Is the end nigh? PC market freefall accelerates.

More doom and gloom:
http://www.dailytech.com/IDF+2013+Intel+Distances+Itself+From+Windows+8+Microsoft/article33363.htm

I honestly think that if Windows 8.1 and those new Atom does nothing to drive "pc" (no matter the form factor) sales, they indeed have problem.

 

WTF I would of laid out money that they (the chromeOS laptops) would bomb

 

Why would W8.1 drive sales?

 

Well I've not download the beta but I'm waiting for it as a not satisfied windows 8 user.
It supposed to be a solid improvement.

Windows 8 or 8.1 offer solid performances, the new atom should allow for windows 8.1 to run on tablets. Windows still has its advantages, even for a not power user like me.
If it is not enough (windows 8.1 and processor being able to run it in popular form factor) to attract costumers away for iOS and Android clearly it is the end game for Wintel in the personal realm and the time to pull an IBM type of move.

Though I'm not sure it will do, I could do without windows, so the same might be even truer for your average costumer.

 

The point is that hw manufacturers had been using this (stupid) excuse to justify what is ultimately the lack of sales of THEIR products.

Yes, a new OS comes out and there may be a small spike in hw purchase volumes but that should be it.

 

Well that is usually a fallacious argument though we are reaching the point where Windows can reach almost all segments, if it had some traction left it should help both the OS market penetration as well as the sales of X86 processors. That was not true mostly yesterday.

If it doesn't get better for MSFT it will be a really bad sign. Intel won't be happy either but they don't seem to have high hopes either, they know they might not be able to avoid the frontal fight with the ARM manufacturers.

 

A new Windows launch used to be a marketing opportunity - remember those queues around the block to buy Windows at midnight?

Now, Windows is "meh". Everyone has loads of devices, loads of OSes, most things are "good enough". A new Windows has to offer more to be attractive enough for people to buy and want new hardware to run on it.

And Windows 8 went the opposite way, being too problematic for desktop users (MS's core customers) in efforts to chase the tablet and smartphone market. The days are long gone when one OS fits all sizes, so why should customers accept all the compromises forced on them with Windows 8, when they don't have to?

 

A new version of Windows is unlikely to give a big spike to sales, but it can be a significant drag. Even non-tech savvy consumers hear if a specific version of Windows has a bad reputation and they hold off as long as possible before upgrading their computer.

 

XP is the elephant in the room but many or most people are still unaware of the bloody mess it will be. From now on, well a month from now, I'll tell people they have a choice between Windows 8.1 or linux for their Windows XP PC (or Windows 7 if they lack the NX bit or have too old graphics hardware)

 

XP is the elephant in the room but many or most people are still unaware of the bloody mess it will be. From now on, well a month from now, I'll tell people they have a choice between Windows 8.1 or linux for their Windows XP PC (or Windows 7 if they lack the NX bit or have too old graphics hardware or if the choice doesn't matter, besides having to be Windows)

 

personally i dont get the win8 hate, all the problems are cosmetic and easily fixed. the underlying OS itself is a solid improvement over win7.

 

So why doesn't MS fix them? They are ideologically stuck trying to force something onto the consumer that many consumers don't want.

Until they change that mindset and actually change things (instead of just saying they are changing things and not doing so), then sales of Win 8 will remain bleak.

 

I am not sure whether they have the best designers- perhaps they do as much as they actually can and that's their result

Seriously, they don't simply need to fix cosmetic things- they need to build something new from the sketch which everyone will like, or not everyone but dramatically increase the percentage of these people...

 

I got it after visiting a place, and there was that chick with a Windows 8 laptop. I came expecting to pry vital data from a flat dead laptop and refurbish the situation in a dirty McGyver way (because that's what was I told initially) but the computer was working. And AV, microsoft updates up to date i.e. nothing to do.

But no Classic Shell or stuff installed, two fracking search toolbars in Firefox (damn. I never had any single toolbar infection in Firefox, so where do you remove that crap from, I don't know yet) and ARHGRRBLRL !!$$!!##!!§§ : Windows Update doesn't come up in "Start screen search". That's a horrible way to discover the "it doesn't search the settings" feature I had probably read about here.
So I wasted some precious time, pested over the computer (giving a hateful image of myself), with only a laptop keyboard and cramped touchpad and I had to use the old way of "win+r", "control" only to check there were a couple worthless updates including a 482 or 672MB download for Microsoft Office Home and Student Ransomware Edition.

On a desktop PC with a real mouse and keyb and reasonably under your control, Windows 8 is prolly great as none of this is really an issue but I find it's a horrible laptop OS (in a cramped situation, and with a touchpad, where you're content when you achieve clicking the right button and doing it under 5 seconds.. It's totally not the situation to try throwing the mouse cursor away in corners)

 

Neither do I, but I came to accept it as a fact of life. The bashing will not go away, no matter what I do or say.

I am a happy user. Slightly annoyed that I have to click see the desktop after log on but then again I rarely restart.

And I'm eager to see what's coming after 8.1

 

8.1 is just a service pack, so perhaps 8.2

Anyway, perhaps they will need several years for 9 or whatever comes next

 

I've been told that the windows group is moving to an apple model for OS releases, basically incremental improvements on an annual basis, rather than the multi year projects they have been doing,

 

Yes, now I remember something similar as well. Thank you for refreshing my memory.

Anyway, I think this is the worse option, than to go the serious changes in couple of years

 

Windows 8.1 is called Windows 6.3 under the hood.
So you really have a stupidly advanced and fast OS, probably more stable than most linux desktops (where you can still get bitten by some bad driver or weird stuff)

Metro is just the new flavor of turd that tries to ruin it, we used to have Real Player, then it was Adobe Reader that grew at a geometric rate, then you have some people forced to install Itunes (which forces installing Quicktime too and vice versa). Eventually some other silly piece of software will be written just so we can hate it.

Not all change is bad though, as a mild thing we don't have to click on Winrar warnings that the version is unregistered ; we don't have to upgrade codecs, which was a more serious and annoying thing (now you just need flash player and vlc, that's all)

 

Really? I don't have any additional codecs (ala WIndows XP style) on Windows 7 as well.

So, basically, Windows 8 is improved from 6.2 to 6.3 Windows 7 with dramatically destroyed user-friendliness and the user interface which is horrible with those big tiles...

People hate it for reason, for the same reason they hate Nokia and their death was expected