Windows 8 Criticized for its Part in Ailing PC Growth

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I would expect Tom's Hardware guild to do more the reprint a CNET article.

1) Jakob Nielsen who? He has not done anything since the 90's And someone dug up his blog post and suddenly he is a GURU. Can someone point me to a UI he worked on or designed? No? did not think so.

2) Insider post from a Blog that up untill last week, few ever heard about.

3) That is not what the computer world article said. The article stated that 1/5 as many Enterprise directors where interested in moving to Win8 at this time, as had been when Win7 Was released. This is far different from the NUMBER of people Running Win8 is less then the number of people running Win7 at this point in time. And we are talking apples and oranges here. You had a pent up demand for Win7 due to the age of XP, and the concern over VISTA. And the fact most enterprises where coming into their 5 year refresh cycle. You also missed the comment, that most Enterprise Managers are more interested in Windows RT Slates then Apple IPAD's at this point in time.

Again poor journalism.
 
I would so totally buy Windows 8 once they can provide at least THREE of the following incentives


1) If they sell a Full Version Copy (not an upgrade) for $0-$20
2) If they patch it where there us a substantial performance gain, not the current imperceptible gain.
3) They restore the UI to where it makes sense,
(adapting to the new UI be damned, give me a reason to use a touch interface UI with a keyboard/mouse just because some dipshit of a CEO thinks all window users just pin programs to the taskbar, negating the need for a start menu)
4) They pay me minum wage for every hour I use their OS + Overtime along with full insurance coverage of medical, dental, vision and life insurances..

Actually if they only provided me incentive 4 alone, I wouldn't mind passing up on the first 3.

Short Summary and Sarcasm Aside: They need to completely overhaul what they have to make it more palatable to the greater windows community. I imagine the bulk of the current Win8 users are Casual PC Users who don't care, people forced to use Win8 because they bought a Manf Box PC/Laptop, Software Developers, Corporations with Clueless IT forcing it on their employees, and Software Pirates and Hackers(because they want to see what they can break, not because they actual like it)
 
I would say the Cell + Tablet thing would be the main slow down of any sales.

After all about 90% of users I know had a PC for ONE thing. FACEBOOK. with that on phones/tablets many of them don't even both switching on the computer any more. After all now that can be at any location having virtual interaction with other "friends".

As for Windows 8 being the next Vista? Did anyone who bitches use Vista on something other then an old P4 with 512megabytes of ram? It was not even that bad at all and set all the ground work for Windows 7's feature set. Biggest issue Vista faced was the new Video/Audio models that companies took forever to get stable drivers for. I would say at least 90% of crashes in Vista had been caused by Video drivers.

Windows 8, while different contains all the same features, so you hit start and type what you want and hit enter(It sucks that the searches are separate[have to select what you want to search for] for App/Files/ect, but I think a patent prevents "Universal Search" now. Nothing MS can do about that one). Its the same thing. I would prefer the option to make the "Metro" interface half screen and semi transparent, but it still does work. Do you think this will effect the users that have computer to live within the web browser in any way?

In the end, my biggest gripe would be I hit "Start" to see the time, now its Start + C. I have always just hit start then search for things so even the bar it self may not be what most users miss. It is more about being accustom to it.

When Windows 95 added the start menu, many complained about why they would dig in menus to get to programs that had been in a program group before(less clicks). Its the same thing over again.

I see "Metro" for a few seconds then that is about it. Will i swap all my systems to 8? No. They will run the OS they had been built for until they die.

And on all the "Walled" garden posts.
Windows 8 runs all the same things Windows 7 does.

Would you want a Windows RT(The ARM version of Win8) that allowed people to install random crap and virus it up? I would guess not. I have seen too many people install junk for "Free Smilies" or "Free Screensavers" ect(FREE PRON!).
 
4) continued substitution of PCs by iPads/tablets 4)
Click to expand...
Was point 5) not printed or what? And yeah, i'm getting tired of the "tablet replaces PC" thing. They extend the PC. They make a "new" PC redundant for most. That doesn't mean they're replacing their functionallity completely.

And anyway, if tablets were actually good enough to replace a PC, they wouldn't be releasing a new ipad every 6 months. P4/Athlon + Win XP computers still manage to run basic stuff till today. Try dong that on an ipad after 10 years.
 
