Microsoft's Shaw Strikes Back at New Coke Comparison

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Everyone repeats what they read somewhere else. Fact is Win8 is the best operating system ever. Not once have I had to search for a new or old driver. It runs all my legacy programs with ease.
The start screen is leap years ahead of a start menu because on the smallest screen I have I can place 24 of my favorite desktop programs within one tap/click access right there on my I opening start screen.
Hundreds if not thousands of apps and programs are available for launch with only 4 moves
 
Ballmer needs to step up to the plate and admit he's overseen another disaster. Remember Vista? I suppose 8 is ok for phones and tablet, after all, they're no more than over-rated, over-priced toys. But come on MS, I'm talking about real computers. Users would be businesses, professionals, power users and gamers. 8 simply won't due. Plain and simple. I want the desktop at boot, the start button with the expected functionality, the taskbar and notification area. With today's hi-res screens and power house graphics cards, I expect something more that those fruity colored, flat, two dimensional tiles. The icons on my desktop will be of my choosing and will provide a little eye candy. And the touch screen, get real. It's nothing new, been around for years. It has its niche and that is it. Sure, I'm going to work with a complex, multi-tab spreadsheet or a complex multi-page word document using the touch screen. In your dreams. And the cloud? Besides all the issues with privacy, security and accessibility,
upload speeds remain dismal and simply unacceptable. I want my software and data locally. My laptop is truly mobile and fully independent. I don't have to be tethered to the internet nor searching for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Give me a memory stick and I'm good to go. On the rare occasions that I need to interface with the company, there is my VPN software and I'm on their intranet. I don't live and die for email either. MS needs to wake up and meet their customers needs. People/businesses are still on XP while others are on 7. I haven't found an IT department yet that is recommending 8. Maybe it's time for Ballmer to retire.
 
In advertising, it's axiomatic that the company that embraces comparison is one that is failing. Unless there is a clever twist (Avis was not "number two" it was third. The campaign wasn't aimed at Hertz, but at National, and it worked) such a strategy shows desperation and usually increases the competitors numbers more than it does the advertiser's.
 
Windows 8 is like a car with no doors and engine missing. You cannot instant search Outlook with one click on the Windows key like you can in Windows 7 and with the "Start Menu Button" missing Windows 8 is a pile of crap!
People like Kevin Parrish should be banned from computer stores as he does not have a clue and does not understand that Windows 8 is a broken product that should never have been released. I feel sorry for the people who buy a new PC and have to spend days of frustration before returning it for refund or have Windows 7 installed.
 
Windows 8 is like a car with no doors and engine missing. You cannot instant search Outlook with one click on the Windows key like you can in Windows 7 and with the "Start Menu Button" missing Windows 8 is a pile of crap!
People like Kevin Parrish should be banned from computer stores as he does not have a clue and does not understand that Windows 8 is a broken product that should never have been released. I feel sorry for the people who buy a new PC and have to spend days of frustration before returning it for refund or have Windows 7 installed.
 


Sounds like you're the one that needs to be banned from computers stores if you're that reliant on a single "feature".

I intentionally bought Windows8... Those "days of frustration" lasted the better part of 15 minutes....

Sadly, it's the "enthusiasts" and media that are actually hindering advancement... Instead of adapting to change that is actually needed, "enthusiasts" and media flame companies that actually produce anything new and show deviation from a pre-existing product. The reaction to Windows8 is the same as the reaction to Windows95....the difference being that there are more "enthusiasts" and media outlets posting the same banter.

The real reason for the sales slump.... Global economy, Intel and AMD. The Global economy isn't improving. People are still losing jobs. The unemployed don't typically buy computers. Intel and AMD are releasing new products that are only minor improvements over previous products. Basically, if you're running a Lynnfield or Bloomfield based Core i5 or i7 processor, there's no justification for upgrading unless you're an enthusiast. Hell, the average consumer can get by with a Core 2 Duo E4500 rather easily. The computer industry is in a slump. There's almost no real innovation from the companies on top...and that's what drives sales. Innovation. When the global economy finally stabilizes and both Intel and AMD truly innovate again....sales will pick back up.
 
