the window), adding hot edges/corners (especially top one. which on 1440/1600p/+ screen will scare you to death) removing start menu (and not because metro sucks, but because it covers whole screen, while start menu let you unobtrusively run additional programs), and last, but not least, completely b0rked on-screen keyboard mechanic (tablet-wise). I've never seen anything worse in keyboard department EVER, both design and integration, especially with metro is just sick wrong. This OS has 'unintuitive' all over it. Only upside of Windows 8 is native adoption of UEFI (more flexible boot configuration and better administration/recovery tools), and clock on logon screen.
 
Hey, you got it all wrong! Stepping from Windows 8 to 7 is an upgrade. You can't upgrade to something worse! I was using Windows 8 since first builds (7950 or so), and seeing deterioration of user interface and terrible decision worsening overall OS experience made me sad. I have to give credit for Microsoft, for optimizing responsiveness, they invested incredible amount of effort and money here, and I'm still sick of performance tests for pan/flick reaction (measured in microseconds, btw), but... they did nothing on the desktop part. And most notable missteps: adding ribbon to explorer (because all the controls change/move/disappear while you resize the window), adding hot edges/corners (especially top one. which on 1440/1600p/+ screen will scare you to death) removing start menu (and not because metro sucks, but because it covers whole screen, while start menu let you unobtrusively run additional programs), and last, but not least, completely b0rked on-screen keyboard mechanic (tablet-wise). I've never seen anything worse in keyboard department EVER, both design and integration, especially with metro is just sick wrong. This OS has 'unintuitive' all over it. Only upside of Windows 8 is native adoption of UEFI (more flexible boot configuration and better administration/recovery tools), and clock on logon screen.
 
[citation][nom]damianrobertjones[/nom]Is it me or have some of you guys hardly even or EVER used Windows 8? Just reading through the comments makes it more than clear.I'm a supposed 'power' user and find no issue with Windows 8 on the desktop, laptop and of course, tablets. Why not? It's Windows 7 with extras. What is a power user anyway? I run multiple VMS, administer a network etc and Windows 8 has never gotten in the way of my day to day work. I actually like having easy access to the Kindle/ebay/other app and it saves a whole load of crap being installed across my SSD.Don't any of you actually see the benefits of Windows 8? The GUI is damn easy to use, the OS 'is' better than Windows 7 (Seeing as it pretty much is 7 anyway) so I'm not too sure why we have a whole load of negativity?Baffles me.[/citation]
Why even bother with the extra layer of an interface? If you spend a lot of time running your VMs, you're doing it in the 'Desktop'. Also, if you're running any office apps, you're doing it in the desktop. If you're writing any code in Visual Studio or Dreamweaver, you're doing it in the desktop. If you're editing an image in Photoshop, you're doing it in the desktop. No live tile is going to get you there. Copy-paste operations as we once knew them are a thing of the past in the metro UI.

What's the point of the live tiles? Just put f-ing live widgits and icons all over your windows 7 desktop and you're good to go?

What about double-clicking an icon to access ebay or using a favorite from within the browser? Is that tougher than side-scrolling over (by default using the up and down mouse scroll wheel? wtf???) and clicking the appropriate icon? The interface for most apps (ie Kindle, Ebay, others) is a hell of a lot more robust inside the non-metro version of a browser. There is no metro interface better than it's browser counterpart.

An advantage I do see is being able to sign directly into a live account (using the live account as your user ID on the PC). All of the casual use items are similar from the Windows Phone to the Windows Tablet to Windows 8, but if you're doing more than the things I mentioned above in my first post, you're not doing it in the default UI. You're doing it in the desktop. So what is the point for a power user? There is no good argument for Windows 8 other than for test purposes if you're designing finger-swipey apps someone might use on their tablet or touch PC.

Other than that, BFD. It's like taking an extra click to go to the old-fashioned desktop where the real work takes place.
 
"b0rked on-screen keyboard mechanic (tablet-wise)." - Absolute rubbish... sorry. I've used tablets all the way from Windows XP tablet edition and there's nothing wrong with 8's keyboard.

Maybe MS are happy with the vash that they're making from the Win 8 store so they though that they'd cut the oems some slack.

OMG is that too positive for people to imagine.


P.s. It seems that Toms is now full of negative posting users that drawn out anything positive with regards to Windows 8. Some of the posts are simply idiotic.
 
