Windows 8 is Dead in the Water. Or is it? Discussion

One set of analytics says Windows 8 isn't attracting customers, another set of data says Microsoft is doing just fine.

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I have a Windows phone and like Windows Phone OS a lot, but in my opinion they should have had two separate OSes. Only a small percentage of computer users have or want to use touch on their PCs, yet they forced the touch UI onto all users, which was a mistake. Personally, I'd just like to boot to my desktop with a start button or some equivalent, but can't do it. Hopefully, they'll fix that in the next version.

 

Can microsoft just come out with a service pack that will give an option to turn off Metro?

 

They do have two OSes; the OS they use for tablets and PCs is unrelated to the OS on your phone. What you're asking for is three OSes, and nobody does that. Apple uses two, Google uses two, and Ubuntu is going to just one OS for all three categories of devices.

 

I've been talking to people I know about Win 8 for the past few months. I specifically chose people who aren't IT themselves- just normal computer users.
There's literally one person that likes the idea on using Win 8 on his work computer.

The rest either dislike it completely or sort of approve of this type of UI on a tablet or phone but completely despise it as far as work is concerned.
So it's an OS for the unemployed

 

I think Windows 8 is perfect for the work computer. Employers don't need your typical user to learn Windows 8 they just want them to use the software required to do their job. Now if the apps needed to do the job won't run i Windows 8 that's a different story. Really IT staff would be the only ones that really have to learn how to use Windows 8. A person's job should be independent of the OS.

Microsoft does have 2 OS's one is RT and the other in Windows 8. What these 2 do is allow a person to do their work on multiple devices.

 

I just want to push one button again to shut my computer down.

 

I use Windows 8 on my w530. The boot time and shut down is significantly faster than Windows 7. I also feel like things are snappier.

But I don't use metro. Metro is disgusting...especially on a non-touch PC. Also the new "aero colors are horrible. It looks like basic paint to me. The only thing that currently bothers me it's their colors.

I used Start8. You guys can check it out. It's the Windows 7 start menu. Exactly like it. I never have to access metro again.

 

Use Classic Shell instead, they don't charge for it.

 

I read that apps that put the start button back in w8 are the most downloaded. Ms is afraid people will ditch metro if they offer an option to disable the modern UI. To me, w8 is only attractive on the high end ultra portables that have' both 1080P IPS & touch. And IMO, the asus 13" zenbook is the only one that nailed it. It has a great touch pad with good gesture support, great touch screen, good keyboard which is also back lit, good sound, and decent battery life which most w8 ulta portables suffer. Forgot to add fast ssd. It is the ONLY system at this point in time that has nailed it in all these critical areas. Even the Acer s7 has poor touch pad & kb and crappy battery life.
The biggest issue is there is only one good w8 system on the market (ASUS) and it cost 1100 USD at BB.
So in essence, to have a good UI with osx or PC you no longer have cheap options. With PC your better off buying a w7 system if you want a cheaper price. W8 does not do cheap well at all. As with OSX, it is and always has been pricy as with all apple products.

 

I tried to use it and immediately found it counter intuitive. I did not like it.
If I can not do the basics and then perhaps learn a few things from there then forget it. I am not interested in spending my time learning your crap. They seem to have went in the idea that we MUST make something new vs. let's build on what we have to improve the user experience.

Win home- why do they need all those services started and thus making things slower.
There needs to be some grouping for the regular person to turn off things therefore making their pc faster.

Win7 is very refined and fast. Win 8 looks like a kids creation.

Let me put it this way, I recently tried Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon edition. It easy to use. Yes, I took me about 5 minutes to go into the different section to see what is there and relate it to windows terms e.g control panel.

Ubuntu I see as a game changer. Once they have it working smoothly and implemented it will be MUCH EASIER for people to remember ONE OS. When I saw the demo of Ubuntu on the tablet I said to myself that just made the tablet look much more useful and appealing to others. We have an aging population. They want easy to use. Ubuntu has borrowed a page from Apple and is taking it to the next level.

Can't wait to see what Win9 will be like.

 

Ubuntu is easy to use and popular as Linux distributors go, but I don't see it being a "game changer" until it gets a lot more mainstream recognition and OEMs including it as default OS with their systems. Microsoft Windows dominated the market because Microsoft made deals with manufacturers to have systems ship with their OS. While Dell and Asus have experimented with shipping systems pre-loaded with Linux variants, these experiments were largely abandoned.

 

Dell sells a 1080p ultrabook, the XPS 13, with Ubuntu. If you want one, by all means, go and buy one. The reason OEMs don't offer more Linux models is because they generally sell so poorly.

 

If Ubuntu can get some marketshare on the tablets and phones then it would be a nice next step to get on the pc therefore creating 1 system for people to know and synch

 

In the past 5 or so years, Dell has actually sold many different laptops with Ubuntu. And you are right, they do sell poorly, but that is because Dell sets it up to fail. I bought an Inspiron 1545 with Ubuntu on it because it was a good deal. But that was a fluke, because normally the laptops with Ubuntu on them have lots of extra options forced on them and don't get any deals or discounts. So why would anyone pay more for the same laptop to not have a Windows license? It makes no sense to buy one. Also Dell always hid their Ubuntu laptops pretty well. If you didn't already knew they existed and searched for them on their website, you would probably never come across them.

