Let Microsoft Know it Needs to Listen Better

Here is something I think all PC enthusiasts can support. Please register for an account if you don't have one and promote this at IdeaStorm.

 

Done. If more people took a few seconds to support ideas like this, everyone would be better off.

 

As far as I know the OEM's are not the happiest in the world with M$ and Win8. The have blamed it for a good part of the PC sales decline already. M$ has proven a tough nut to crack as they have a hold on the OEM PC market but Dell and others becoming more proactive and supporting Linux will send the best message and that is Windows bottom line in sales and market share.

So while I had said it will take quite a bit to knock M$ off its pedestal these are the first steps to doing so. M$ has a chance to reverse this if it wakes up early. It appears though, as mentioned in other threads earlier, that M$ won't and a saying of "Did a Ballmer" is getting closer to reality. This could eventually be more popular a saying than "Got a Lewinsky", just not as pleasant an ending.................

 

Dell's legacy of offering some models with Ubuntu from the factory predates Windows 8 by a number of years. It's been an on-and-off Dell offering since at least 2010, maybe earlier.

The real showing of what OEMs think of Windows 8 is how many still offer Windows 7. It's available on business-class machines and gaming rigs. OEMs could offer it on other consumer-class machines but have overwhelmingly chosen not to. OEMs have also unleashed a flurry of convertible and touchscreen devices. OEMs don't hate Windows 8 like the vocal core of regular posters on this subforum do. If they did, you'd see all Lenovos come with Windows 7 as an option instead of just the Thinkpads. You'd see Sony still offering Windows 7 machines. But you don't.

 

I count it as a conspiracy. M$ eases some of the XBox One restrictions and uses that to justify a $100 price premium over the PS4? Whoo boy howdy! Why would the end users pay more for those features when they're available on another platform for less? Either M$ is being very smart or very dumb. Either way, arrogance is the first step up on the gallows.

 

Pre Win8 launch all OEMs for windows machines were qualifying them for just that Win8. To just at the last minute switch lines over too Win7 would be a disaster. Most systems not even released yet were set to come out with Win8. So you have your facts all wrong here. Now the upcoming Win 8.1.

This is too also make OEMs think twice about switching consumer devices for if it is a success the OEMs could be caught with their pants down as there is not a free upgrade path. This is the primary reason for the early announcement, keep the OEMs inline. I don't think it is coincidence M$ is doing this with the fourth gen CPUs and new systems about to hit the market.

As far as Linux, it is perception from the consumer that matters. If they hear "Dell and Linux" along with "Dell and Win8 woes" it has an impact. As each of these instances occur it will eat away at M$ stronghold of the market. Be it Linux, Android, chrome book or some other attack on that front.

Off topic but on the same note I have to wonder about market positioning. Does M$ want Win8 to be on the PC front in that same position as WinPhone is to Android and Apple Phone etc. or in the same vein as just tablets. Where is the logic of being a market leader to giving that up to be the underdog?

Edit; one further point. Most users do not want a desktop or non convertible laptop with a touch screen! They do not want to spend the extra money or have the awkward interface as mice or touchpads along with clean screens is usually preferable............

 

It looks like MS backfired a bit while creating buzz.

As I've mentioned in another post, for a consumer-oriented product of which 99% of the end-users have no idea what the word "architecture" means, the only way to attract attention is to put out new UI designs every now and then. MS probably sensed some competition (Mac? Android/iOS? ChromeBook? Ubuntu?) so decided they should make this one big to create more buzz than before. And they did.

It's still irrelevant though. Most of the crying come form the consumer desktop market which is exactly what MS's line of products is best at. Yeah, there could be problems, but the others are worse anyway. Why should they care?

BTW, if money was not a big issue I would prefer to have as many ways of control as I can. Mice & keyboard, pressure-sensitive touch screen, accelerometer & gyroscope, LeapMotion/DUO, voice control... why not have them all?

 

Just that, because of money. When touch screens and required hardware are of no extra cost then it will be a non issue so long as they do not exclude other interfaces....................

 

Funny you say that about Sony. I was told by a Sony rep that they have been slammed by most of their business customers for not offering windows 7. I am sure it is not doing any good for their bottom line.
And Lenovo who offers the most windows 7 systems also had the highest earnings growth. I'm just saying :/

 

Lenovo was also in that position before the release of Windows 8. From July of 2012: Lenovo set to take top PC maker crown, but at what cost? | ZDNet

 

And the release of Windows 8 and the most Windows 7 systems pushed them over that edge. Also while in that article they are talking low profit margins as stated they had the highest earning growth.............

 

The profit margin sounds insanely low.

According to the article, "China still accounts for a majority of Lenovo's revenue", and this revenue is achieved by making most Lenovos, especially ThinkPads, overpriced in China (lots of Chinese buy smuggled ThinkPads to get the price down). Is this company selling products to the rest of the world at prices below their manufacturing costs?