Windows 8 sales ‘below internal projections’, source claims

Who didn’t see this coming.. and they are blaming PC makers?? Granted that idiotic weird flipping tablet/laptop thing Dell came out with was… idiotic. They have no one to blame but themselves. What did they honestly expect? It’s the poorest decision they’ve ever made.

#50 G1GAHURTZ,

“I don’t need a big lump sitting somewhere, taking up space. Neither does any serious programmer.”

So now you are claiming that the only message you wanted to convey to everyone reading this thread is that the PC is shrinking, yet you post this valuable insight into the future in a thread that is primarily discussing the sales of Windows 8?…like most people didn’t know that computers are shrinking constantly already? OMG. Okay, thanks for the heads up on that one. Glad I stumbled across this thread.

I thought we were actually discussing whether Windows 8 was worth upgrading to. My mistake.

“The only people who ‘do’, are hardcore gamers, and that’s exactly where my classic car enthusiast analogy fits in.

The vast majority of PC users these days are Facebook users, and Tweeters. The hardcore are a tiny minority that wrongly consider themselves more important to PC sales than they actually are.”

Do you have some kind of inside source that confirms most people are accessing Facebook via a PC? Just out of common sense my gut would have me believe otherwise. The majority of people are probably accessing Faceook and Twitter via mobile phones and tablets…Your statement is flawed unless of course you were using the word “PC” in the most liberal sense.

I think you need to brush up on your reading comprehension skills.

Once you have, maybe you can come back to these comments, and actually have a clue as to what’s been said.

I said that the future of the desktop is the all-in-one touchscreen. Why did I say that? Because Win8 is here for the long run. It’s built with the future in mind. A future dominated by slim form factor, touchscreen, all-in-one’s. whether desktop or tablet.

Which is exactly the point that I made in my first comment, #7.

The discussion was initially about why sales were slow. I gave my opinion on the matter. When touchscreens start selling more, so will Windows 8, I’m sure.

You’re the one who didn’t get the point in the first place.

As for Facebook/Twitter, just read that as casuals who don’t need 16GB of RAM and a $400 graphics card.

You’re probably right about Twitter. Maybe people who store photos and send emails would have been a better description.

@ #54 G1GAHURTZ,
“Because Win8 is here for the long run. It’s built with the future in mind. A future dominated by slim form factor, touchscreen, all-in-one’s. whether desktop or tablet.”

You are delusional. Windows 8 has nothing to do with form factor. You have made a prediction about the future of Windows 8 in at least 3 of your posts now. I’ll bet if you keep repeating it over and over it will eventually come true.

Windows 8 is a failure on the desktop. And what you don’t seem to realize is that all-in-one touchscreens are ubiquitous as we speak. They are called cellphones and tablets. There’s no hardware that needs to be sold for Windows 8 to “take off”. In fact, people who wanted to upgrade to Windows 8 have done so in spite of the fact that they don’t have a touch-screen interface yet. Surface tablets are here for the “Facebook” and “Twitter” users you speak of. You first say that the majority of people who will drive Windows 8 sales into the heights of heaven are primarily Facebook users and “Tweeters”. If that’s true(and I agree that it is) why are they going to go out and just buy Windows 8 for the dinosaur desktop PC at home instead of just buying the Surface tablet? You think most people who use Facebook and Twitter are sitting at home on a desktop with a 27″ monitor and the only reason they are waiting to upgrade to Windows 8 is that they don’t have a touchscreen monitor? LOL.

The only success Windows 8 will see from the perspective of the desktop falls under the category of “nerds who love change” and sales-by-default. In other words, licenses sold through new computers. And if your predictions about the demographic of users is correct, primarily Facebook and Twitter users(and I agree) what’s going to make people buy a Windows 8 tablet versus an Android tablet?

Windows 8 “might” possibly succeed in the tablet consumer space. Maybe, if Microsoft can convince Facebook and Twitter users to buy it instead of an Apple iPad or an Android tablet. Not sure that’s gonna be possible considering that this demographic is probably pretty happy with what they have now.

Windows 8 on the desktop is a FAILURE. There’s just no place for it. There’s no demand for it on the desktop. There’s no reason for me to upgrade from Windows 7. End of story.

Oh wait, sorry. “IT BOOTS FASTER”. LOL. Forget that one. Its my favorite.

