Microsoft blasts PC makers: It's YOUR fault Windows 8 crash landed Microsoft blames PC makers for underwhelming Windows 8 sales over Christmas, The Register has learned. The software giant accused manufacturers of not building enough attractive Win 8-powered touchscreen tablets. But the computer makers are fighting back: they claimed that if they’d followed Microsoft’s hardware requirements …
Stop flinging shit at each other and digest the following:
TOUCH SCREEN IS NOT WHAT PEOPLE WITH HALF A FUCKING BRAIN WANT IN A COMPUTING DEVICE WITH ANY OTHER USE THAN GOOGLING, FACEBOOK AND CHECKING TV LISTINGS, ESPECIALLY FOR ANYTHING CLOSE TO ENTERPRISE. STOP SHOVING IT DOWN OUR THROATS!!!
I am so sorry to the rest of you guys, I never CAPS rant, that was my first and it was embarrassing, but I had to get that out, it was beginning to consume me.
err.... from the data that I am seeing and from comments of OEM's indicate that touchscreen laptops are in fact selling well. Given in Windows 8 it takes about 3/10 of a second to switch to the desktop (which is in fact where I spend the majority of my time), I would like to suggest that if you don't want a touchscreen or to use Metro/Modern UI... DON'T BUY ONE.
Given that touchscreens laptops are selling well, according to your scenario there's quite a few half-brained people. While I myself do not have a touchscreen for either my desktop or my laptop; I have strangely avoided "getting my panties in a bunch" as you seem to have done.
Thereby my suggestion is; do not be so "touched", or conversely "get a grip."
I wonder how many people only use a computer for Googling, Facefool and TV listings, internet purchases from Amazon/Tesco etc?
Perhaps Microsoft has reacted to some market research - right or wrongly.
For me a computer is a tool, I want to use all features of that tool to the max, but I'm a programmer/designer.
Most people are not, especially the 'most people' in that possible lucrative market share.
Amazing - Windows 8 isn't that bad. Certainly better than Vista, and a step up kernel wise from 7. And the $40 upgrade was a deal that made it make sense.
BUT... Redmond seems to have forgotten about all those HTPC's that they pushed just years before - coupled to expensive 720p projectors when they set up the 8 standards. Some idiot in charge decided that 1024 x 768 was the minimum size screen for any device - so that tile apps (that most of us don't care about) - would have space to run on those tablets. Well - except second screens that are actually movie projectors and um... won't scale properly to 1080p due to cable lengths for the ceiling mounts with thick DVI cables (not HTMI).
Hard coded minimum of no less than 768 - FAIL!
SP1?
FAIL!
I was reluctant to buy a Win8 machine because of all the bad reviews but I'm bloody glad I did!
All you need to know are the shortcut keys WIN+D, ALT+TAB, WIN+TAB and ALT+F4 and you have yourself a great OS..
If you have never used for more than half an hour then stop moaning about what you know sod all about, once you do you will realise that it works well..
I have installed Ubuntu (sans Unity) and Windows XP on the same machine and I find myself gravitating more to Windows 8 than my previous Linux preference or the comfort of XP.
The task manager is vastly improved too so had done away with my needs for Process Explorer plus a few other tools I deemed essential in previous versions of windows..
Just be happy you have a choice people!
Wow! the shills and Micro$oft apologists are out in force today lol. No doubt the reg saw a sudden influx of accounts, and a set of corresponding downvotes for this comment thread.
As far as Windows is concerned, it's dead. The desktop OS monopolist gravy train has reached the end of its tracks, and there's no way to reverse course. And you know what, it couldn't come sooner for me. I hope the OEM's dump Microsoft en masse and switch to GNU/Linux.
You know you are half right. I did register for the first time today to write on this thread. Yes, I do use Windows, have a X-Box 360 and even have a Windows 7.5 Phone.
Apologist no. While I use MS products, I am not impressed by what indications I can see of their internal culture. I am also very mixed on their customer service. Some of their customer service is fine, some very opaque and unhelpful. Some of MS's decisions are poor. I critique MS where I think they need critique.
However statements like Windows being dead is just plain stupid. If you want to be a Linux fanboi fine, do whatever you want. I don't consider myself a MS fanboi, it is simply what I use and is therefore what I am interested in talking about.
