Windows 8 Sales 'Well Below' Projections For Microsoft

[zakislam]

Newly released operating system is "confusing".

Windows 8 Sales 'Well Below' Projections For Microsoft : Read more

 

[killerclick]

Hello and welcome to last week.

 

[Guest]

Make default start screen the desktop. Re-add the start menu. Allow the metro UI be a addition if wanted such as widgets. Work on drivers and fail updates. All my issues solved.

 

[bystander]

Do they really not understand this:

While Windows 8 Pro can run older Windows software, Windows RT is unable to do so, which "doesn't make a lick of sense."

You can't expect ARM CPU's to be able to run old x86 CPU software. Though .NET and web based stuff will work on both, as soon as you load a program that accesses architecture specific commands, you can't expect it to work on both. I might expect this ignorance from the average home user, but not from a tech guy.

 

[Guest]

Gotta laugh at this : "The reason he suggested is "Lackluster PC maker designs and availability."

No, maybe it's not selling well because you have basically abandoned the entire PC market with this new design, and we are voting with our wallets!

 

[weierstrass]

Microsoft was probably the only one expecting Win 8 to sell well. What is Win 8 beside Win 7 + a live tile application?

 

[wiyosaya]

And it took Micro$oft rocket scientists to figure out that sales are well below projections.

Maybe Micro$oft will find a way to pull its head out of from where the sun doesn't shine.

 

[aoneone]

ahahahaha see? I told you windows 8 would tank! ^_^

 

[Wamphryi]

I want to see the return of Aero as well. Even the most budget GPU's can drive Aero and the look of Win 8 and Office 13 is so bland.

 

[nforce4max]

To many issues and people are starting to look at Win 8 as the next "Vista" plus the UI sucks! Then there is the bios issue that some have been talking about then there is the well known driver bugs. I wouldn't use it even if it were for free. Even Millennium Edition might be viewed as a better os lol, win 8 is that bad at this time.

 

[bliq]

ACtually I bought Windows 8 and really like it. Impulse purchase at $40 to replace a Windows 7 OS that I actually really loved- first Windows that I installed once at launch and never had to reinstall. It just worked. I like the tile interface. all the stuff I want to see in one place. I also played around with a windows surface tablet. pretty nice. If it was more like $300, I'd be tempted. But at $500, you just can't ignore apple's ecosystem. And I'm not really a windows guy but you have to give props where it's deserved.

 

[Guest]

Well I am downloading it now to upgrade! I have to support every version of widows, so well there you go, I need a machine running 8. Thank god for START8.

 

[wildkitten]

Here is where MS went wrong. The Metro UI seems great for tablets and the Win 8 phones because it's designed for touch. However, the vast majority of desktop monitors are not touch based. Make the desktop the default start area again and bring back the Start button (which according to some reports is on it's way back) and let Metro be something someone can switch into instead of Metro being the default.

But this also brings up another issue. Win 8 just seems like a slight revision of Win 7. They should not have made this a whole new OS, but rather a SP for Win 7 and waited until they had much more signifacnt upgrades for a whole new OS release.

 

[Guest]

I probs say another reason its not sold as many as expected is because ermmm ... maybe Microsoft haven't heard of the world recession yet ? and most of their (home user based) potential customers probs simply dont have the money spare at the mo, so upgrade their PC's might be the last thing they worried about atm ? let alone buy a whole new windows 8 PC. just a guess.

 

[kingnoobe]

Um why would it sell well? Windows 7 has proven itself, far from being old, and you don't get much of a boost in upgrading. If anything in this case it has the potential to be more of head ache then anything else.

 

[erick81]

The lack DX 11.1 which I have heard is only for 3-D does not make me want to switch from W7 but the lack of a second service pack and the prospect of a viable Steam program on Ubuntu will make me switch from a paid Os to a free one pretty quick.

 

[jojesa]

Give me back the Start menu and I will buy 3 copies

 

[HenrikG]

Microsoft projected good sales? That's like saying the Republicans projected a win. So much so that they didn't even write a concession speech.

 

[twelve25]

I see lots of "fail" with this launch.

First, the product is confusing to the customer. All the commercials show touch screen devices, but 99% of home computers and laptops do not have a touch screen. So many people aren't even sure if it is a regular windows for regular computers.

Second, people like their start menu and the metro UI is odd to navigate by mouse. I imagine you'd get used to it, but why?

Third, branding both regular intel-based and mobile versions of the product with the same OS name confuses customers. So which apps run on which? How does the customer tell? Just calling it Windows implies you could load your favorite Windows apps on it, and you cannot due to the hardware.

Fourth, launching it all at once shotgun style was a wast of advertising dollars and impact.

Fifth, Windows 7 is nice and stable and we all know the new versions are still beta until SP1.

 

[samwelaye]

[citation][nom]erick81[/nom] the prospect of a viable Steam program on Ubuntu will make me switch from a paid Os to a free one pretty quick.[/citation]

Just because there is Steam, doesnt mean all the games will be available on linux. Look at steam for mac: not as many games are available there. Pretty much the only games on linux will be ones using openGL

 

[pocketdrummer]

Just buy Start8 if you want the start menu back.

Unfortunately, that won't entirely fix the crap OS.

 

[Estix]

From a business process perspective, Win 8 was doomed to fail from its conception.
It wasn't that they based Metro off of market research, or what people wanted, they just made it, and expected it to stick. They never tried to figure out what people wanted.

If you'd asked someone what they'd want from a new version of windows, they certainly wouldn't have described what windows 8 is.

Spending $1.5Bil on advertising to move 4 million units only works if you're selling cars

 

[p05esto]

I shouldn't have to buy or install some utility to make the OS easy to use. I shouldn't have to navigate some huge ass start menu screen just to open an app. These two things are HUGE and can't be overcome. I won't install Win8 on any existing or new computer until these two things are fixed.

And PLEASE: I don't care about why you think I should just learn something new and open my mind. I've used Win8 and it's not as productive to me as Win7.... and that's all that matters to me. Win8 is dead in the water to me.

 

[Guest]

Until M$ gets that efficiency Black Hole of a UI completely off of its desktop OS, do not expect the strapped for cash businesses to adopt it any time soon! Windows 7 is just in the past few months surpassed windows XP in useage, and most companys will keep windows 7 just as long as they have kept windows XP! Most companys are not going to pay to train workers on the windows 8 Metro/Modern UI, and they are surely not going to pay for workers to waste company time searching for the edges of the screen in hope that, in more than a few clickes, the employees will find the applications that are needed to get actual work done!

 

[Maxx_Power]

Did they really think strong-arm tactics (no pun with ARM intended) withholding new DirectX, and vendor channels, etc will really sell an OS that MANY deem to be less functional and worse than alternatives ?