Please, I beg you. If you don’t get help at Charter, get help some where.

Long run? Nah. Microsoft will have a new OS out within 3-6 years tops.

That whole argument just reminds me of so much useless junk in the 80′s, motion sens, touchscreen etc.

It doesn’t really matter if your technology or design is advanced or not, it matters where the customers are. At the end of the day, Microsoft should be worried about providing a service, and building that around their customers, instead of building their own ivory tower and expecting everybody else to fawn over it.

It’s never been a clever way to run a business, and I think that’s why they’re falling behind now that others are doing it for them.

@55:

Win8 has nothing to do with form factor?!?

First he moans about Windows confusing tablets and desktops, then he says it has nothing to do with form factor!

You’re clearly just wittering on now, about nothing, rather than at least trying to say anything sensible.

Windows 8 is almost COMPLETELY about form factor. It’s about MS trying to take their PC dominance and move it into the tablet space. Windows didn’t work well on tablets. They needed to change the operating system to get it onto a new form factor of PC.

A tablet PC, that has no mouse and no keyboard.

Apple/Google/Amazon are selling hundreds of millions of tablets, and Microsoft are losing huge amounts of Market share. In order to get it back, they have to change their OS in order to accommodate a new form factor.

Only an idiot would struggle to understand this with the facts in front of him.

Also, backing up my suspicion that you simply struggle to understand basic English, you’ve confused where I said that people are waiting until they buy a touch screen device before getting Win8, with me saying that not many people have touchscreen devices.

That’s not what I said.

If you have a laptop with Win7, and you see the adverts, and the articles saying that Win8 is built for touchscreen, you might well wonder if you can even use it properly on your current hardware.

So, just like I was doing, I’m sure that there are many people who are happy with Win7 until they can get a good deal on a touchscreen laptop/monitor.

And please, don’t reply until you can quote me where I said that Facebook users have 27″ PCs.

@56:

When I say long run, I mean Win8, 9, 10, etc. not exclusively Win8.

I’m sure that they are using Win8 as a bridging OS, to get people more in line with their long term goals.

MS have never been about here and now. They build for the future. You can see that with their long term Xbox strategy, for example.

@57 I think the best possible way to build for the future would be to sell a lot of Windows 8 systems.

Microsoft are in trouble right now. They’re still so huge that it will take them a while to shrink, and they pretty much still have a monopoly on operating systems, but if they don’t start delivering soon, they’re going to be eclipsed by the Googles and Apples of the world.

I think Windows 7 won for two reasons. Mainly it gave people what they needed, and secondly people wanted it even more because Vista was so terrible.

I think it’s near impossible to force a product on people. Either you meet them halfway, or someone else will.

@G1GAHURTZ:

1st of all start to wipe that foam around your mouth, its gross. Now lets talk about why, you douche, cant dig why W8 is a total failboat.

W8 its complete crap because the mass of Windows users are not retarded facebook users, but desktop ones. To force hundreds of millions of desktop souls to upgrade because you dreamed it would be nice to enter on tablet market, is not only delusional, its bad for business. And thats a fact.

2nd, not only gamers need powerful desktops with 27″ displays, there are tons of engineers and computer artists who need things like Quadro on their daily basis. You can scream till 2013, but your crappy all in ones will NEVER even be close of a desktop from one obvious reason: Space. If you squeze 10 billion transistors into a 10cm square, imagine how much you will be able to put into a 100 cm square.

Which sends me to the next thing, do you know who need really bad touch screens ? I’ll tell you who: the retarded fucks. And I’ll tell you why, too: The retarded fucks cant dig that thei retarded finger is NOT as precise as a 5000 dpi mouse will be. If I want I can tweak my mouse to move the cursor 2 milimeters on screen while moving the mouse 10 cm. Its called precision and you will..cough.. never be able to do that without a mouse.

Which sends me to the next thing, why someone who is not a retarded fuck would want to have TWO ways of moving things on the screen, when he has a top one already ? I’ll tell you why again:

Microsoft want to enter the tablet market from one simple reason, there are retarded fucks who consider hard to wield a mouse and kb. Those retarded fucks need help and also being retarded, its quite easy to get money from. Hence Windows 8. Imagine a 70 year old retarded fuck who buys a phone and he can buy a smart tv and a computer which share the same interface ! I mean, man, thas gold for retarded fucks, you dig ? They can learn only one type of interface an whoopiee doo, now they can wield all technology on earth !

