Opinion: Here's One Reason Why Windows 8 Sales Are Slow

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I think MS and MS fanboys need to explore every possible reason why Windows 8 sales suck before admit it is the OS itself has problem. I think MS need something like "Apple's Mac guy vs PC guys" ad campaign to inform the whole world EVERYDAY why Vista sucks. Even many of you don't want to admit it, but it is one of the reason why Windows 7 came out so fast. (or why MS put Vista behind so soon)
 
The reason sales have been poor is the lack of touch screen monitors for existing computers. No one wants to buy a whole new computer just for Windows 8.
 
"Yeah, Windows 8 is one of the worst versions I have ever seen," ....What is untrue of that? The only one I can think of that is worse is Windows ME, but Windows 2000 came out with it so refuse to accept ME as a legitimate release.
 
I do tech support related to a big box electronics store, and I can back up this claim that many salesmen are bad mouthing Windows 8.
Perception is often reality, and I have had several people tell me "Oh I hate this Windows 8, they told me at the store it was bad and they were right. I should have got a Mac!"
Well Windows 8 definitely has some bad design choices, but as someone who takes hundreds of support calls a week, I can tell you I have a far easier time walking someone through Windows 8 than I do OSX. Another issue is, there are a significant number of people who were holding on to their Windows XP computers, which are now finally dying, and the switch to Windows 8 for them is extra frustrating.
Some people have commented that Metro ads more steps for troubleshooting. Windows Key+R still works the same, so this has not been the case for me.
 


That may be part of the issue, but I think savvy computer users also understand that desktop touch screens are a pointless gimmick except in very unusual use-case scenarios. No one wants to hold his arm up at shoulder height, reaching across his desk to touch his screen, for hours a day. Talk about inefficient and exhausting.

Boring as they may seem, the mouse and keyboard are unrivaled as general-use input devices. I don't see that changing any time soon.
 
Your obviously not aware of market economics. It isn't the guys at Wal-Mart killing Win 8 sales, it is the enterprise and corporate customers who want nothing to do with Windows 8. No company wants the training or support headaches introduced by switching to a new OS with a poorly laid out interface. This then cascades to home users who want what they use at work.
 
Heh Win 8 sales arent that good for 2 fundamental reasons.
1. People don't like change and the UI is just terrible.
2. They didn't get the enthusiast crowd on board because unlike xp and 7 they were tied close to new hardware coming out to support dx 10/11 this time though no new gpus are on the horizion to support dx12 so there isn't a reason for us to upgrade at this point
 
Poor little Sally takes her new Windows 8 laptop home, they load up Start 8 and get everything looking like Win 7 again. Then she goes to start using her laptop and puts in her SpongeBob Squarepants Movie DVD that she got for her birthday and it won't play. Awwww. She has no idea what to do now. People here have been telling me that I'm stupid because media player sucks and they just use (insert free player name here). Funny thing is when I look up those free players, they are known for having spyware/adware along for the ride with them. Just what the little kid needs.
People are forgetting that normal users want this type of functionality in the OS that they paid for already, not that the OS is the entrance fee and you have to pay extra for this and that. "It used to work." starts to come to mind as a common complaint that I hear from users when things all of a sudden don't work any more.
Oh and by the way, the company I work for has to adhere to SOX and SSAE16 compliance and installing 3rd party applications to the operating system to bring the start menu back would require tons of due diligence as well as auditing of Stardock, asking for their SSAE 16 and SOX compliance reports as well (I'm sure they don't have them). Not an option, so you can see why businesses would not be inclined to run this software even if it's free!
 
The dude just wants to make a sale, if his buyers love windows 8 he is going to looove windows 8, if his buyers hate windows 8 he will haaate windows 8.
 
Windows 8 is nice,but they really should fix some things. Like that God aweful steep learning curve.Took me forever to figure out where the clock is when inside an app like chrome (in win8 mode) Clicking the pinned folder should open "my computer " and save everyone some trouble.
 
Windows 8 isn't that bad at all. The people that say windows 8 sucks either heard it from someone else or use it for 5 minutes at most. Windows 8 blue (windows 8.1) will be adding the start menu and desktop back.
I'm a systems engineer and I approve this message.
 
A lot of you seem to be terrible sales people. You don't just bash another product in your store because one customer says they don't necessarily like it. Sure, you don't try to force it down their throat, but you don't out and say "yeah that thing's garbage". This is precisely what gives a lot of retail stores a bad name. He could have just as easily said something like, "I understand it's not for everyone" or "I understand that you might not like it". As the article suggests, the girl probably only knew about 8 from the bad-mouthing it received online. This was probably the first time she actually got to look at the OS in real-time. Instead of doing the right thing for a salesperson, which is invite her to just give it a whirl, and show her how to get about in the OS, to see if there was a chance that she may actually prefer this different product, this salesperson completely dismissed the product they are supposed to be helping to sell. You become a salesperson, you represent all the products in your store, not just the ones you like. I don't care if you love windows but happen to work in an Apple store; as long as you're in that store in that uniform, you're selling their stuff, not pushing whatever it is you're using at home. If I was a manager, that person would be going in for re-training, if not fired.
 