Anybody who says "The PC is dead" is a fool, plain and simple. and Linux (notice how he had to get the GNU in there, easiest way to spot a rabid fanboi) isn't ever gonna get anywhere near the desktop.
No the simple fact is the MHz bubble has burst and PCs are going back to the 5-8 year cycle which they had before the MHz war, that is all. Windows 8 is just nasty on anything that isn't a touchscreen (which describes a good 98% of the PCs built and being built) but nobody is giving up their desktop or laptop for an iPhone, they are simply holding off purchasing a new one or coming to somebody like me that will be happy to sell them one with Windows 7.
Finally as to their "internal culture"? You could see which way the wind was blowing when Allchin and Ozzie left, its all marketing drones like the Ballmernator which is why all you see are copies of products Apple put out a couple of years before. Don't worry as sooner or later the board will put down the crack pipe and fire him, when even Forbes lists him as worst CEO its gonna be hard for him to drum up support. I think Sinofsky falling on the sword bought him a little time but when win 8 is as big a flop as WinME it'll be bye bye ballmer. Hopefully they'll bring back one of the engineers like Allchin to right the ship and instead of copying Apple they'll take a page from IBM and supplement their software sales with services and all will straighten out.
Until then simply avoid the mess that is Win 8, stick with Win 7 that has another 7 years minimum support (I say minimum because its obvious that 7 is the new XP so it wouldn't surprise me if it gets an extension like XP did) and unlike Win 8 is actually designed for the user and not Wall Street.
We hear what you’re saying Reg. You don’t want to take sides in a tiff between Corporate Devas. It seems however, that reading between the lines, Microsoft is just plain angry at how its Win8 horse came in limping - in the race to catch peoples dwindling Christmas cash-blowout. But what’s an eye opener is its attitude, which in the days of Bill Gates, would have been unthinkable. It’s basically throwing its pictured-CEO weight around, like a spoilt brat, without the grace to ask OEMs nicely. Mind you, the PC makers aren’t exactly the public’s best friend; I mean fancy selling an OAP a Vista machine with only 1gig of Ram inside! They’re all out and out dodgy dealers: they’ve messed up, and they’ve only themselves to blame. But this shows how human Microsoft is – at the end of the financial year – very much like its pictured-heavy-weight CEO; a tubby tyrant whose lost touch.
It'll be interesting to see which foot the shoe is on when Google finally launches an Android desktop operating system. Probably for a pittance. OEMs would love to be able to bargain down the installed OS licensing cost for new pcs of any flavour, so maybe Redmond is gradually becoming aware of the need to at least create a measurable presence on mobile devices. I like my dumb phone, but wouldn't mind a smart one if it was an intuitive extension of my desktop OS, or vice versa. Win8 hasn't convinced me that it's a capable multi purpose OS, and I'm not buying into the myopic richkids fruitzone for a taste of that particular pie, but if Androd ever reaches critical mush on the desktop, Miscrosoft had better have a backup plan ready to go.
I'm randomly crystal ball gazing the potential for Google to throw a big glob of profit at building a pc driver database, mebbe snarfing an ailing pc manufacturer to incubate some fancy code, and tilting at the Microsoft share price for shits n giggles.
I remember being told 17 years ago that I was mad to think that Macs would ever be built in China. All that proved to me was that nerds were blind to the harsh fiscal truths of global business. I'm sure our friends across the pond can remember the hawks poo-pooing the possibility that China could affect the price of gas at the US pump around the turn of the century. Five years is how long hubristic incompetence takes to trickle through a company (or a gubmint) from the board to the bottom line. Then it's too late to fix without a firesale.
MS obviously wants to creep across the entire device spectrum with a single unified OS, and scrape every last cent out of their legacy customer base for the licenses, while fending off the perceived danger of a grown up Android lurching over the horizon with its stompy boots on.. They're only three years late to the party. If Google "accidentally" undercuts MS on the desktop OS front, maybe offering consolidated utilitarian hardware/software packages for work/leisure BYOD phone and slab docks through its established manufacturing partners, the game will be up for MS (and Apple).