But hey, you alredy knew that, you are the computer “artist” who works in pshop, aka the guy who makes buttons, banners and shit.

You know, a retarded fuck.

ahh and btw, I never saw a more crappy computer then Apple and I never saw a worse smartphone then Iphone.

“I think it’s near impossible to force a product on people. Either you meet them halfway, or someone else will.”

I agree.

I think that’s what they tried to do with Win8, by improving the whole experience in general, but replacing the Start Menu with the touch-focused interface.

Clearly, what they didn’t realise, was just how attached people had grown to a Start Menu.

@59

Fucking hell.

And I just reminded of something…

VOTE OBAMA ! The perfect way to bring Islam closer to US, why in the hell would anyone want the opposite ?!

/peace

Americans make me laugh.

LOOOOOOL!!!

@57 G1GAHURTZ
“Windows 8 is almost COMPLETELY about form factor. It’s about MS trying to take their PC dominance and move it into the tablet space. Windows didn’t work well on tablets. They needed to change the operating system to get it onto a new form factor of PC.”

Microsoft has always been about trying to make Windows run on as many different devices and form factors as possible. So, your making much ado about nothing. The difference in Windows 8 is that Microsoft radically shifted the focus of the form factor to tablets at the expense and demise of desktop functionality. This decision to focus on tablets and cellphones more than desktops is manifest in the UI more than any other part of the operating system. They haven’t changed their strategy from their previous Windows releases with regards to accomodating the maximum number of devices and their various form factors. The big difference with Windows 8, and this is key in understanding where Microsoft failed, is that, instead of using the most powerful hardware as the target of their Windows 8 operating system and scaling it down to work with less powerful hardware. They choose to design Windows 8 around the most ubiquitous hardware, which is currently tablets and cellphones which are the least powerful hardware and left out upwards scalability for those who have more powerful hardware. There was absolutely positively no reason to strip Windows 8 Aero theme from the operating system.

“When I say long run, I mean Win8, 9, 10, etc. not exclusively Win8.”

Oh, so when you said Windows 8 was the future what you really meant to say was Microsoft Windows is the future. *wink, wink* Hey, if it makes sense to you that’s all that matters. Am I right?

Nope.

@61 Honestly I wouldn’t know, I won’t be getting Windows 8, but a lot of the feedback I’m seeing seems to be down to problems with how (un)intuitive the design is.

Obviously Microsoft have a problem in that they’ve used that start button for the better part of two decades now, so they’re going to have to come up with something that feels just as natural to people.

Making a metro layout doesn’t strike me as the most obvious way to convenience people. A metro layout is pretty to look at, not functional. I’d say there’s a lot of crap in Windows that should really take up less space and fewer clicks than it does, for example.

“The difference in Windows 8 is that Microsoft radically shifted the focus of the form factor to tablets at the expense and demise of desktop functionality. This decision to focus on tablets and cellphones more than desktops is manifest in the UI more than any other part of the operating system.”

That’s no different to what I’ve already said in these comments.

And they have changed their strategy, they’ve had to. They never had to compete so much with Apple/Google before, so all they needed to do was put out a rebranded version of the latest OS that worked with a stylus, and leave it at that.

Like DSB said, MS are in trouble. They’re at a point where they either change or go bust.

For example, I personally despise Apple as a company, but I’m writing this comment on an iPad. I have one, because its an excellent product that offers me features that I can’t get on a windows device. In fact, part of the reason that I want to get a Win8 tablet, is to get rid of this thing.

And btw, there are two versions of Win8. One for tablets, and one for high end PCs, so they haven’t scaled anything down.

I’m not sure if I ever wrote that Win8 was “the future”, but clearly, a touch screen friendly OS is the only way that MS can go if it wants to continue to grow.

And I’m sure that they’d much rather do that, than keep you happy.

@67:

There is definitely a steep learning curve.

I’ve been using it for a while now, and there are a lot of things that I hope get fixed in a service pack, someday. For a while, when I first installed it, I felt kind of cheated that I was losing functionality without a touchscreen, which my laptop doesn’t have, but after learning the shortcuts, I’ve kind of gotten around it.

Like we’ve been discussing here, it is designed for touchscreens, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it, myself, unless you plan on getting one.

