back to article Android, Chromebooks storm channel as Windows PC sales go flat

Despite all the carping about the slumping PC market, it really wasn't such a bad year for channel computing sales, with devices based on Google technologies pulling ahead as the clear winners. According to the latest numbers from market analysis firm NPD, overall sales of desktops, notebooks, and tablets through the channel …

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  1. ThomH

    So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

    Microsoft: 64.1% of commercial channel computing devices that aren't phones

    Google: 18.3%

    Apple: 17.5%

    I'll bet Microsoft has a long way further to drop — all those years focussing on corporate hearts and minds is paying off, but probably not in the way intended. Though they still seem not quite to get the difference: I think shoehorning the phrase "with full Microsoft Office" into every consumer-targetted Surface advert isn't having the effect Microsoft seems to intend.

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Pint

      And so as 2013, Microsofts year of hell, draws to a close

      We can all look forwards and raise a glass to 2014: Microsofts year of implosion.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

      Chrome books will plateau quite soon, a year or two which will probably be down to accessibility. All very well living in a city, but out in the sticks they are quite useless. Also, the uptake in sales may very well be down to cost, they are cheap and people just want to give it a try. If they cost £500 plus it is unlikely so many would take a punt on them.

      1. jason 7
        Facepalm

        Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

        Useless if you are out in the sticks?

        Are you one of those Chromebook deniers that's still living in 1998?

        In this day and age, if I don't have an internet connection it's because I wanted it that way.

        1. M Gale

          Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

          In this day and age, if I don't have an internet connection it's because I wanted it that way.

          What's wrong with wanting a computer that works without a connection to The NSA^WCloud?

        2. jaminbob

          Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

          That's not true. I live in a reasonably sized town in Somerset... Hardly the 'sticks'. Copper wire broadband is very flaky. And I commute on a train without broadband. Chrome books are cool some, but I'll take a tablet with keyboard any day.

        3. JEDIDIAH
          Mushroom

          Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

          I have a very respectable broadband connection but I still don't want my desktop to depend on it. I don't even like my video streamers being entirely dependent on their connection to the mothership. I understand the limits of current tech and networks too well.

        4. Don Mitchell

          Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

          LOL "chromebook deniers".

          1. Bob Vistakin
            Linux

            Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

            @Lol "Chromebook deniers" indeed. Speaking of which, here's some cheery reading for any remaining Microsoft holdouts - aka "linux deniers":

            Linux is Everywhere. We show you exactly where.

            Happy New Year!

            1. RyokuMas
              Trollface

              Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

              "Linux is Everywhere*. We show you exactly where."

              *except on the desktop

              /troll

              1. feanor

                Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

                It's on mine.

        5. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

          You never fly, did you? Last time I checked on my intercontinental flight I had no internet connection. Nor I have one when sailing offshore. Sure, Linux nerds who never get out of their basement usually are Always connected...

          1. jason 7
            Happy

            Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

            Ermm I'm one of those lucky ones that only flies for when I go on holiday.

            So my original point still stands. I'm on holiday, I have better things to do than pour over spreadsheets or Powerpoints at 35000 feet.

            Oh I can still do spreadsheets on the Chromebook at 35000 feet too though. Email and text docs too in fact.

            Sleeping or sipping a G&T is much better however.

        6. PJI
          FAIL

          Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

          >>In this day and age, if I don't have an internet connection it's because I wanted it that way.

          It seems you do not get out much, or your idea of the sticks is the next suburb or Hampstead Heath. I assure you, in most of Great Britain and the rest of Europe, public, free, available wi-fi is not available and there is not a tea or coffee shop or even pub on every corner. Even mobile telephone signal at 3g or better is not universal, often no signal at all.

          If you believe otherwise, you are fantasising and never leave your comfort zone.

          I believe even Chromebook suppliers are beginning to reconsider the total reliance on WLAN connectivity.

        7. feanor

          Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

          Oh dear. You apparently know nothing about rural broadband then.

        8. OsamaBinLogin

          Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

          You're not talking about a portable computer - you're talking about a desktop. I have a net connection at home, that's easy.