Windows 8 is a product we simply didn't need, because windows 7 was good enough.
MS force fed us windows 8 - the majority of us wouldn't have purchased it as windows 7 was their greatest OS to date.
 
After installing Start8 from StarDock, I'm really starting to enjoy Windows 8 more and more. (absolutely despised it in the beginning)
All tho, I really don't see the necessity to upgrade from Windows 7 at the moment, unless you have a tablet.
 
After installing Start8 from StarDock, I'm really starting to enjoy Windows 8 more and more. (absolutely despised it in the beginning)
All tho, I really don't see the necessity to upgrade from Windows 7 at the moment, unless you have a tablet.
 
Bunch of hypocrites. You want to be entitled to dislike window 8 but thumbs down anyone who says they like it. Even people that said they hated it at first but now like it. The only acceptable comment is "windows 8 sucks now and forever and anyone who even makes one positive comment doesn't know what they are talking about and are just m$ fanboys." So you've been warned. Don't ever make any positive comments about windows 8 on toms.
 
In regards to the change would you say that the Chevy Impala today is just exactly the same as the 1964 model? Which one is better? They both have 4 wheels, a steering wheel, an engine, a transmission, seats, etc. and yet we don't complain about General Motors making the newer Impalas because the older ones were better because they had less junk on them. No we say the newer ones are better because they get much better gas mileage than the older models. Speed is not a factor, the speed limit is 55 on most highways. What about appliances we use in our homes today compared to ones made just 10 years ago?
Change brings pain, people don't like pain, therefore they resist change yet we have much better products today because of the change than we used to have available.
The older diehards out there say they wish that things were like they used to be but when they actually have a chance to use one of the older products again they find out it really was not that good.
Most of these negative comments against the Windows 8 system are simply lost in the newer system and when they finally give it a true chance then they too will like it just as all of have done down through the years.
 
Over time Windows 8 might turn out to be one of the best things ever...
At least in respect to making Mac and Linux more popular 😛
 
Every new version of Windows, for a large part, just re-arranges buttons, moves menu items around the page, makes you work to find out how to do simple things you had already learned how to do in the previous version. In other words, mainly cosmetic changes. I'm sure there are a few improvements to the actual guts of the operating system with each new version, but where the rubber meets the road, the usability of the computer and its software, it's like Microsoft forces you to re-learn all the very basics to do what you had already mastered in the previous version. What a colossal waste of time, redesigning the visual presentation every time. Big multi-colored tiles in Windows 8 are a change for the sake of change (instead of a separate product just for tablets). Most Windows new versions are just that, changing it all so we get so caught up in the cosmetic changes we won't notice the lack of substantive improvements. Nothing is less fun than getting a new computer with the latest version of Windows and having to go back to square one to learn all the new ways we are being forced to learn how to do the simple tasks because MS thought it was better. Different is not better, different is different, not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely bad if it takes dozens of manhours and a radical change in mindset to reach the same level of job performance and functionality (not to mention the level of comfort) that the previous version had evolved into. This isn't about being resistant to change, this is all about productivity, bottom line. I remember the Deskmate user interface. It, too, had large tiles, each tile representing a frequently used program. Inside each tile (or box) was a list of recently used files. So your entire desktop was a grid of your key programs with direct access to your most commonly used files. Talk about efficiency. No fluff, no widgets, no apps to distract you. Just pure productivity. What a concept. When Microsoft touts its millions of units sold, remember that if it didn't come "free" already installed on new computers, how many people would actually choose to go out that buy Windows as a separate stand-alone product and install it on their new computer? There's the real story: how many people actually buy Windows software and install in on their existing computers? I'd like to see those numbers.
 