Having said that, it works fine in general, so it shouldn’t be a problem if you did.

@ #68 G1GAHURTZ,

“That’s no different to what I’ve already said in these comments.”

Well, you are very poor at communicating what you are trying to say then. Because it sounded like you said in a previous post that “Windows 8 is almost COMPLETELY about form factor.” Your quote not mine. And if you really mean what you say, that Windows 8 was developed almost completely and exclusively for tablets and cellphones to be integrated into the mix of Windows products, why would a traditional desktop user who is happy with Windows 7 have any incentive to upgrade?

“And btw, there are two versions of Win8. One for tablets, and one for high end PCs, so they haven’t scaled anything down.”

Good conversation but Im bored with it at this point. You love Windows 8. Im happy with Windows 7. Im gonna take a pass on Windows 8. And when Windows 9 comes out I’ll see what the buzz around it is. I just have no incentive as a desktop user to upgrade to Windows 8.

And since, as a desktop user, I am no longer as important to Microsoft as I “thought I was” they won’t mind if I sit this one out I am sure.

You’re confusing yourself.

You said that MS had “radically shifted” their focus to a tablet (and cellphone, which is wrong) form factor.

I said that Win8 was almost completely about making a change to accommodate the tablet form factor.

Where is the contradiction? Please, feel free to point it out, because unless I’m missing something, there isn’t one, and you’ve missed the point yet again.

I have absolutely zero intention of getting into a Windows 8 selling points debate with you. You’ve clearly made up your mind on the matter, and I stopped trying to influence people’s choice of operating system a long, long time ago, when I realised that they pretty much all did the same thing in different ways.

There are many, many Linux/Unix users who would call you a complete idiot for saying Windows 7 was anywhere near being a decent operating system, for example.

I honestly don’t care what operating system you, or anyone else uses.

I just think, like I said in my initial comment, that Windows 8 sales will take off when the mass market get hold of touch screen devices. My point hasn’t changed since that comment, and it still stands.

@71 G1GAHURTZ,
“I just think, like I said in my initial comment, that Windows 8 sales will take off when the mass market get hold of touch screen devices. My point hasn’t changed since that comment, and it still stands.”

You keep talking as though touch-screen devices are a futuristic concept which doesn’t exist yet even though they have been ubiquitous for the past few years now. Okay, let me say this again, because it seems you have a comprehension problem. The mass market has a hold of touch screen devices. THEY ARE HERE!! You can go out and buy one NOW! They are 1)tablets, 2)cellphones, and the Windows 8 Surface tablet is on the market as we speak. So your point fails yet again. Nobody who wants to upgrade to Windows 8 is holding back because they don’t have a touch-screen device. And if there actually “are” people in that camp, they are the minority. The minority that you so loudly proclaimed doesn’t matter to Microsoft anymore. What part of my point do you not understand? If Windows 8 was going to succeed, per your comments, its going to be a success because of Facebook users and Tweeter-heads, not because of desktop users. We are an insignificant group now. We are no longer relevant. So, you keep making excuses for Windows 8 failure.

Anyone who you “claim” is purposefully “waiting” to upgrade to Windows 8 is somebody who DOES NOT MATTER to Microsoft anymore. YOUR OWN WORDS. Enroll in a logic class in a community college. It will do wonders for you.

Is the 16-year old teenage girl who sits at home using Facebook on the desktop saying, “You know I would just LOVE to upgrade to Windows 8 but I think I’ll wait until I get a touch-screen monitor”. Is that what you are telling everybody? LOL.

Ok, I see I’m going to have to spell this out for you in simple language.

Maybe it’s my fault for assuming that you would be able to get your head around something very simple…

Ok, you’re American, right?

Go into any Best Buy or Target, and see how many $300-400 laptops that you can find with a touchscreen. See how many Windows 8 RT tablets you can find compared to iPads/Galaxy Tabs/Kindles/Nexus 7s, etc. see how many $150, Windows 8 compatible touchscreen monitors you can find.

There aren’t many on the market right now. They are in development, and they are due to arrive, but the ones that are available now are few, and expensive.

That’s why people are waiting.

When someone can afford to get a fully touchscreen Windows 8 compatible device for a few hundred dollars, why would they want to stick with Windows 7?

Right now, getting that setup comes at a premium.