          Unfortunately, the entire atmosphere is not yet filled with wifi. On the train to work, nothing. Busses, nyet. In coffeehouses that advertise "Free WiFi", there's only a 70% chance that it actually works. Your typical doctor's waiting room? nada. Enjoying a hike in the woods? niente. Sitting in a restaurant waiting for your pizza to bake? Nunca. Passenger in a car on a looonnnggg trip? Nein. Suddenly, most of my ipad apps are useless (it doesn't have cell). Web pages that auto-refresh soon self-destruct, and I'm left to play sudoku cuz that program doesn't instantly flip out when it can't call home.

      2. big_D Silver badge

        @AC Cheap?

        Over here, I just don't see the point. They are more expensive than a Windows netbook with Chrome installed, so why pay more for less functionality?

        I don't know anyone who has bought one.

    3. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      " further to drop"

      It will be good if MS drops to around 1/2-1/3 of new sales, but no less, as that way all main OS (Windows, Linux, MacOS) should get decent support by peripheral suppliers and be designed to begin with for that goal. And that is a good thing for everyone.

    4. Euripides Pants
      Windows

      Re: So if we award all desktops to Microsoft then I make it...

      "Microsoft: 64.1% of commercial channel computing devices that aren't phones"

      And an increasing number of people do all their computery stuff on not-computers...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I don't get it

    How come Apple laptops don't have a bigger market share?? They are fairly well made, Unix-based, don't run Windows and the brand is fashionable. How come with all these advantages they are still a small fraction of the Windows laptops? Is it the price, or the lack of games? I understand the business world is Microsoft-dependent, but I would have thought they would do well on the consumer sector...

    I mean, it's not like the Apple marketing is subtle about putting them in every movie.

    1. Gordon 10

      Re: I don't get it

      I would have thought so too. I suspect it's that the figure cover both the corporate and consumer market hence apples mostly consumer sales are dwarfed by Windows corporate sales. Would be interesting to see pure consumer market numbers.

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: I don't get it

        Macbooks look great but they are expensive, most consumers don't understand RAM, SSD, GHz, Pixels etc all they understand is the end price. Either they can afford it or they can't. There really is not a lot more to understand.

        The fanbois can argue until they are blue in the face about "intrinsic value" but they don't foot the bill for Joe Punter.

        Macbooks don't offer anything of value to the average punter......Proof of the pudding lies in the fact that they will buy iPhones and Tablets ( Samsung or Apple), within which they will find all that they truly require, media consumption and facebook....

      2. RealFred

        Re: I don't get it

        I think its because I can go to the local computer store and buy a good enough Windows laptop that I already know how to use and I can use all of my old software on it, for about $500, against a Mac laptop that I pay significantly more for and none of my old software works on it.

        I know they can run Windows on it in Bootcamp or as a virtual machine, but that makes it messy to use, costs more to set up and they can't be bothered.

    2. tempemeaty

      Re: I don't get it

      It's just my opinion but the majority of the world is poor. Most I know of get what they can for under $500. Apple/Jobsian empire isn't going to compromise their product quality level to get to that price point. It's for that reason that I don't see any dramatic changes in their market share near term.

      In the long term Apples Mac may come to be all that's left in the market that once was dominated by the PC as Microsoft themselves has proven with Windows 8+ to be the PC manufactures worst nightmare and now even their enemy. I only hope the PC manufactures have figured out that point and have begun looking for an OS source that isn't their enemy...

      1. JEDIDIAH
        Linux

        Re: I don't get it

        Most people simply don't buy into the hype. It doesn't help that they have been fed the "must be DOS compatbable" line for 30 years. This tends to put a damper on any alternative platform that looks anything like a PC.

        As just another PC, the marginal value improvement of an Apple product is grossly overrated.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I don't get it

          With Macs, you have a "trouble free" PC. Because Apple controls everything, you have little to worry about drivers, updates, etc. Everything is from Apple. Many less technical users like it.

          With Windows, especially if you have a custom built PC and not a branded PC with good support, you have to take care yourself of drivers and so on. With Linux, it's even worse, especially if your hardware is edge and you use a distro not supported by the hardware maker.