For the MILLIONTH time. It's not the BUTTON people are missing, it's the desktop environment. We don't need a full-screen start menu/page, and nobody wants to use only 1 full-screen application on their $1000+ PC either.
Microsoft needs to focus on bringing multitasking and common sense back into its OS. And for @%$# sake, bring out a Expose-like feature where we can see all open apps visually. Apple did it years ago, most modern Linux distros have their own versions... and windows went a step backwards with Win+Tab and it just cycles through apps.
Windows 8 is a TERRIBLE OS, and if Microsoft doesn't start owning up to that fact, then Windows 9 will be atrocious as well.
 


What they have is better, you start any search by typing, then tap the mail button icon. Instant success. Wow

With a tablet it is just as easy but if you have no keyboard your windows 7 comparison is not related.
 


The start screen is a Windows menu. You can have as many tiles as you want, opening every windows 7 program you ever owned directly and without delay and in one less step than using a start menu or without using the desktop tile.
 
Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista and 7 all sucked in the early months and years of their life cycle. Windows 8 will eventually mature into something useful. But for now, it is what it was, just like every OS revision before it.
 
"In the center, selling 100 million copies of a product is a good thing"
It is a meaningless metric when people have no choice to buy something different.
"acknowledging that you were listening to feedback and acting on it was considered a good thing"
If they had listened to feedback before it launched, people wouldn't have been complaining so much afterwards.
 
Jack1982, the point is not if you like or don't like.That is totally fair. My point was that in this particular discussion the only voices being heard are really on the edges. When you have the numbers of users we have, and when you make big changes, which we made, there are numbers of people who say don't/go back. And here are others who say love it go go go. But passion for the middle isn't very interesting. We hear all the voices.
 
After trying to deal with SoftXPand for gaming, I finally bit the bullet and am now running a triple-boot setup; Linux Mint for work, Windows 8 for single screen gaming and emulators, and windows 7 with softxpand for when I have friends over.

Honestly, I don't even have a start button program installed, but I like windows 8 just FINE - about five minutes of customization and it works for me. I press the windows button and start typing, or just click on a program I have pinned to my taskbar. If you did want to have a start button, there are a plethora of options.

The people I see whining about windows 8 fall into two categories:

1) Those who haven't tried it and are repeating the catchphrases stuck in the mob mentality

2) The people who have it but are too lazy or confused to bother taking a few minutes to adjust windows to do what they want. It seriously takes all of about thirty seconds to get the start menu back. If you want an operating system that never changes, and that doesn't need any tweaking at all (because you can't anyways), go buy a mac.
 
What is this Windows 8? Oh, you mean Window 8! Yes, Microsoft heard that people love using fullscreen apps on their smartphones and don't want to do any actual work with their computing devices. So they took away all your windows, made this thing called Metro, and think it's the best thing ever because it's just like iOS, Android, Chrome, and the others. It is simply inconceivable to them that someone could want to use their PC in a way other than their other computing devices.
Windows 8 is garbage. Too much jumping back and forth between Metro and desktop. Too much reliance on touch. I have to wonder how many of those 100 million sales were immediately followed by sales of Windows 7. I can count 4 within my family already, and hundreds at work. Using Gnome 3 is more satisfying than Windows 8, and we all know how terrible Gnome 3 is.
 
Okay, Mr. Shaw...
1) You've sold 100 million licenses...not copies. Ask Tami Reller.
2) Moving the "...entire industry toward an exciting future of touch, mobility, and seamless, cross-device experiences." has one flaw: Your staple of home and business users who primarily use desktop and/or server machines don't give a flip about touch screen or mobility. Your Windows 8, for them, is little than an unnecessary interface upgrade. Bad business decision. Next time, try creating a separate mobile OS for your mobile devices...like Apple. It worked for them.
3) You're right. Windows 8 is nothing like the "New Coke" from 1985.
The bad taste from New Coke would go away on its own eventually if you quit using it.
 


You do realize that 99% of the time you should be using desktop mode, right? The only time I ever see Metro is when I'm searching for a program or setting, and it actually does that better than windows 7.

If you are in metro half the time, you're either doing it so you can complain about being in metro half the time, or doing it because you can't be bothered to learn how to use a desktop version of the app, and would rather complain about being in metro half the time.
 
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