Don’t forget, that Windows is also sold around the world to poorer nations who are still running PCs that are 10 or more years old. They have 15-17″ CRT’s, but they still buy the latest versions of Windows, and provide MS with a considerable amount of their turnover.

It’s going to take a while before people in these places can see the benefits of a touchscreen Win8 tablet over a $99 Android one. Especially at current prices.

@60 – What? – You evidently haven’t played with many macs or Iphones then. Pretty much all the touchscreen designs currently out can be traced back to Apples Iphone release in 2007, smartphones before that were not intuitive and lame. Also, Mac’s arent the fastest machines on the block but they are the most elegant and easy to use, unless your a gamer, I would suggest a Mac for about everything else.

@Gigahurtz – I see and understand where your coming from, but I think Windows 8 forcing the interface and not giving you a start button and choice of the Win7 interface was a bad mistake. As you said, the hardware isn’t there yet, so they are jumping the gun on forcing that win 8 interface which is lousy without a touch screen. When Items like the Kinect, leap, and even the touchpad mouse replacement controller (a touchscreen without the screen)become common place then MS can take away the start button, they just did it too early, and it sucks for mouse and keyboard.

I work in IT and I can tell you that we dont want to roll out Windows 8, its not great for business use, and MS really screwed up. I personally hope that they learn from their mistakes and that by giving customer a choice rather than ramming their decisions down our throat, we would be far more likely to adopt their latest OS. Whoever said no we wont allow a choice, really needs to be fired…..

I know this is not related whatsoever, one is hardware and the other software, and for that is not an accurate analogy, and keep in mind i dont own the windowns 8 OS, but nontheless i think it has some correlation, if sony and microsoft did push technology with their consoles, which were HDTV enable since launch, but the market was not ready yet at least in the adoption rate, and i mean by this that users did not have HDTV sets on their houses to play those consoles, and they release it nontheless becuase they knew very well that was the future in the years to come, as it was, how is that so this is bad on their part to do it with this OS?, they are doing the same thing, and this is happens on a lot of industries as well, therefore i really dont understand why this is a bad call on their part, is leading the way for their own future devices, the people that do not have this devices can keep the old version, and when this devices come to the market then go for this new OS version , dont see the wrong in this IMHO, is an stablished and standard business practice.

@ #72 G1GAHURTZ,

“When someone can afford to get a fully touchscreen Windows 8 compatible device for a few hundred dollars, why would they want to stick with Windows 7?”

When people can get a fully touchscreen Android or iOS device today for half the cost of a Windows 8 tablet why would they want to stick with Windows 7 OR Windows 8? Why do you keep acting like Windows 7 customers who wanted a touch-screen interface had no place to go until their savior Microsoft came along and produced Windows 8?

You seriously need help. Translation of what you are saying now, is that people in 3rd world countries can’t afford touch-screens right now so they are waiting for the prices of those touch-screen monitors to fall. And when that happens Windows 8 will become a success. LOL.

Why would somebody want to sit around for the next 2-3 years waiting to buy a Windows 8 compatible device when they can go out TODAY, let me say that again, they can go out TODAY and purchase a touch-screen compatible device for their Facebook and Twitter needs. And that device will be a whole lot cheaper than a Surface tablet and has been around a whole lot longer?

Per YOUR OWN WORDS, the desktop user no longer matters to Microsoft which leaves us with, basically, “Facebook” and “Twitters”. Now explain why these people would sit around and wait on upgrading to Windows 8 when they can go out NOW and buy a touch-screen phone/tablet today?

What you are trying to argue is that the touch-interface is a compelling reason for the masses, i.e., Facebook and Twitter users to upgrade to Windows 8, but because they can’t afford touch-screen monitors, they are waiting. And you know what I say to that theory? Total bullshit. Facebook and twitters probably couldn’t care less what OS they are using as long as it works. And if they care about using a touch-screen interface they either already purchased a touch-screen device, i.e. tablet or cellphone, or will just go out and buy a cheap tablet or cellphone. Problem solved. Why the hell would they sit around and wait for touch-screens to drop in price JUST so they can upgrade to Windows 8? You give people the impression that Windows 8 is the only operating system in existence today that uses a touch-screen interface when in fact Android and iOS have been around for the past few years.Nobody sat around and waited on Microsofts ass for the past several years to produce a touch-screen operating system or a touch-screen device before they started to purchase them. What makes you think they are sitting around on their asses waiting for Microsoft now? Give me a break. Please say something that makes logical sense for once.