          Also if you need something that needs for example color management, color profiles, and color calbration with Linux you end in a DIY nightmare, because there's very little support.

          1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

            Not only 'less experienced users'

            like Macs. I've been writing software for a living for close on 40 years. I got fed up with windows in 2008 and switched to a Mac. I have to use Windows (Server) for my Day job plus a bit of Linux so it is a real pleasure to come home and have a system for my own use that just works for me rather than me fighting it (and the AV, defrag and re-installs etc etc).

            The systems I build for the day job are pretty complex and control very large industrial plant. If we could move away from Windows we would but a lot of vendors insist on using MSMQ, that programmers dream, management nightmare of a piece of software.

            Approx 50% of my colleagues have done the same and moved to the fruity machines.

            1. cambsukguy

              Re: Not only 'less experienced users'

              Never had to defrag my Win7 laptop, my SSD runs over 90% full (it is small), still at 0% fragmentation - it always is.

              Everything moves on, you should try to keep up.

              1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

                Re: Not only 'less experienced users'

                Windows 7 wasn't out when I hoisted the white flag and gave up on Windows. At the time it was Vista or XP.

                So good for you and your Windows 7 experience.

                The Mac I bought in 2008 (17in MBP Core 2 duo) also uses a SSD. The biggest issue was having to uninstall and re-install one pices of software that binds itself to the HDD serial number. That was MS Office for Mac 2011 and it deposits bits of itself in all sorts of odd places. Not impressed.

              2. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Not only 'less experienced users'

                @ cambsukguy

                That's because windows 7 runs a scheduled defrag operation without ever asking you. Check your scheduled tasks. That fragmentation process also uses a hell of a lot of CPU. I only noticed when I would hear my fans whine up to fever pitch in the middle of the night. I would check & find cpu temps 20º higher than at idle (or virtually any other time other than when performing intensive 3d rendering).

                So back to using a 3rd party defragger that runs when I tell it to & uses the resources I allow it to.

                1. Mark Harris

                  Re: Not only 'less experienced users'

                  Nope, defrag doesn't run on SSD's, you'll find that most SSD management software disables it as it can shorten the life of the drive.

                  1. Anonymous Coward
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Re: Not only 'less experienced users'

                    Physical position of data on an SSD is meaningless, especially since levelling algorithms try to spread data evanly on disk to increase life, anyway they have not a spinning plate and a head that can read data only when it reaches it and needs to be moved if data are not contiguos.

                    Anyway is funny to read about fragmentation issues from fans of an OS that couldn't get file locking correctly. POSIX file locking is hopelessy broken, and we could also talk about the too simplistic ACLs *nix have, which makes them mostly unmanageable in large deployments with complex needs. But they forgot about it... of course Linux has no flaws, those are "features", not old, bugged and outdated implementations noone dares to touch for backwards compatibility and because when all you have are two machines in your basement you really don't care...

              3. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: SSD ... still at 0% fragmentation

                you've got auto defrag switched on and if you knew what you were doing, with an ssd you'd switch it off.

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: SSD ... still at 0% fragmentation

                  and if you knew what you were talking about you wouldn't make stupid comments

          2. JEDIDIAH
            Devil

            Re: I don't get it

            > Also if you need something that needs for example color management,

            Are you posting from a the other side of a wormhole that leads to the 80s? That kind of thing hasn't been a compelling argument for the adoption of Macs for a very long time.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: I don't get it

              No. I'm simply saying that while OSX and Windows 7/8 offer a huge range of features for professional software - and color management was only an example - Linux still lacks many features to make it a real professional desktop OS in many fields. Image processing is an example - if you're in photography professionaly, you need Lightroom and Photoshop - and the huge array of tools to calibrate and profile your devices, plus support for the photo gear you're using - and that means or OSX or Windows.

              You won't spend time in a DIY nightmare under Linux, and try to use GIMP or the like to deliver the final products to your paying customers. When you're gear alone costs ten of thousands of dollars, it won't be a few hundreds savings for the OS and software to make you switch to Linux - savings that you will pay dearly in time spent fighting with subpar software and lack of compatibility.