People need to give Windows 8 a chance. The Windows Modern UI is great for enhancing productivity. In fact, Windows 8 is helping slow the negative slide of PC sales. It is the fault of OEMs and their lackluster designs and availability. It is super easy to pick up the latest smartphone, but very hard to find a Windows 8 tablet or Ultrabook. OEMs need to get with the program and stop trying to kill PC sales. Retailers need to do a better job advertising Windows 8 devices too. Apple shouldn't be the only ones with special store displays and whole page ads devoted to their products.
 
What real current competition did MS have that they had to take such a drastic gamble with the changes in W8?
Did they honestly think that a critical number of 'grown-up' experienced PC users and reviewers would not be pissed off with the significant changes to functionality and workflow, particularly in context with a relatively recent and critically acclaimed W7?

MS --> You should have offloaded these significant elements to their rightful 'current!' owners - mobiles/tablets/toys, then concentrate on SP2 onwards.




 
We've had Windows 8 on some machines for testing at work (a university.. with ~15000 pcs) for some months and even tho those dell AIO machines had touch panels i found the UI confusing to say the least, the app tiles seem pointless anywhere but on a phone or a tablet - they really don't work for me when the touchscreen is 23" let alone without a touchscreen and just with mouse and keyboard which just makes using it awkward.. we've always been offering the latest OSes to everyone who has to have their machine formatted from releaseday and while pretty much everyone loved win 7 right away back then noone wanted 8 so far (we have a test station at the helpdesk location so people can try it out) -- sure there's a few people who are unwilling to get to know something new and, until we started phasing it out ~6 months ago, insisted on getting their xp instead of 7 but not even the few really experiment-happy people didn't want it so far because they actually have stuff to do that doesn't involve playing around with the OS

tl;dr noone wants win8 in our enterprise environment
 
Tablets are part of the reason. Also, computers have been plenty fast enough for a majority of users for years now. There is no real need to upgrade a 5-6 year old computer that still works fine for most people. I like gaming, so I need my computers fast. But I'm in the minority of computer users.

Oh, and I have W8 on my laptop. I don't exactly hate it, but I find it annoying. So my desktop will stay at 7.
 
Not sure what this "analysts" are talking about...
My PC doesn't GROW, it has been the same HEIGHT since the day we met.
The Internal components thought, they tend to be replaced somewhat frequently...

/sarcasm
 
The tablet/phones/portables will never replace the the pc/laptop, because they are different devices for different purposes. Even for basic tasks, you need the bigger screen, keyboard and mouse - provides more comfort and visibility - especially if you have alot of things to do - gets done much faster. Nobody wants to keep touching a screen for any kind of extended computer usage, even if doing light tasks. And most people bank/manage their finances online - the portables on not really suited for extended/important work.

I think the future is where the tablets/phones/portables and other computing devices work seamlesslessly with the pc/laptop - and W8 is NOT it - is actually the worst of all worlds - doesn't do tablet great and doesn't do pc great, and is very ugly and cumbersome. MS is committing suicide and taking the PC down with it. In the end though proprietary Apple products will never beat the PC, as the PC is a vastly more powerful, open standards platform with unlimited potential that drove the whole do-it-yourself computing revolution and built the internet - for which Apple and its proprietary, over-priced gadgets came along for the free ride.

The success of Apple has revealed something to us, and that is that most computer users prefer a very standardized, controlled, simplified experience - since most are (unlike techies such as ourselves) not that tech savvy and never will be. They just want it to work as simple as a TV, with the options, menus, icons etc very consistent and not out of place. Just one icon out of place can "throw" the average computer user. Apple understands this, whereas MS/PC does not. Apple just perfects very simple featuress, does it well, and sticks with it. Whereas MS/PC always tries to add tons of new things that most users don't care about, or are too complex to understand (office ribbon bar, metro gui, etc). PC's should come with a mode that locks down the system to make it as simple as an Apple product, but allow more advanced modes for techies. MS can make a comeback if it starts to understand all of this.