Okay. Nevermind. I give up. You win. Windows 8 is the futre!!! Because Apple and Google have no idea what they are doing. Thank God Microsoft has finally figured out what everybody wants. They will save us all.

@BluegreenDragonfly I think the point of G1GA’s argument is long lost to you. Things he said are very different from the conclusions you draw.

@ #77 GwynbleiddiuM

“I think the point of G1GA’s argument is long lost to you. Things he said are very different from the conclusions you draw.”

He says, in a nutshell, Windows 8 software is early(i.e. ahead of it’s time because we don’t have touch-screen monitors) but when we do people will come out of the wordwork to upgrade to Windows 8, is that right? Or to put it another way, the only thing holding back the success of Windows 8 is availability of touch-screen devices at affordable prices. If that’s the gist of his argument there’s one small problem with it. We ALREADY HAVE touch-screen devices at affordable prices. They are called tablets and cellphones.

Gotta another question for you too. If price of new hardware is the only thing holding back the success of Windows 8 why is Apple making a killing at selling their devices at a premium? Makes ya wonder huh?

Feel free to explain it to me in your own words. I am willing to listen to arguments if the premises logically support the conclusion but arguments like, “Windows 8 is the future, deal with it” don’t do much for me. Of course he said that in one of the very early posts in this thread.

If Windows 8 has any chance of succeeding its “only in” the consumer tablet space. They gave the desktop users(which includes corporations) the middle finger when they designed Windows 8. As a desktop user I could care less about Windows 8 and I don’t get a tingle up my leg thinking about a new 27″ touch-screen monitor. I can afford to go out right now and buy a 27″ touch-screen monitor and Windows 8 but have no desire to. I guess maybe that’s why I can’t see what everybody else seems to be seeing.

I think people are always trying to find a successor to retire the keyboard and mouse. I just don’t see that happening now or ever. And if you agree, that the mouse and keyboard are superior input devices over touch-input, then you have to ask yourself why Microsoft didn’t design Windows 8 UI around a keyboard and mouse. Enhancing support for touch-screen displays would have been fine with me. But designing the whole operating system UI around a persons index finger was just plain retarded.

Thank you Gwyn. Well said.

He’s been raising arguments of his own invention for a while, now.

The article said Win8 sales were low. I said that they will pick up when hardware prices come down.

It’s not brain surgery. It’s simple economics.

@ #79 G1GAHURTZ,

“The article said Win8 sales were low. I said that they will pick up when hardware prices come down.”

So let me get this straight. Apple is kicking ass and taking names with the sales of their tablets even though their products are being sold at premium prices but Windows 8 will take off when hardware prices come down? LOL.

Well, I can’t argue with that. You got me my friend. Your too smart for me. When you drop the price on virtually any product in the known universe it does increase sales. Thank you for giving me a free lesson in Economics 101.

Everytime G1GAHURTZ gets called on the bullshit hes spreading he changes what he said. First thing he said,
“Windows 8 is the futre” Gets called on the bullshit. Then he changes his words to “Oh, I meant Windows in general is the future”.

And now he’s trying to pretend like all he wanted to do was teach everybody that when prices drop on a product sales go up. Really?? Gee, thanks for sharing these golden nuggets of wisdom with us all. I feel humbled in your presence.

Microsoft was practically GIVING their shitty operating system upgrade away for $14.99 because they know it was living on a wing and prayer and it STILL isn’t the success they thought it was going to be. Maybe if they included a coupon for a free touch-screen monitor with every Windows 8 purchase that would make it a success huh? You guys are killing me.

My advice to Microsoft is to make their shitty operating system upgrade a “FREE” download for people who actually want it. And hope like hell they can remain relevant for the next 3 years until they produce a desktop operating system that people actually want. But like I already stated, $14.99 is practically free, so I am not sure there’s much hope.

Exactly what is your point?

That Win8 is doomed?

Is that your point??

That sales will never pick up, and that it’s all a big mistake from MS?

Ok. You have the last word now, since you seem to want it so much, and then come back to this forum in 3 years time, and we’ll see who was closest to the truth.

November 2015.

I’ll probably still be around, since I’ve been on this forum since 2008.

Bye.