              What Linux worshipper fails to understand is that for most people software is a tool, not an ideology. They care only about having a job done the best and fastest way, so they can earn their money and be happy doing something else than installing the next testing kernel. Until Linux delivers real professional software which is the industry standard, or at least fully compatible with it, those people will happily ignore it because they have no time to waste to affirm an ideology.

              I'd suggest many Linux worshipper here to spend their time writing software for Linux, and adding the many missing core functionalities, instead of wasting it telling us how good Linux is and why we should hate MS or Apple. Noone will preinstall an OS most users don't want simply because they need to get their job done, and not try "change the (cyber)world"

              1. feanor

                Re: I don't get it

                "They care only about having a job done the best and fastest way,.."

                You forgot "most cost effective".

                Linux does everything I need it to. It doesn't cost me anything. Thats pretty cost effective. When I discover a computing need it doesn't satisfy I may change my assesment. I don't understand why you want me to pay for something I can get for free just to affirm your ideology.

                My problem with Apple is not the OS or the hardware, its all good (as it should be at those prices), but the fact that Apple won't let me do whatever I like with a product I've paid (quite a lot) for. It's a lock-in mentality that I, as a techy, find restricting and distateful. But if you can do everything you need to do without leaving your walled garden then more power to you. And if you can afford it of course.

                My problem with MS is that I've spent decades struggling with their sub-standard products that they got away with foisting on a captive market (captured by many and varied rather dubuous business practices) who had little choice but to bend over for it.

                In comparison, Linux is a breath of fresh air. Free fresh air.

                I'd suggest you educate yourself a bit, before spouting tired old MS propaganda from the 1990s.

                P.S. Yes I use it for business. I have it on a laptop, two desktops and a server. I've used it for over a decade now. I've never compiled a kernel for any of them at any time.

          3. big_D Silver badge

            Re: @LDS Trouble free?

            I have an 2012 iMac at work and a 2007 iMac at home. I also have a bunch of Windows machines. The old iMac is slow (under OS X) and it had logic board problems. Under Windows 8 and Linux it still runs acceptably fast. Also, it is no longer supported by Apple - no OS security updates, let alone newer versions of OS X; ironically Windows works fine on it.

            The 2012 version, running Lion through Mavericks has been nothing but a headache in getting it to work reliably with our domain and Exchange.

            On the other hand, my 2003 desktop and 2004 Acer laptop are both working fine and are still supported by Microsoft (the latest Windows runs and even the original (XP) is still receiving security updates for another couple of months.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I don't get it

        What OS source? They have little choice. Apple won't release OSX outside its hardware and Linux still lacks professional sofware for many critical tasks on the user side (on the server side there is enough software).

        Mostly because Linux users are so used to the word "free" - many software companies wants money for their software, and if users are not willingly to pay - and moreover want source code because Stalmman has said it has to be that way - they have very little incentives to move their software to Linux. Because not everybody works with a web frontend also, users who need some classes of applications will need a Windows or Mac PC - and PC manufacturer can only choose the first.

        1. feanor

          Re: I don't get it

          "..and moreover want source code because Stalmman has said it has to be that way.. "

          Oh dear, as a bit of friendly advice can I suggest you go and do some reading up on Open Source as a development model before you make yourself look even more stupid that you just did?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I don't get it

      Price.

      Plus I think by mentioning "Unix based" you're assuming that typical buyers would care about that. They won't. They don't even know what Unix is.

      Price is also why 98% of Chromebook sales happen. Chromebooks are basically a warmed over Netbook, from back before Microsoft stuck their nose in the Netbook world.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I don't get it

        Chomebooks are neutered Netbooks. The netbooks didn't sell all your data to Google. That's why they're happily Killing the netbook, today market value is in how good you are in "stealing" user data only.

      2. Euripides Pants
        Joke

        Re: I don't get it

        "They don't even know what Unix is."

        Don't be silly, most people know what eunuchs is....