[citation][nom]ubercake[/nom]Why even bother with the extra layer of an interface? If you spend a lot of time running your VMs, you're doing it in the 'Desktop'. Also, if you're running any office apps, you're doing it in the desktop. If you're writing any code in Visual Studio or Dreamweaver, you're doing it in the desktop. If you're editing an image in Photoshop, you're doing it in the desktop. No live tile is going to get you there. Copy-paste operations as we once knew them are a thing of the past in the metro UI.What's the point of the live tiles? Just put f-ing live widgits and icons all over your windows 7 desktop and you're good to go?What about double-clicking an icon to access ebay or using a favorite from within the browser? Is that tougher than side-scrolling over (by default using the up and down mouse scroll wheel? wtf???) and clicking the appropriate icon? The interface for most apps (ie Kindle, Ebay, others) is a hell of a lot more robust inside the non-metro version of a browser. There is no metro interface better than it's browser counterpart.An advantage I do see is being able to sign directly into a live account (using the live account as your user ID on the PC). All of the casual use items are similar from the Windows Phone to the Windows Tablet to Windows 8, but if you're doing more than the things I mentioned above in my first post, you're not doing it in the default UI. You're doing it in the desktop. So what is the point for a power user? There is no good argument for Windows 8 other than for test purposes if you're designing finger-swipey apps someone might use on their tablet or touch PC.Other than that, BFD. It's like taking an extra click to go to the old-fashioned desktop where the real work takes place.[/citation]

...because I like to keep things tidy. I don't want a whole load of files sitting there on the desktop and I now have a nice, tidy, app/application launch interface. I spend 95% on the desktop and that's where I'm coming from... There's nothing at all wrong with Windows 8. I hardly ever, EVER, used the start menu and neither do any of the staff members in this building but the new Win8 interface has a valid purpose in my working day.

I have Opera, IE10, file explorer, Outlook 2013, notepad and remote desktop on my taskbar, nearly nothing on my desktop and everything else on the new UI. Tidy, quick, very easy to use.

If you don't want live tiles then disable them.

As for staff: Windows 8 will mean that staff spend more time within the network (Kindle, ebay, small games) than browsing the web clicking on who knows what.


At the end of the day... there's nothing really wrong with Windows 8 and when a rational person reads some of the posts here, today, that person might wonder what the world is coming to.
 
Their greed and arrogance is finally catching up to them. They thought they were going to shove this crappy OS down people's throat, they thought people would be dumb enough to flock by the masses to buy Windows 8 but people have made a stance with their wallets and they are saying NO! Once again FU Microsoft and screw your crappy Windows 8.
 
[citation][nom]damianrobertjones[/nom]...because I like to keep things tidy. I don't want a whole load of files sitting there on the desktop and I now have a nice, tidy, app/application launch interface. I spend 95% on the desktop and that's where I'm coming from... There's nothing at all wrong with Windows 8. I hardly ever, EVER, used the start menu and neither do any of the staff members in this building but the new Win8 interface has a valid purpose in my working day. I have Opera, IE10, file explorer, Outlook 2013, notepad and remote desktop on my taskbar, nearly nothing on my desktop and everything else on the new UI. Tidy, quick, very easy to use.If you don't want live tiles then disable them. As for staff: Windows 8 will mean that staff spend more time within the network (Kindle, ebay, small games) than browsing the web clicking on who knows what.At the end of the day... there's nothing really wrong with Windows 8 and when a rational person reads some of the posts here, today, that person might wonder what the world is coming to.[/citation]
So what you're saying is that:

1) You're a power user.
2) Most of the work you do is within the non-metro UI desktop.

I guess that's the point I was trying to make.
 
[citation][nom]damianrobertjones[/nom]P.s. Is this article with regards to MS discounting the price to push smaller devices? If it is then it's been twisted[/citation]
There's this thing called gutter journalism, y'all, this article is days old and most of the salient information is missing and just leaves the trollbait
...
Welcome to Tom's Hateware
 
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]There's this thing called gutter journalism, y'all, this article is days old and most of the salient information is missing and just leaves the trollbait...Welcome to Tom's Hateware[/citation]
So it's all about haters on Tom's, right? Market research and slow sales numbers mean nothing to you?

So if numbers don't mean anything and people's opinions don't mean anything, the rest of us are just dumb and you got it all figured out? Good for you. You keep going with your unique bad self.
 
So microsoft is dying to get windows 8 to sell because this is the second major release they've screwed up in recent times. (Me I wouldn't count as major. but it too failed just not recently.)

Maybe if they'd listen to the consumer base they might actually sell. Isn't that how Win7 came about, and actually succeeded? They listened to us? I'd bet win7 will last as long as XP has. It's the next best windows OS up from XP. So far...

