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

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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!
 
Windows 8 is not "misunderstood". The fact that it works find for you doesn't change how I feel about it. Microsoft destroyed several critical interface features with Windows 8 that make the OS detestable for traditional desktop users. I tried to like it with first the developer preview, then the consumer preview, and finally the release candidate. The new interface would have been okay if it weren't for those few critical things that effectively made Windows 8 unusable for me. The fact that so many others also take issue with Windows 8, for one reason or another, is a testament to how badly Microsoft screwed up with it. As for the sales staff, I appreciate an honest opinion way more than a half-hearted sales pitch any day. People listen to enthusiasts. As you indicated in your article, everyone seems to have at least one friend who knows computers. They listen to that friend and in a whole lot of those cases, said friend is telling them to avoid Windows 8. THAT is what's hurting Windows 8 sale so badly. There are too many enthusiasts telling their friends that Windows 8 is hard to use.
 
Wow. "Of course, Walmart made a Windows 8 sale that day, so all was not lost."
What is your invested interest to care whether or not Microsoft sold a copy of Windows 8 or not?
People don't like Windows 8, Kevin. Something important to understand, is that most users don't care about "learning a UI". If it's frustrating at the start, they're not willing to go through the paces of tinkering with it to get it to work the way they want. They're already done with the product 2 minutes in, when the UI does something that frustrates them.
Windows 8 WILL frustrate the average user. The entire interface is disjointed. They'll be like "OK, finally got to the desktop on this horrible thing, let's look at a picture. WTF, Metro popped up?! Screw this thing, I'm getting something else, this sucks".
It doesn't behave in a way that users want it to. It doesn't make sense. You have random issues, like a person installing a desktop IE addon, and wondering why it's not working in Metro IE. People confused on where the search function went to. People confused why their version of Windows 8 won't allow them to install an application that worked on Windows 7. People confused why they can't multitask properly without installing 3rd party applications.
So, there your average user will be, frustrated with a UI that doesn't make sense. The average user doesn't give a damn if it's fixable or not, they don't want the OS now.
Windows 8 is a terrible flop, because it's bad. Not because of "marketing" issues, or sales people. It's a confusing UI, and people don't want to buy it. How hard is that to understand?
 
It doesn't take an expert, or even an article to figure out how to fix windows 8. There's really only one flaw, the lack of choice due to the removal of a proven interface layout in favor of a touchscreen friendly layout. Just adding an option to switch off metro would sell me on the OS overnight, and probably millions of other users would feel the same way.
PS
give me aero back while you're at it. This isn't a deal breaker though.
 
the problem is, Metro is vital to M$ plans to build their own ap market and walled garden. They've seen how much scratch Apple is raking in with their "store" and walled garden and want the same thing.

They won't back off metro, and while they might step back half a step to encourage more people to convert and learn win8, they will press forward with Metro, because it's key to their future garden building plans.

There is too much money to be made with Metro down the road to back down now.
 
Why haven't some of you figured it out yet, Microsoft has no intentions anymore of giving you a product that has everything you want. They only thing that company wants is money. Take the well realized fact that once you use an app store and use actual money to buy an app you are much much more likely to use the app store again for further purchases in the future. They wont ever give you a version with a default desktop or default start button, they want you to use their app store, they want to sell you stuff. I for one am not going to bite.
 
I've been in many computer depts, and I've never heard a salesman put Windows 8 down quiet the opposite they have talked it up. I don't know where this store was but the whole story sounds like a fantasy to me, all that is missing is the part where you rip open your shirt to display a giant MS tatoo. I'm sure MS is grateful you saved the day and had the grandpa buy a notebook the granddaughter didn't like, I'm sure you made them very happy! The reason Windows 8 isn't selling is really very simple, its not some plot by a secret society of retail salesman. Here are 3 basic reasons its not moving.
1. Windows 7 was such a success those of us that have installed in our home computers see no reason to change it now. We feel its too soon for a new O/S were are just settling in to Windows 7 and we don't want to learn a new O/S. It was too soon to think about a new O/S especially one that looks so different. Really MS could have waited 2 more years and then they would have had better success.
2. No push/pull advertising, I've seen no commercials that explain why Windows 8 is here. What are the features advantages and benefits of Windows 8? I haven't seen anything that explains what is so great about Windows 8 we have to go buy, have you? All I've seen is people dancing on tables with tablets and most of us don't watch such stupid commercials after the 1st time. The retail sales people have not been trained to explain the Features and advantages of Windows 8. MS need to give them the tools to help them sell windows 8 to the public.
3. And finally the O/S main screen is just plain ugly. It is so unattractive it turns people off the moment they see it. Yes if you are going to see this start screen every time you fire up your computer, notebook or tablet make it attractive MS has gone out of its way to make it butt ugly.
 