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I don't get it

      Because what the telly tells you and reality are rarely the same. Microsoft and apple have truckloads of money from previous glories allowing them to the truth. All I know is I don't know a single person that's bought a windows 8 laptop know plenty that bought chromebooks

    5. Christian Berger

      Re: I don't get it

      Well that should be "the brand is fashionable". Apple laptops aren't particularly well made. Sure they are a far cry from the typical low end consumer stuff, but the main board (or logic board in Applespeak) just shouldn't fail.

      The operating system may be UNIX like, but at least in the versions I've tried for a longer time (10.2) it feels very old. The country code database still lists Czechoslovakia, rsync needs an extra argument to use ssh instead of rexec and so on. Additionally the GUI stuff just didn't work. When the machine ran for several weeks, it would become slower and slower to respond eventually grinding to a halt.

      That's why for many people Apple laptops are no alternative. And that's why, if you look at people who really care about computing. Apple has only a market share of about 10 percent, while something like 88% is held by "used Thinkpads with Linux".

      1. PJI
        Thumb Down

        @Christian Berger - Re: I don't get it

        Are you sure you used OS X? Did you ever open a terminal or X session, in the shell type "rsync" without options or "man rsync" and find the "-e" option? Or set the default configuration?

        I've worked on almost every flavour of UNIX and many Linuxes and BSDs over the last thirty years (Lord, is it really that long?) and I assure you, OSX is a decent BSD at shell level and truer to UNIX than many Linux variants.

        rsync is not part of the OS, it is a utility programme. Most of the OSX shell utilities are GNU (just like Linux) or BSD. If you want a newer or older version and want to play techie, just go to mac ports (cf. BSD ports) or one of the many free software sites to download binary or source.

        A big difference from some Linuxes is that OS X uses LDAP for most user system configuration.

        You know, whatever one thinks of Google and many visual software shops, there must be a good reason why they favour OS X for their engineering and development.

        Contrary to the FUD, while all hardware is liable to failure at some point, Apple hardware seems, in my personal experience and that of others I know, to be rather good and the design is well above average. Design is important as I have to look at the kit and use it, for years, in private and in public.

        Perhaps I am just lucky. I've got a 12 year old Thinkpad that still runs, having had just a couple of very minor bits of surgery, albeit like treacle and even older scanner and printer. My macbook is a mere seven years old - still runs like sh- off a shovel.

    6. jonathanb Silver badge

      Re: I don't get it

      This is channel sales. Most people get their Apple kit direct from Apple.

      1. Gerhard Mack

        Re: I don't get it

        I don't know who modded Jonathanb down but he is right. Sales from Apple stores are direct so they do not count as channel sales.

        Apple has been actively cutting back on things they sell through "the channel"

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I don't get it

        Well, this is true for Windows desktops and notebooks as well. Most large companies buy directly. Mine (about 70.000 employees) buys directly from Dell and HP - desktops, workstations, notebooks, servers.

        And end-user as well could buy directly, especially if you don't have a good store nearby.

    7. AlbertH

      Re: I don't get it

      Apple hardware is just commodity gear in pretty boxes. It's insanely over-priced. They could grab a huge market share by reducing their prices into line with Windoze machines, and all they'd lose is their massive profit on hardware. This would be more than counteracted by their hugely increased sales and the sales of software to support the platform.

      Sadly, Apple's management don't understand the "supermarket principle" and still believe that they can survive in their niche markets.

      The third player that's gaining market share rapidly is Google. There is certain to be a standalone implementation of "Chrome" soon enough - a solid Linux base with all the pretty attractions of an Apple-alike desktop. Apple will scream "foul" and discover that Google can be evil if they feel like it!

      Microsoft will continue to lose relevance and revenues with their concentration on "touch" interfaces and the disasterous mess that is Windoze 8. MS just haven't realised that their particular game is over!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I don't get it

        "Apple hardware is just commodity gear in pretty boxes. "

        They've alway been commodity gear, just not Intel.

        "It's insanely over-priced."

        That is a matter of opinion. Arguably, there is a lot of cheap tat available. That's what you get with race-to-the-bottom market share grabs. Incidentally, Apple make more from their share than everybody else. I know whose profit I'd rather have.

        "They could grab a huge market share by reducing their prices into line with Windoze machines, and all they'd lose is their massive profit on hardware. This would be more than counteracted by their hugely increased sales and the sales of software to support the platform."