Personally, I don't care if MS gave me 8 for free, I still wouldn't install it. I don't like the OS design, it doesn't do anything for me, a few frames per second faster in games, or a second off loading times? yay?

I can clock my CPU and GPU up 100/20mhz respectively, and get that same frame boost, if not better, I've already got windows on an SSD so boot times are record for me. Without the need to reinstall every thing on my PC and hope it all plays nice, some of my software is old, and barely likes my video card, to say nothing about the OS.

But I will say, unless MS makes Windows 9 what 8 should have been and a proper OS successor to 7, I'll likely skip it, and stay with 7, or if the need to upgrade arises, I'll switch to linux and run Wine. (Which would benefit me actually, I've heard Wine runs older software better then windows itself) I've been tempted to actually start fiddling with ubuntu and seeing how I like it and learning it.
 
Same old crap every time a new OS comes out.
"It's sux, it's crap, i hate it, blablabla...".....then when another OS comes out, they say the older one is great and they'll stick with it.
 
[citation][nom]ubercake[/nom]So it's all about haters on Tom's, right? Market research and slow sales numbers mean nothing to you?So if numbers don't mean anything and people's opinions don't mean anything, the rest of us are just dumb and you got it all figured out? Good for you. You keep going with your unique bad self.[/citation]
So no recognition that most of the content of the original story is missing, for devices with screens under 10.8" in size, etc
...
Didn't think so
 
[citation][nom]BigMack70[/nom]I know there are some folks who like it but personally, you couldn't even pay me to switch from Windows 7 to Windows 8 on my desktop...[/citation]
Agreed, they couldn't even pay me to switch form Windows Vista to Windows 8. Modern UI(Metro) is just an 80's version of Microsoft Bob.
 
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/06/redmond_slashing_oem_pricing/

This is a real story, with real information and real journalism - you may not recognise it, hell even the WSJ is more up to speed than this place
 
[citation][nom]jdwii[/nom]The only reason why is because the desktop does not boot up at first and the performance is the same under many benchmarks when i tested it using 2 different computers.[/citation]

Wrong. Even tho the start screen is your starting point (makes sense, does it not?), the desktop start up instantly. The only thing still starting up, is what programs you installed yourself.
Your little personal benchmarks test, I wont base anything on.

I myself use Win8, and I like it and its new features.
A lot of people say that its bad for power users, but it is not. Power user just don't know how to do any more. Lear the new setup, and you will like it.

PS. Vista was crap, so people flocked to 7... 7 is popular, so people hate change and/or don't see the reason to upgrade.
 
[citation][nom]makaveli316[/nom]Same old crap every time a new OS comes out."It's sux, it's crap, i hate it, blablabla...".....then when another OS comes out, they say the older one is great and they'll stick with it.[/citation]That's because people feel if it aint broke, don't fix it.
 
[citation][nom]wiyosaya[/nom]What this article really says: M$ is desperate for Windows 8 sales. We've heard nothing about how well it is selling since November. My bet is it is not selling well; otherwise, M$ would be, everywhere, telling the world how well it is selling.[/citation]

Windows 8 was given to me for free (I got it as a tech salesperson where I work as part of an MS promo) and it sits next to my dusty copy of - well, I only have a W7 OEM, which is definitely not dusty, but the point remains. It hasn't left my drawer since I installed it the first time and promptly removed it.
 
"The qualifying device must be a PC, or one with a built-in touch screen smaller than 10.8-inches."
This is bull. The software is software, and you should be able to buy it completely separately. This is why I will never buy Windows, I will simply... acquire it.

[citation][nom]BigMack70[/nom]I know there are some folks who like it but personally, you couldn't even pay me to switch from Windows 7 to Windows 8 on my desktop...[/citation]
I don't see any benefits Windows 7 has over Windows 8, aside from the better old-style task manager.

Simply install Classic Start, and something to remove the ribbon, and you're good to go.
 
[citation][nom]shafe88[/nom]That's because people feel if it aint broke, don't fix it.[/citation]

This is also a nonsense if you think about it. You would be still running with a spear and a leaf covering your butt if that " If it ain't broke it, don't fix it" phrase was really true.

It's the same old song every few years and i hope it'll be that way in the future, so things will move up.

I remember how people hated big mobile phones, but now they want more more bigger screen for example.

Anyway, we will talk in few years....
 
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/ [...] m_pricing/This is a real story, with real information and real journalism - you may not recognise it, hell even the WSJ is more up to speed than this place[/citation]

Maybe Metro is the evolution of Windows Media Center right there on the desktop. Ever thought of that?
 
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