-vishnu787
 
Unless there is an option to buy a new computer with windows 7 or to downgrade a new computer from windows 8 to windows 7, new PC are not going to sale as well as in the past! People will not go for a forced Metro/Modern App store Bolted onto their new OS and forced onto them! furthermore, people who constently say Microsoft is only doing what Apple has been doing, are missing one inportant fact, that Apple does not sale or force its closed ecosystem on any third party PCs, as Apple only sales its branded OS with its branded PC, tablets, and phones! Microsoft sales its OS to many different third party OEM PC makers, and should not be allowed to coerce OEMs to force the adoption of a closed ecosystem on to any third party OEMs, and Microsoft should be able to do like Apple ONLY on hardware that Microsoft sales as its own branded hardware! Consumers with third party OEM computers need to be protected from Microsoft's monopolistic practices!
 
I have nothing against Metro UI. I use it as start menu, keep all the icons nicely organized and for me, it doesn't take any longer to open a program with metro as it would with start menu. I don't use any of metro apps (only kept calendar, weather, Bing and maps app, first 2 can give me info without opening them, Bing has nice pictures and maps app I might use as an alternative to Google maps). However it would have been nice if it could be personalized more or disabled altogether (I would not likely do that anymore).

I agree that the desktop should have had priority and it should not have been treated as another metro app. I don't use Charms bars very often, except the admin tools, which I very much like. And I shut down my PC with Alt+F4. As for closed ecosystem - I haven't seen that MS has blocked me from installing anything but I guess it applies more to apps and apps store, which I don't use at all like I mentioned earlier.
 
2012 is a lot different market than what it was when Windows 7 was released. Smart phone use was less and there were nearly no tablets on the market. Unfortunately Windows 8 is being released into a global market where times are unstable and uncertain.

Always hard to make accurate comparisons.

Personally I am interested in the update to 8
 
only problem I have with this article is the fact that even if windows 8 had everything going for it, (IMO) we wouldn't see change in PC growth. Majority of people are happy with the machines they got and they're also supplementing there needs with smartphones and tablets for info/entertainment on the go.

On top of that, windows 8 has not been out long enough to really make really difference (not that it would but just pointing out).

Heck, even if windows 7 just launched 3 weeks go in this current market, im not sure if it we would see PC growth.

the time's have changed, peoples tastes have changed, and the way we want to get our information has changed.
 
[citation][nom]Tomfreak[/nom]While I am fine able to addapt the new UI changes, but I konw many dont. the biggest problem isnt the metro UI. It is the App store itself, then another big one is Microsoft stupid decision not to into an Option to change back to startmenu, which cost them million of sales. There are plenty of mod like start8 can easily fix this prob, which prove that the startmenu is there, just Microsoft disable it. The beta win8 does have a registry method to re-enable the startmenu, but the release win8 remove it. The guy inside who decide to completely remove the ability use startmenu in Microsoft need to get fired. Microsoft should just release service pack or patch to ENABLE this feature for the people who prefer the "legacy" UI.[/citation]
You didn't read the news? The guy was fired/resign a while ago. Forgot his name though.
 
[citation][nom]darkavenger123[/nom]You didn't read the news? The guy was fired/resign a while ago. Forgot his name though.[/citation]u absolutely sure is that guy?

unless u are working inside Microsoft u have no idea who actually propose that decision. win8 is not a bad OS, all Microsoft need is to patch it with an option to re-enable startmenu for some people then u see win8 sales soaring.

to sum it up. Win 8 is just win7 with

1. disabled startmenu
2. A metro/modern UI
3. App store.
4. faster boot time.
5. no Aero

Honestly option 3/5 can be ignored(I havent use the app store much, I didnt miss the Aero UI), all microsoft need is fix option 1/2 switchable.
 
[citation][nom]flagrant99[/nom]the metro start menu is NOT as functional as the old start menu. In the old start menu I can use these things called folders to categorize and group shortcuts into multiple subfolders. metro only allows grouping into a single level (no sublevels) and also doesn't seem to think folders are useful. Instead everything has to scroll to the right as if I was on xbox.[/citation]

This is what I don't like. Why does Microsoft have to make the PC interface like Xbox? Why does a rush job console like Xbox 360 have to be the influence of everything they're doing now?
 
The only way I'm keeping my sales up is that I promise to install classic start for my customers before they take the system home. I hope whoever M$ hired for suggesting the removal of the start menu was fired....Oh wait...he was :)
 
its zac islam people, just ignore his articles and his drivel will go away, all they do is attract the trolls looking for a fresh piece of fud.
 
