New Windows 8 market share

It still appears even with new PC sale saturation is lackluster to say the least. Although this historically is not a great time for new PC sales.

Windows 8 Boosts Market Share, Still Behind Windows Vista - Softpedia

 

By now, Windows 8 is pretty much branded as the "OS that's even worse of a failure than Vista was". With Windows 8.1 apparently shaping up mostly as a slap in the face of Win8's critics, I don't see things getting better.

 

I don't get what all this fuss is about. Beside metro UI, I think Windows 8 is much better then Windows 7.

 

Agreed.

You and others are guilty of comparing apples to oranges.

Meaning that the move to mobile (both tablets and smart phones) has reduced sales of both desktop and laptop machines.

Neither is going away.

But it makes these number comparisons (Vista vs Win7 vs Win8) invalid; at least in my opinion.

The upcoming release of Intel's Haswell cpu may provide useful insight as to Win8's place.

 

Problem is you the owner and buyer of th O/S doesn't have control of what UI you get destkop or Metro. That to me in installation is a none starter as to which is better and which and less learning curve and least not forget desktop LCD doesn't come in TouchScreen beyond those built in but alot of users still have perfectly working desktop/laptop that doesn't need Touchscreen when the mouse/keyboard suffice for their needs and not break their software if it doesn't support Metro. It's not about whether one like or dislikes the O/S it is will it allow the user to customize it to their needs and not to the NEED of M$ bottom line.... MONEY.....and CONTROL..... They used to be innovators but now they are dis-innovators.

 

That's a silly argument. Few if any OSes provide a "choose-your-own-adventure" interface selector. All the third-party options for Start Screen replacements make it obvious that Windows is just as customizable as it always was. You can replace the Start Screen, or even the entire shell if you choose to do so--that hasn't changed from even the 2k and XP days.

Whether or not you personally dislike it out-of-the-box is a different story. But "choice" isn't really the root concern.

 

Yep, it's always the next generation of hardware that might finally allow Windows 8 to shine. Unfortunately, we have seen these hopes before, and they never materialized. So far. Besides, I simply don't see what Haswell will bring to the table that would make any difference whatsoever to critics of Windows 8.

 

Agreed on that. New hardware, even if it means decreased power consumption, won't be significantly changing the Windows PC landscape. Might make W8 tablets thinner and have better battery life, but I don't think it'll be anything too radical.

 

That's your opinion and that's fine. I don't see any way it's any better than Windows 7. It *IS* Windows 7 with a snazzy new alternate UI... There is ZERO reason any user should "upgrade" from Windows 7 to Windows 8. If you have been an XP user perhaps going to Windows 8 isn't a horrible leap, and possibly only because that's what their new PC comes with, although it still is a drastic change from what most users are used to. I don't know why there's a staunch minority who feel Windows 8 is the greatest thing since astronaut ice cream and can't understand or appreciate the LARGE MAJORITY of users don't like it. It's like you're putting your fingers in your ears and going nah nah nah nah nah like the annoying orange. Ignoring it doesn't make it magically get better.

I find it comical how so many users who point out things that you can do in Windows 8 like it's new, and pretty much everything they do with Windows 8 can also be as easily completed if not easier in Windows 7.

How is it invalid? Facts are facts (as long as they are actual facts). Those are the percentage of PC's with those OS's. I don't know how else you can present it.

How does that have anything to do with Windows 8?

That's a load of crud. Choice *IS* the root concern. You don't take the root control of the OS and yank it out and throw something in people's laps that interrupts their work flow without offering the option of the legacy form without expectation of negative feedback. Something that's been the root of the OS for over 15 years is eliminated. It's like removing the steering wheel of every car with 2014 model year vehicles and replacing everything with a joystick and throttle without option for a steering wheel. You think that would go over well?

 

You are correct, the OP presented a ref that has percentage numbers.

New hardware (in this case Intel's soon to be released Haswell cpu) tends to be better supported by a newer O/S.

Anyway I take each O/S on it's own merits, adding that I'm very leery of a really new O/S like Win8.

Meaning that I'll wait for the revised Win8 to show up.

So far the posting I've seen on NBR re Win8 has come close to over the top bashing.

At least in my opinion.

 

HT, are running W8 on any of your machines?

 

And rightfully so. If it stinks...

It's just that those that seem to enjoy Windows 8 can't understand why so many people loathe it. And if they enjoy it everyone else should too. Rather shallow thinking. I can appreciate Windows 8 for what it is, a tablet OS. Otherwise it's just not a robust desktop OS. That's my $0.02 and that's all I'll say as I've exhausted my opinion and certain people seem to think my opinion is wrong. As if there is such a thing.

Yes I am. Was solely on my primary laptop (NP9150) for a while but had to blow it away... just ... couldn't... take it... any more! Have it on a cheap AMD laptop using as a basic HTPC in my bedroom though. Just too lazy to install Win 7.

 

The low market share may be a blessing in disguise. That is not many new users, compared to overall user numbers, have been exposed to the present functionality issues. If M$ were to fix it where the issues were limited if not eliminated then one day most users will look at us as if we are crazy ever having complained about Win8...............

 

Ahh, yes, IF they were to fix things. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they'll be doing that, at all.

 

I can wish.................

Edit; What I don't get is m$ itself has said this is not an OS targeted to PC usage yet they have all the OEM's putting out to consumers standard PC's or DTR's with Win8 on them? I just can not take the lies and half truths from them, and no one is calling them on it either (other than the low market share).

 

MSs blunder was releasing a tablet/phone OS and calling it a PC OS. Once we get a really good MS tablet than it is likely to get adopted.

 

Microsoft Discounting Windows 8 For OEMs to Boost Sales

 

Well that and it's not really broke per se, it's just stubborn MS thinking and not wanting to change to what consumers actually want. Monopolies are great aren't they?

They need to drop it back to the $40-$50 it was at pre-order. $80-90 is just too expensive for an OS any more. With laptops and tablets costing $300-400, with 25-30% cost of the PC being the OS.

 

Maybe, maybe not. The question is, do people really want these tablets? I'm really not sure. Certainly I'm not surprised they don't want the Surface. I played around with one of these recently, and God Almighty, are these things ugly! Plus, the 16:9 form factor makes them really awkward to use, and with their sharp edges and even sharper corners these slates are downright painful. I wonder what idiots designed those...

They will pay a very steep price indeed for attempting to execute the hare-brained plan to try and force their ideas on customers. Like it or not, it's the customer who decides, always. Whenever a company has tried to refute that rule, they have failed. Every single one of them. Microsoft will be no exception.