I'm aware that Android on a portable device isn't a mature OS right now, which is why I'm typing this on a Win7 pc. Give me something more functional than a Chrome zombie terminal, and even I might be tempted to throw my purchasing and shitstirring weight behind a Linux-killer GoogOS. I can't see Google building a comparable driver database to rival Windows overnight , especially when it comes to specialist outboard and expensive cards, but .....for the workplace terminal, with its basic drudge apps, email, and a sniff of SQL and XML network front end doc retrieval, most of that posh stuff is irrelevant. As long as the graphics, network, and input devices work, and the UI looks simple enough for the watercooler generation to get their melons around, it'll find a place in the vast n bulbous organisations who are permanently looking for opportunities to gut their IT budgets. Windows, Office, and Sharepoint, with their bloated license fees, might as well have bullseyes painted on their arses.
Looking further into the crystal ball, with the help of this jug of Old Hillbilly Premium Firebreather, it's not inconceivable that those megalithic entities with coders coming out of every pore could be driving the OS wars of the future. Google, Amazon and Facebook seem to be doing quite nicely with their homegrown server farms and control software development.. How long before one or more of them decides to push scaled down m2m versions into the enterprise sector?
As we used to say in hippyville..."you're either on the bus, or under it"
pretty on the outside with all the colored windows/makeup
difficult to make it her understand what you want to 'start' to do
jealous of others--wanting the hardware drivers/men only for herself
exaggerations of how many people purchased/dated her
developer/parents blame others when she isn't desired/asked out
inability to do anything in a business environment
impresses only brainless things with her superficiality
...
You can no longer send complaints or suggestions to Microsoft without 'registering' and 'paying' for the chance.
Windows 7 is a crock of shit, can't even run skype on it with any success (keeps hanging), can't search for files properly (the facility is as broken as it is possible to be), in fact basically nothing that I use day to day is as food as it was in windows 1.0
Why would I then buy windows 8? The usability is going the WRONG WAY, the testing is shocking and they have their fingers in their collective ears while they sing la la la la
I used to work for them, I am glad I don't now, it would be shameful.
The engineers are able to do what is required, I would like to know why they aren't being allowed to, perhaps the managements heads have just got too big?
Open your ears, open the route for customers to tell you what is wrong and what they want, offer what is needed - full and free support so that customers don't end up looking at your 'product' and deciding it is an unusable crock of shit, then perhaps you might just win them back round and they might buy an improved offering. Carry on the way you are and my machines will be moved back a couple of versions and will stay there - at least my old machine actually WORKS - even including skype!
The fact you can't run Skype has nothing to do with Windows 7, I'd suggest you have bigger issues with the PC there. There are millions of people that run Skype on Windows 7 without incident.
However, you did touch on a real issue - search. It's garbage. Go and download Agent Ransack instead.
There maybe millions who run skype on win 7 with no problem, there are hundreds of thousands who have exactly the same machines configured in exactly the same way running exactly the same skype for who it doesn't work. The company I work for provides the same machines with the same image to everyone and some have problems and some don't. It isn't the machine or the installation.
The problem isn't the OS, its you. It sounds like you have a corrupted Skype install, I've seen it happen a ton of times, what you need is an unattended Skype install and luckily that is free. Just go to ninite.com and check the box for Skype, while you are there you might as well check the box for any software you have as it'll update it if there is a newer version and skip it if there isn't, and just let its do its thing. That will fix your Skype problems in a snap.
as for search, while it works fine for me if you need deep level searches you are better off with something like Copernicus or Agent ransack, both do deep level searches better than the built in Windows search. Why people can't just organize their folders into logical groups I'll never know, but at least you do have choices.
And I'm gonna assume you meant good and not food, but frankly win 7 does have a LOT of good features, you simply have to use them. For example jumplists and breadcrumbs make getting back to where you were the previous day trivial, Readyboost can give your programs a speedbump by using a flash for random reads,and the split folder feature (simply slam a folder to the left or right of your monitor to have it take exactly half the screen) makes file and folder comparisons fast and easy, and the libraries feature makes combining media spread over multiple drive behave as if its all in one folder. This combined with file2folderGUI and media center master makes WMC into a great HTPC with all the artwork and synopsis loaded and ready to go, really makes movie night a pleasure.