Let's be honest, Windows 8 doesn't offer anything on the desktop platform. I tested in beta, and it's not that it's 'confusing' as everyone keeps parroting. It's simply that it's unwieldy. There actually hasn't been a legitimate reason for anyone to migrate to another Windows platform since XP...which is why corporations largely refuse to pay the mass licensing fees or spend the time and money to 'upgrade' their software infrastructure. The ONLY thing Windows 8 offers is it's new UI which is a huge step back. It's ironic when you consider just how far every other modern desktop UI has come of late: Gnome3, KDE, OSX, Cinnamon/MATE/GNOME2.x.
 
I remember switching from DOS to Windows and multitasking was great. Now Microsoft wants to move backwards. I appreciate that tablets and phones have limited physical screen space and I quite enjoy my Windows Phone (not so happy about getting hosed on the upgrade to WP8 'tho), but it is retarded (in the literal sense) to force this interface on the PC.

That being said, both Microsoft and the hardware makers are to blame for the weak sales. Forcing a touch interface and it's steep learning curve on PC users is discouraging at best. Likewise, laptop and desktop makers are foolish to be offering so few touch enabled hardware option with the new OS; it just doesn't make sense. Adding insult to injury, the current generation of touch screen hardware is horrible ! PC makers are offering smartphone resolutions on laptop sized screens and telling us they're "high def". I'm not "upgrading" to a new laptop with an overpriced and marginally quicker Intel processor only to downgrade in the screen department. I won't bother repeating Linus Torvalds rant about screen resolution from a couple weeks ago, but suffice it to say, 1366 x 768 on a big screen is lower pixel density than we had 10 years ago.

If a PC enthusiast like myself can't find anything worth opening my wallet for, you know the average PC user is really going to have trouble.
 
[citation][nom]EchoSx[/nom]As a gamer what is the need for Windows 8? I don't need a tablet interface shoved in my face and I have no want for another store. Can anyone list any pro's?[/citation]

Tom's proved in a recent WBGP that Windows 8 has remarkably better web browsing performance than Windows 7. Windows 8 is also lighter in resource usage and a little better in resource management, especially in the task manager and copy/paste dialogues rather than just performance. Also, if you dislike the Metro interface, then simply don't use it. Classic Shell is a free program that can give you a start menu, give back Aero, allow you to boot directly to the desktop (skipping the Metro screen on boot), and much more. Even without it, you can simply not use Metro much at all because you still have the desktop, task bar pinning, and if you want, the quick launch to launch applications and such from. You can make a few task bar menus for frequently accessed folders (for me, I have three menus; control panel, downloads folder, and Computer folder) and the pinning and quick launch hold more than enough programs for me.

Windows 8 is also faster to connect to the default wireless network (faster by a LOT in my experience) and seems to run a little smoother, but the latter might just be a placebo effect. Overall, I wouldn't try to convince someone to upgrade form 7 to 8, but for a new system, I'd easily recommend 8 over 7 in most situations.

Also, I wouldn't expect a gamer to have any issue with even the default start-menu-less UI of 8 considering that it's unlikely to be useful to most gamers. If you're gaming, then the start button is usually blocked by the game anyway and I can't think of much use for the start menu during gaming that can't be done on the task bar anyway.
 
I think that many people are being way too conservative in the debate. I was very young back then but I've been told that people complained a lot when the mouse and the start menu was first introduced, and now Microsoft introduces the Modern UI and touch (well they didn't invent the touch screen but you know what I mean) to the same disapproving tones.

I think people in general are dismissing the modern ui way too fast. Before actually giving it a fair try, they conclude it's different and throw it away (or whish they could). The more I think about it, the more I wonder what I actually need the good old desktop for except file management. Agreed, W7 is an amazing OS that works very well, but W8 does it differently and I personally like it. I run W7 on my laptop right now, but I can easily imagine myself just booting to the tiles and run things from there. It's not like the mUI is only for apps, you can put everything you'd like!

I don't know why people say it looks "childish". It has colours, yes, and you can have all sorts of icons, but you can also create a dull gray scheme if you think it's getting too festal. I also don't understand why people find it difficult to operate with a mouse. You scroll with the whel and you'll go left/right on the screen.

There is 1 thing however that I do agree. 1) Dual monitor setups are difficult in W8 because you have to hit tiny pixels in the corners or top to acces some menus. They could fix that by re-introducing the red "close it" cross in the mUI and make the corner buttons easier to hit so that you don't accidently run into another screen instead.
 
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