Why haven't some of you figured it out yet, Microsoft has no intentions anymore of giving you a product that has everything you want. They only thing that company wants is money. Take the well realized fact that once you use an app store and use actual money to buy an app you are much much more likely to use the app store again for further purchases in the future. They wont ever give you a version with a default desktop or default start button, they want you to use their app store, they want to sell you stuff. I for one am not going to bite.
 
I've been in many computer depts, and I've never heard a salesman put Windows 8 down quiet the opposite they have talked it up. I don't know where this store was but the whole story sounds like a fantasy to me, all that is missing is the part where you rip open your shirt to display a giant MS tatoo. I'm sure MS is grateful you saved the day and had the grandpa buy a notebook the granddaughter didn't like, I'm sure you made them very happy! The reason Windows 8 isn't selling is really very simple, its not some plot by a secret society of retail salesman. Here are 3 basic reasons its not moving.
1. Windows 7 was such a success those of us that have installed in our home computers see no reason to change it now. We feel its too soon for a new O/S were are just settling in to Windows 7 and we don't want to learn a new O/S. It was too soon to think about a new O/S especially one that looks so different. Really MS could have waited 2 more years and then they would have had better success.
2. No push/pull advertising, I've seen no commercials that explain why Windows 8 is here. What are the features advantages and benefits of Windows 8? I haven't seen anything that explains what is so great about Windows 8 we have to go buy, have you? All I've seen is people dancing on tables with tablets and most of us don't watch such stupid commercials after the 1st time. The retail sales people have not been trained to explain the Features and advantages of Windows 8. MS need to give them the tools to help them sell windows 8 to the public.
3. And finally the O/S main screen is just plain ugly. It is so unattractive it turns people off the moment they see it. Yes if you are going to see this start screen every time you fire up your computer, notebook or tablet make it attractive MS has gone out of its way to make it butt ugly.
 
Start button should have never gone away. At the very least, they could hide it as a default setting, and bring it back in an options menu, so people who like it can choose to keep it.
Also, switching to classic mode, can and should be very simple and easy to do, and should have been displayed and presented in a Microsoft press conference. That way people buying a Windows 8 computer wouldn't feel boxed in with a new interface, and it would be common knowledge. For example: I didn't know there was a $5 Start8 app that adds the start button back on it. I never did the research because I don't have a Windows 8 computer, and am not looking for a new computer at the moment. If I was however, that little thing right there, would make me much less likely to turn down a Windows 8 computer.
In a nutshell, if Steve Jobs had presented Windows 8 in a Microsoft press conference, he would have made it sound cool, and everyone wouldn't be so scared of it.
 
So many negative comments l read are: "it sucks and I'll never upgrade or change from windows 7". I actually installed and you know what - it works and works well even without a touchscreen. Others I know that have it also like it. I don't get how people can get so bent out of shape about something that they have never really used.
 
So... the moral of the story here is that Windows 8 sales are slumping because Sales Clerks are being honest.

That's just sad.

For two reasons, actually. First, it's sad that Windows 8 is SO BAD that sales clerks can't look at themselves in the mirror after selling it to some poor unsuspecting elderly folks. It's also sad that Tom's Hardware has a problem with sales clerks giving it to them straight... for once. How often do you go to a store and some prick just tries to up-sell you on something you don't need or something that's KNOWN TO BE CRAP but they get an extra buck for it.

Here's why Windows 8 is failing. People don't want an interface that makes it HARDER TO DO THINGS than the previous version. They don't want to have to search for the right button. It should seem intuitive. Take OSX's settings menu vs any windows settings menu since XP. They're getting WORSE at making things make sense. Hell, if they just took the Classic Control Panel and divided it by type I'd love it. But no... they have to BURY IT beneath layers of other options until you are basically forced to use search to find it.

And you know what, it's not the lack of the Start button or menu that's killing WIn8. It's Metro. I LIKE the hot corner that replaces the button. They had tons of other ways to handle the new "start". But a full screen app that is force fed right from startup is the wrong direction. And where the HELL is the Expose feature? Linux distros have it... why not windows? Oh, that's right, Win+tab just flips through the different full-screen metro apps now. That feature actually got worse too.

Perhaps it's not selling because people would rather pay someone NOT to have it.
 


I tested it extensively prior to the release. It was shit then and it's shit now. All of the feedback I submitted essentially went unheard and now we have this steaming pile of crap called Win8.

If it works for you, great. But it doesn't work for PLENTY of other people.
 


Not buying something that sucks is an open form of protest. The old one works better than the new one in its standard form (apart from some VERY minor performance improvements). It's easier to live with Win7's shortcomings than Win8's. Microsoft doesn't listen to complaints, they listen to money. So, we're speaking their language and telling them is sucks by not buying it.
 