People who can't get around Windows 8's default UI should just stick to Macs. If you're incapable of circumventing Start Screen then you obviously don't care about the customisability of the OS and should stick to restricted ecosystem such as the one provided by Apple.

Your post reeks of bigotry and ignorance.
You could've saved yourself a lot of time by installing free Classic Shell and changing 3 default options in it to permanently disable Modern UI. I'm certain your parents wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
 
@joe nate : The Start Menu on Windows7 is more customizable than Win8 start screen. You can make folders, rename them, place things where you want them.
It doesn't take the whole damn screen to use. But sure, its your right to like it... fine. Most of us don't.
 
Going from the Desktop to the Win8 UI in order to add a user, then going back to the Desktop to open Control Panel so you can elevate that new user's permissions to Administrator is utter crap.
Yes, I could've done it all in the management console and I, as an advanced user, have done it that way countless times... but Windows 8 was designed with ease of use in mind. How often would a novice user ever have known that the management console even exists? None? Right. So that novice user is stuck adding and elevating users the way I described. EXCELLENT.
Now that we're on the same page, know that the Windows 8 UI sucks for power users. My kids love it, everything is right there with big, pretty, colorful and animated blocks. They stay almost entirely in the Win8 UI and get everything done from within that. Perfect. For single-digit aged children whose computers are micromanaged by daddy.
I run Windows 8 on my Thinkpad Twist. Hell of a laptop, don't let the bad reviews get you down. I am a completely mobile IT pro and it has become my ultra lightweight mobile office. I even have a capacitive pen for signatures. Great, right? But I stay almost entirely in Desktop mode. For quick launches in the laptop's tablet mode, I kick back to the Win8 UI for 2 seconds in order to locate the tile and tap it, and then my app launches in Desktop mode because it's legacy. That's all, folks. It's not my hub, the Start Screen, at all.
I also have Win8 on my desktop. With Start8. It's a gaming machine, and Win8 happily gives me 10 FPS more than Win7. Thanks, optimization!
My point? It truly is broken. From the half-assed Control Panel to the non-integration of legacy apps, Windows 8 has failed as an OS. No wonder they're trying to push Blue out super fast.
 
like the article
except the part where u said u shop at walmart
they are the scum of retail... and treat their employees, their customers and everyone else as their toilet as the pillage everything and everyone for profit
 
I just had a thought.
Imagine all the shiny new laptops made by Acer,Dell,Sony ect all sat on the display shelves.
And no one wanting them because they don`t want windows 8 on them and would prefer windows 7.
I mean how much is having windows 8 on a system reflect on it`s sale of the device ? How much of a raw deal are these company`s getting for something MS could fix based on looking at the other posts here ?
 
Add Teracopy and Better Explorer to Windows7 to have enhanced Win8 like features... the big two things that people actually talk about.
<CR> (there is no CR function in this new system?)
For those looking for a NEW computer, Lenovo sells their Thinkpad notebooks and ThinkCenter desktops with Win7Pro by default. They aren't as cheap as the typical consumer Dell/HP/Acer - but you DON'T have to buy a $100~150 Win7 licence and hope you can get Win7 drivers to work.
So, tell people to get a ThinkPad, 100% Windows7 supported.
 
As legitimate as the gripes are about Windows 8, those of you that are using "Why should I have to pay for a Start Menu replacement" as a valid argument may not have heard of Classic Shell. It's free. Google it.
 
This is the problem - you should not have to "Purchase and download the $5 Start8 app from Stardock, and your Start button and Start menu are back."
Win 8 should be smart enough to know whether you have a touchscreen but no keyboard/mouse/touchpad (in which case, activate the tiles) or whether you just have a keyboard/mouse/touchpad (in which case, give you the desktop and start menu).
As for the situation where you have both touchscreen and keyboard/mouse/touchpad, Microsoft should let you do what you want.
 

That argument swings both ways. If it's such a simple matter to "fix" the bulk of complaints about Windows 8's UI, then why didn't Microsoft include the option from the beginning?

Whether you think complaints are reasonable because Microsoft made the OS too hard to customize, or whether you think complaints aren't reasonable because a little tweaking and a third-party app can customize the OS for you -- either way you slice it, Microsoft messed up. And now, just as Vista was released to critical opprobrium and never recovered its reputation (even though Vista turned into a pretty good OS after a few early wrinkles were ironed out), Windows 8's got an uphill climb ahead of it, no matter what MS does to alter Win8 for the better.
 
sales are slow because the UI sucks, and encouraging sales stall to lie will not be good for business.If you lie, you will end up with a higher return rate which often means lost revenue.

 
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