@81 G1GAHURTZ

From my perspective as a desktop user, “Yes”. Windows 8 is a complete failure from the perspective of most desktop users. Now I hear a lot of people saying things like, “My wife couldn’t figure out Windows 7. But I went out and bought Windows 8 and she loves it. She has an orgasm when using it just from touching the screen.” And another guy says, “My 5 year old son loves Windows 8″. Okay, I am sure they are both telling the truth. My question is why didn’t you just buy them each a tablet? Wouldn’t they have been just as happy? If Microsoft wanted to appeal to the largest audience in the universe right now, which we probably all agree is cellphone and tablet users, they didn’t NEED to release Windows 8 on the desktop. It seems to me that all they did was incite anger in their most loyal consumer base for the past 20 years which has been the desktop and business market. That’s all they accomplished by releasing this catastrophe on the desktop. They should have just released their Surface tablet and everything would have been fine. After all, that is the market they were after. Content Consumers.

Is Windows 8 doomed? From a desktop users perspective I would say yes. If “most” people have the choice of buying Windows 8 to use on a desktop versus purchasing a Windows 8 tablet, what are most users going to purchase? “Most” people will choose either the tablet or cellphone version of Windows 8. Notice the keyword “most” people. Of course there are nerds out there drooling over having a Windows 8 desktop and then buying a Windows 8 tablet just so they can “sync” them up every once in awhile and say, “Damn, thats cool”. This group of people won’t be enough to make Windows 8 on the desktop a success. But that’s just my opinion.

Will Windows 8 be a successful competitor to Apple and Android? Possibly. It has a much better chance of success in the mobile space over the desktop space. But even in the mobile space, they are late to the game. But anything is possible.

P.S. The part about the “orgasm” was just me trying to be funny. I am sure most people can figure that out though.

Well I think G1GA would be the first person to tell you we tend to disagree on a lot of arguments. So, I’m not backing him up or anything here. All I’m saying is there’s truth to what he says and I can agree with those points. Besides you take “Windows 8 is the future” literally, but is definately a HUGE stepping stone toward the future of personal computer space.

iPad for example was the first commercially successful tablet, it was quite revolutionary in a market that didn’t exist before or rather wasn’t important to personal computer space.

Apple was the pioneer of the market, now every OEM is trying to get a foothold. this wasn’t achieved until Android became a viable OS, for tablet/smartphone space. And where was Microsoft in all of this? Absolutely no where because their mobile version of Windows sucked balls. So they had to re-invent (invent is a strong word I guess) Windows to be able to implement it in every PC. PC nowadays isn’t just about Laptops and Desktops, Tablets and Smartphones are headed that way. And one product to cover all bases would be truly appreciated by consumers, especially Windows users who expect familiarity in their day-to-day tasks with different devices.

We now have All-in-One PCs, which I personally don’t really like them at the moment. A huge touch-screen is not for me, but smaller ones, yeah that would work for me and many like me. Something like Asus VivoBook or TransformerBook is incredibly close to what I want for my workspace. Something I can take everywhere, when I need to do work, I attach the keyboard and mouse, take to meetings, seminars, everywhere. The docking part that G1GA mentioned in one of his posts, a device that I can take everywhere, connect it through a small docking station to my monitor at work, attach my M&B, then go home and synch my tasks and work files on my desktop, continue where I left off with all my applications, then re-synch, without the unnecessary headaches and conversions between different devices with different operating systems and file extensions and all the whatnot.

But the price point and technological advantages of these devices are not intuitive enough for me to go there yet. Once the competition is heated and new devices with newer and affordable tech comes out, I’d be jumping in. At the moment, I’m happy with having my Desktop, and taking my heavy laptop to everywhere for work (and of course play games).

Windows 8 has a lot of advantages, but the disadvantages are currently holding it back. Like the lack of competitive market, devices with affordable price range, stupid copy paste of Apple’s appstore with limitations on both consumer side and developer side, and of course my favorite; regional restrictions. I’m sure there are more facts to consider, but at the very core, Windows 8 can provide Desktops, Laptops, Tablets and Smartphones users with similar experiences, and it can get better. I just hope Microsoft be a little more flexible and less greedy. At their core they’re monopolists, that mentality is not gonna work for them, especially with the threat of open-source platforms on the rise.

I hope I explained it well enough without making it more confusing.