Of course, from an outsider's(such as an alien) point of view this seems a bit silly(and which I partially agree on), since most people are simply complaining about the lack of a start button. This argument has been used by Windows 8 fanboys(other than the ones that have nothing to back their arguments other than 'their friends like it') but the missing start button does actually do a lot. When you want to do something formal and the computer feels informal like 'Bob', it really was hard to do anything really other than doing Metro social/media stuff or downloading Metro apps and organising your beautiful Metro tile collection. At least Ballmer admitted that 'Bob' and 'Vista' was a failure, but with Windows 8 Microsoft is shoving it to every PC and laptop that's on sale with no option of downgrading to Windows 7. This will cause the decline of the PC/Laptop market and everything will be Linux/Mac/Android, as well as creating a giant rubbish heap of BRAND NEW computers with very capable hardware.
 
Windows 8 is really hard to do any real things like a proper desktop computer, because the interface is supposed to be for tablets! Nearly everyone chose Windows 95 over 'Bob' and opinions would have been the same today if not for the fact that we now use tablets and smartphones, so some have adapted to this new interface. Windows 8 is also overpriced like 'Bob'. Even upgrades from Windows 7 cost $40!
 
Windows 8 is not shit,windows phone is. Microsoft simply added a terrible thing to good ol windows. Windows 8 is faster and lighter than 7 and just all round better looking.Metro is broken, not windows 8.
 
Very true. They removed many Windows 7 things such as DVD playback and used Metro to fill in the enormous gap. Like 'Bob' among some other things. Why cam't Ballmer already fix this Metro rubbish and let users choose a UI at suits them. Instead Microsoft is now simply trying to make sales and shoving it into every PC/laptop on sale when they could have made more money by having Windows 7 on desktops.
 
I haven't found anything that I was doing on windows 7 that I can't do with 8 or is so much harder. I didn't use my start menu for much - run command, search, everything else I had shortcuts. I'm not a developer so can't comment on difficulties from that stand point.
Microsoft should have included DVD playback - I installed a codec. I guess a real basic user doesn't know what a codec is and would have trouble. That user likely also has trouble with windows 7, mac, ubuntu, dos...
Should be an option to boot to desktop. There is a learning curve but really - is it that bad? You can hate the start screen all you want - must of what I do is on the desktop and it is one click away and you are basically back to a windows 7 desktop.
What are the things you can't do or a so difficult now in windows 8 that made you give up?
 
It seems to me that this sales man gave me his honest opinion, and didn't lie to the customer in order to sell a product.
If sales are bad, its because the product is not well liked.
 
I think people need to get their facts straight. The ODMs have not seen sharp sales losses since Win 8's release. In fact a couple have actually seen stabilization of a decline they were seeing prior to 8's launch. I don't know where this idea that 8 took over and started suppressing the PC market has come from, but the numbers don't add up. You can argue how bad you think Win 8 and its individual sales are, but so far as the most recent financial reports have shown from the likes of Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, and others, their troubles have not gotten any worse than they were already on trajectory for a year or more ago.
 
In my humble opinion, the main problem with windows is the idiotic tiles. The stupid interface shows everyone what you have on your desktop. What applications you have open. That is the worst part. It makes it easier for the boss to see what you have on your desktop when you boot up. You have to switch from the tile screen to an app and stay in there else the boss knows what you open.
 
"Windows 8 is fine for me, therefore everyone else must be wrong!"
Yeah, so you have a problem with a minimum wage sales clerk who makes NO COMMISSION being honest with customers because he has no personal stake in their purchase decision? Get over yourself, I certainly wouldn't want everything in the world being sold by shady ass car salesmen types who gets paid nothing unless you buy so they lie and manipulate people into spending more than they should.
Windows 8 sucks, no one should HAVE to buy some bullshit program to make their computer usable again. I've used both the desktop interface and the server 2012 interface and I forking hate it. My parents next system will have a linux windows clone because I am not spending hours and hours retraining them and I shouldn't fucking have to. We are using desktops, we should not be forced into a god damn tablet interface, not even a good tablet interface, both iOS and Android are better, more intuitive tablet interfaces.
 


yes they are.

The first time i touched an andriod i got it to do what i wanted it to do in less then 2 minutes of experimenting. Same with apple I-anything. I was power user level proficient in less then an hour of just playing around with the andriod... and even quicker with the i-pad.

I've spent days with windows8 tablets. It took hours (not minutes) to just become able to navigate one somewhat freely. When i stopped playing around with it i can't claim, even after days with this peice of crap i was power user level proficient with it.

Its unintuitive, confusing and backwards. That i had to turn it off manually because i couldn't figure out how to get out of a program the first 3 or 4 times i got into an ap, blows my mind. sure i know how to use it now. but this thing is a disasterous tablet interface. Its like they saw a wheel on a car and said "i know lets make it square!"

Seriously... that thing is so backwards as both a tablet and pc interface. I mean who thought it was a good idea to hide important menus, requiring you to swipe areas of the screen with nothing in it to get them to pop up. of course with the input lag on the windows tablets it actually took me like 3 times to make it happen intentionally (yeah, that input lag is awful, since it was a MS device i assume it had the best performance of all the win-tablets and it doesn't even have a touch screen i'd qualify as responsive and functional by the standards of android and apple.)
 
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