Honestly, if the base specs for their laptops had Ubuntu, and then Windows was an upgrade you had to pay for, you can be sure sales numbers for Ubuntu laptops would be much, much different.

Anyway, also my current Asus laptop came with Linux on it, although not Ubuntu.

 

LOL. Linux users have been saying this exact thing since the late 1990s. Didn't happen then, hasn't happened now, and won't happen in the future.

 

It's not that "Dell sets it up to fail," it's that it comes without the benefit of the bloatware subsidies that keep Windows PC prices where they are.

 

They do.

1. They have always hid them on their website in a special Ubuntu portal that was hard to find. If you browsed through their laptops, it would only show those machines with Windows on them.
2. They never had any advertising, discounts, or sales, at all, ever. They normally allow student discounts on their products outside of the Dell outlet store, but not on the Ubuntu laptops and desktops.
3. I don't think trial versions of McAfee and Office make Windows free for Dell, or even close to it.
4. Dell allowed lots of configuration options on their Windows computers. For a long time now on their Ubuntu computers, they already had lots of pointless but expensive upgrades on them, making the cheapest Ubuntu laptop quite a bit more expensive than the cheapest Windows version of the same laptop. Without any coupons, specials, or student discounts, the Ubuntu version at the same exact specs costs somewhere around $50 less than the Windows version (at least it used to), but in practice, buying the Ubuntu version is usually pretty foolish.

 

If Dell "wanted Ubuntu to fail," they wouldn't sell Ubuntu laptops. Seriously, can you explain what self-interest Dell would have in selling Ubuntu but deliberately making the models unprofitable? There isn't one.

With Dell's Ubuntu laptops, all the testing and R&D that goes into making a production model is amortized over perhaps 1% as many sales (at most) as their Windows laptops. That results in significantly higher R&D costs per sale that need to be recouped. Also, there's a lot more bloatware than just Norton/McAfee on a Dell consumer laptop. And they keep Ubuntu laptops in a separate place because (1) that prevents people who don't know jack about computers from selecting an OS they didn't intend while ordering online, and (2) because a lot of Ubuntu users probably don't want to page through fifteen pages of Windows-equipped Inspirons while selecting their Ubuntu XPS.

 

Have to point out some discrepancies here. It may be a popular as Linux distribute as you mention but in terms of everyday usage it isn't the same as Windows in GUI or CLI. They are two different beast in themselves and have different command and operation that they do. And to use Linux properly is a steep leaning curve as a simple command in Windows CLI is more involved in Linux CLI. I tried Ubuntu and going to CLI and trying to navigate told me a lot that since I stopped using Unix from my college days unless you get a Unix command book your in for a steep learning curve to get the in and outs of it. Also a lot of platforms are support for Windows far more then Linux which already puts it at a big disadvantage to begin with. It's not going to be a game change in any foreseeable future at the rate it is going as the "World" using Windows and Linux is but a small guppy in a Ocean of Barracudas can't compete with the big boys you will go extinct or be pushed to the far margins to hang by a thread only. They did but also they produced a GUI that everyone could see and navigate with so that what help computer make and sell their system so both help each other not just one doing better but without the computer maker M$ wouldn't also gotten where they gotten either. What your trying to compare is what Intel did to AMD in forcing PC makers to go with their CPU if they wanted competitive prices that did more damage to their name brand then just selling it for what it was worth and showing how good their CPU was without having to strong hand their competitor in the process. We can debate all day long about M$ and PC makers but nothing good will come of it in the case of Intel vs AMD what they did was dirty and lowdown when their own CPU could beat and win against AMD without them resorting to all these backroom deals to begin with.

My sentialment exactly. Linux in the beginning had a change to be competive with Windows but fell flat on their face and Windows took off with their shinny GUI and easy to use interface and that took off and their market shares took off as well.

 

The only place where "Linux" (and picture those quotations marks at 100x the size you can see them here) has taken any sort of foothold is with Android and even then only on phones, rather than tablets.

 

Windows 8 as far as I am concerned is or was a big waste of M$ development time and money. Recently bought a new HP with 8 preinstalled, there was no downgrade option so I had to "buy" a copy of Windows 7. I believe this is far better and easier to use................
/Regards Rosy

 

Yes. Microsoft tells them to. What is better for Dell, selling a couple less Ubuntu laptops, or paying more for a thousand windows licenses?

Dell doesn't offer any software or OS support for their Linux laptops, so that is another way to save a few bucks. And they don't come installed with the latest version of Linux either. Also you are confusing bloatware with trial versions of software. Dell loads bloatware on a lot of their Windows laptops (not all), but most of it is Dell applications intended to make life simpler for the user. Besides McAfee and Office, I can't think of anything they have. And Microsoft doesn't make billions by giving away their OS for free.

 

The only thing I don't like about 8 is the Metro IE. It's cooler to use I think, but I can't do lots of things because of no Flash/Java etc...