This post has been deleted by its author
They should advertise the ability to switch interfaces between new and old on Windows 8 and lower the price of the upgrade (currently a fair £24.99) to match Mountain Lion.
Instead they're raising prices and pushing the tiles, which are quite slick on a crippled tablet or smart phone, but not on a proper computer.
"Windows 8, though, was a radical departure that Microsoft had to flaunt. It introduced touchscreen input"
~Nope touchscreen input has existed since XP tablet edition. Windows 7 even had gestures, they just finally managed to make a touchscreen UI in Windows 8, not hat anyone cares anymore.
If Google can centralise updates and combine Chrome OS with Android we really will see Microsoft sinking to rule the living room games market and hopefully are children can grow up in a software world without Microsoft.
The MS business model of churning out a new OS and Office version every couple of years has never been popular with most business or personal users.
Most people, once they have got used to how something works, just want it to stay the same so they can leverage thgeir experience, and to have the bugs eliminated.
Who wanted W8 other than fanbois and neophiles - no-one. For business it's a vast expense in re-training, new 3rd party H/W when the old drivers no longer work, re-deployment and for no real gain. Personal users usually only get a new OS because it comes with their new H/W.
The better MS make their OS, the less need people have for a new one.
I saw a really awkward moment on one of those TV cop/forensic shows (can't remember which one).
The character gingerly picked up a chunky tablet with Windows 8 on it, and slowly went to search something on it, for no reason at all it seemed, with the camera zooming right in to the display. Then he put the thing down immediately and turned to the Mac on his desk that was in front of him all the time. The actor seemed like he knew none of it made any sense to the scene.
Anyhoo, I burst out laughing, in a nerdy fashion of course. 8D
Microsoft blaming someone else? Give us some real news. please.
Here's a scoop for you: in six months, it'll be us idiot consumers to blame for MS's problems.
Here's the solution for Microsoft: assume COMPLETE control of the business by building the hardware yourselves, a la your most hated rivals.Then you wouldn't be at the mercy of all those nincompoops who don't know how to build or sell stuff, or follow directions.
Then you'd have all the glory.
I have two tower ATX boxes with Intel MBs from approx. 2006. No MB support (audio, LAN, etc) for Win 7 or 8. The hardware is solid and gets the job done with XP.
I probably will pick up a $39 Win 8 pro upgrade license for a lenovo laptop running Vista just to check it out.
On the desktops will I replace MB, MEM, CPU and some software in 2014? Probably cheaper to look at alternate OS. After 25 years might part ways with Microsoft.
As for the tablet wars $200 kindle or Google nexus tablets meet my needs. For many users that is the new price-point not $500-$700.
May I make a suggestion? Look at the AMD Bobcat boards. these have an APU, so you have the CPU+GPU covered, AMD has opened all their drivers so you can run any OS that you want, and most importantly while they are quite cheap you'll get more performance than those circa 2006 machines while using less power under load than that 2006 machine uses idling.
Because i'm guessing with Intel boards from 2006 we are talking Pentium 4s here and those chips were truly awful, they just gulp power while giving just lousy performance. With the Bobcat you get dual cores plus an HD6310 GPU that does full 1080P over HDMI and at just 18w under load the amount you'll save in power alone makes it well worth the switch.
Lately our computer sales conversations at work (small country town computer shop) have gone like this:
Us: Now do you want Windows 7 or 8?
Customer: Ummm. Does it matter?
Us: Have you seen 8 at all?
Customer: No
Us: Come have a look and see what you think.... <opens RDP connection to Win8 VM>
Customer: OK, so what's this program.
Us: Well, that's the new "Start Menu"
Customer: I think I want 7.
Since Windows 8 came out, we've sold around 20-25 computers (laptops and desktops). Out of these, about 3 or 4 had Windows 8 (and one of those was a system I built for a friend for Christmas).
