http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonke...ows-8-updates/It’s official, Windows 8 is a write-off . Sales for the operating system have been poor and now it is even starting to lose market share to Windows 7.
,,,Instead what is now clear is for Microsoft the next big ‘update’ will be Windows 9 and in taking the decision to sideline an OS that won’t even be two years old until the end of October the company runs a huge risk of undermining the confidence of users who expect Windows versions to last 12 years like Windows XP.
That is going to be quite a shock to a lot of people. But I am happy that there (hopefully) won't be any more fiddling with Windows 8.1. Lets hope that Windows 9 Beta will be here shortly.
Hopefully MS will offer either a free, or at least a cheap promotional upgrade, to W9 for those of us who have been using W8.
What is pathetic is that Microsoft could have avoided all of this. They should have never tried to kill off the desktop, they should have embraced it and added Metro as an enhancement. It would have been a sure fire hit.
They really do have tunnel vision.
And the tunnel vision was called Steve Ballmer.Trust_No1, post: 34930, member: 353 said:
I bet that it's a great OS under the covers but I can't get past the UI. Most users don't care about anything but the interface. It's probably really great for tablet pcs but it is terrible for desktops. Sorry M$ but not everyone wants your Surface PC. Sadly I bet that they designed it for the Surface but assumed that it would work everywhere. Here's hoping that they add the desktop and old start menu back. Dare I say that it is their biggest flop since ME?
Ironically I was happy with Vista so I was going to skip 7 but I couldn't pass up the 7 pre-order sale.
I still think that it is a great OS. My thoughts on it in the beginning was not very flattering, but since I started using it full time I am very happy with 8.1. It reminds me of the nonsense with Vista - the press and rumours killed it, there was nothing wrong with Vista after SP1. Windows 7 was the messiah. Now it is a repeat of history. If Windows 9 does not conform it will go the same way.
I guess it is a question of how it is used, and personal preference. I am OK with Windows 8.
No criticism intended, but, since day 1, I have been bemused by comments such as "
"They should have never tried to kill off the desktop, and
It's probably really great for tablet pcs but it is terrible for desktops."
The first. Did they?
The second. Which part is terrible?
I do use the Metro start menu, but, in Desktop mode, what do users find, that makes the OS "terrible". It is still there, fully functional, so if it was killed, it is taking a while to really die.
I didn't like 8.0. Now that Microsoft have fixed some of the issues I had, I do like and use 8.1 on all my PC's now. Two laptops and two desktop. I find the Start Screen easier to use than the Start menu.
Perhaps you dozed off during your bemusement.davehc, post: 34942, member: 120 said:
If you look back, the answer was yes on killing off the desktop, it was why they had removed the Start menu, Aero and many other W7 options. It was told that they wanted all progressions to move towards Metro, with store apps and cloud computing as the enhancement, oh, and of course Bing. It was only the community backlash and rejection, Balmer's leaving, Microsoft stockholder lawsuits, and utter failure of Windows 8, that has changed their dynamics.
As I stated in my original post, "...it all could have been avoided".
Quote