Microsoft is slowly losing control in my opinion of not only the hardware market, but the OS market. I don't know a single person who wants or is asking for a Surface tablet, nor do I know of a single person with a Microsoft Windows based phone. Google is relentless, and has consumed MIcrosoft in my opinion, and I base that on the fact that my teenagers are now asking for Chrome Books and new Droid phones for the upcoming Christmas. I run an IT shop with over 200 people, and the other day the we were in a meeting with a major IT software supply company and they asked our CIO if we used Linux, which our CIO didn't know any better and said no - no Linux here. Everyone looked at each other and finally, FINALLY, the managers stood up and said most of our core infrastructure is now on Linux. The CIO looked like he was ready to fire someone! The only thing we indicated running Microsoft was for our Exchange, Sharepoint and MS AD environment, other than that, it was useless. Most of our employees now carry iPad's, and we started supporting BYOD mid-last year. Microsoft is a dying beast who has seen better days, and will continue to fall behind as long as they don't listen to their customers. Their best bet at this point is to provide infrastructure core services and bite the bullet on consumer based products. Sorry Microsoft but your letting the wrong people make the decisions.
Reboot. What is that? Didn't they already can the designer of the 8th wonder of the windows world? Are they gonna ask him to bend over again for a second boot in the can? What was his name? Does he have a job now? He can consult as a motivational speaker explaining how to live with your failures and rise from the ashes. Maybe he can explain the Metro gestures in front of a live audience for the edification of those at the Gurgleplex. It ought to bring down the house.
OK, so MSFT blames manufacturers? What was their role in promoting this new product, which is a huge departure from the previos OS? What effort was made by MSFT in making it easier for manufacturers to transition from the old system to the new?
And now the pc is becoming touch based instead of keyboard based, and consumers must purchase new monitors to experience the full benefit of the new operating environment.
Touch screens are great for walking(android phones and tablets), standing(cashiers, restaurant applications) but awkward for desktop pc's and laptops in the office setting, where often the screen is not near you. It has to be seen as workable; I didn't see much promotion on microsofts part in displaying this to the public at large, and apparantly to pc builders as well. Would they invest new equipment in an application that may flop? What is the benefit to pc and laptop consumers in having touch screen monitors?
You can't just make a new product and expect it to sell itself. They did not convince consumers that this is workable, apparantly the pc builders weren't even convinced.
If this product is successful it is going to be a long slow transition. And it will be the consumers who decide this.
Microsoft expected too much I'm afraid.
The same old story: M$ wants monopoly, and can't quite get the public (who just eat up those pesky iPads and iPwns), or government groups (who occasionally do THE RIGHT THING for their public), or even corporations (DON'T THEY KNOW THEY'RE JUST LIKE US, PROFITMONGERS??) to play ball and let them have that li'l ol' monopoly!! And every time they try, they do something PROFOUNDLY stupid, pad their numbers, then try to blame ANYONE else they can for their failures.
And, the story repeats itself yet again: M$ makes an OS that is completely out of touch with reality, tries to shove down the world's collective throats, then blames everyone else (including the CUSTOMERS!!) when we gag and spit it out.
You'd think they'd have learned their lessons LOOOONG ago (Fista, ME, Ribbon).
But, no: they thought that tablets were going to replace EVERYTHING--maybe eventually, but nowhere near to "yet" at this point. So they tried to obsolete every desktop with this abominations--tell me, who is going to run out a buy a win8 tablet? Or a touch-screen monitor, for that matter??
And the ergonomics of this: if you're using a desktop, are you wanting to remover you hands from the keyboard to reach UP and OUT to touch something on a screen?? Especially super-repetitive gestures and commands?? Hell, millions of users will learn keyboard commands ([win]___ and [alt]___ and [ctrl]____) to KEEP THEIR HANDS ON THE KEYBOARD AND OFF THE MOUSE!!
Again, repetitive gestures that aren't ergonomic, and can potentially cause Repetitive Stress Injury. Perhaps ol' Steve got a nice "bonus" from the Shoulder Surgeons of America to help drive their businesses... :tard:
I think the biggest blind spot any software engineer has, is the human interface: they forget that humans have limitations, and that certain motions are just more humanly efficient. Kind of like how software engineers forget that, for the average or lesser user, what's super-simple to them and self-evident, isn't to the average joe; and never will be.
And M$ repeatedly violates simple ergonomic principles EVERY FREAKING TIME they do something this stupid.
Will they ever learn??
Meanwhile, I'll stick to Win7 and my iPad; and if they decide to remote-kill Win7 from Mount Doom, then I'll switch to Linux, and never look back.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