        See above. It may have passed you by, but market share is meaningless. Brand loyalty (i.e. repeat purchases - see Windows) and profits matter more.

        "Sadly, Apple's management don't understand the "supermarket principle" and still believe that they can survive in their niche markets."

        They seem to be doing significantly better than pretty much everyone else in the PC game, including Microsoft. It may have passed you by, but it's 2013 not 1993.

        "The third player that's gaining market share rapidly is Google. There is certain to be a standalone implementation of "Chrome" soon enough - a solid Linux base with all the pretty attractions of an Apple-alike desktop. Apple will scream "foul" and discover that Google can be evil if they feel like it!"

        The world already knows Google is evil. They've shown that with their false cries of 'Us? we would never help the NSA'. That and their underhand and conniving attempts to get everyone of the frankly shite Google+. Contrary to what Googles enterprise marketing wonks say, convincing people to use Google apps instead of Office is an uphill battle to say the least. That and the lack of enthusiasm from enterprise software vendors means that it has limited chance of being successful outside of the growing rabid base of minions the Chocolate Factory seems to have.

        Windows 8 will eventually be a 'success' simply because most of my IT management brethren have neither the nous or skills (or intelligence frankly) to leave Microsoft.

        1. RealFred

          Re: I don't get it

          What and work on Apple in an enterprise. Thats a laugh and only a fanboy would suggest it. Apple has already proven, through their actions around maintenance and repairs that they have no clue about enterprise grade service and they are quickly cutting out their resellers, who are looking to supplement their income with Windows boxes.

          Apple wants to control the entire IT landscape.

      2. PJI

        Re: I don't get it - The supermarket principle?

        Really. You do not understand there is more than one way to go. Not all ways mean racing to the bottom.

        Apple prefer to be the Harrods, Fortnum and Mason or even, at the lower end, Marks and Spencer. These have all stayed hale and hearty for rather longer than almost any current supermarket (Sainsbury is rather venerable, but they were home counties only until recently and then not the cheapest).

        Were I a retailer, I too would shy away from the Tesco, Lidl, Aldi model and stroke my ego with decent, long term profits that seem less vulnerable to passing recessions.

        By the way, you should read and understand some of the hardware comparisons that try to compare Apple hardware with, e.g. Dell or self-build, for exactly the same parts and quality, not forgetting the complete OS, shells, programmes, drivers that come with it but ignoring the sheer amount of time and effort needed to build and maintain the self-build. Generally, the comparisons do no harm to Apple and, in the case of, for instance, the Macbook Air, reveal that it is comparable to or cheaper than its rivals.

        But the excellent thing is: you can ignore all that and buy or beg just what you want and use it how you want. Is n't that wonderful? So why be offensive or ignorant about things you do not like or understand?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I don't get it - The supermarket principle?

          "Were I a retailer, I too would shy away from the Tesco, Lidl, Aldi model"

          There is a Lidl/Aldi model. And there is a Tesco model. They are very very different.

          Lidl/Aldi are succeeding (even where they compete directly with each other). They are long established in their home territories, and their UK expansion continues, successfully. They offer a limited choice but most of what they offer is decent stuff at competitive prices, without the distractions of loyalty cards, online shopping, own-brand telecoms, home finance, etc.

          Tesco are the Microsoft of the supermarket world. They've been at the top for a while, pretty much whatever happens there's only one way for them to go. Down. Tesco have tried to expand outside the UK over a number of years, and in general have failed. They have tried to expand outside their core business in the UK, and their record has been (at best) mixed - Tesco Cars and Tesco Estate Agents both abandoned, Tesco Garden Centres still trading under the established-1865 brand they were bought from (Dobbies), and so on.

          I'm not even really sure what "the supermarket principle" means in the context of Apple.

    8. big_D Silver badge

      Re: I don't get it

      The difference is that the iPhone is 99c on a contract for the 4S / 5C and the 5S is around 100 Euros, the MacBook and iMac ranges are over a thousand Euros and no subsidies - and they are competing against Windows notebooks with 3G that are being discounted on 3G data packages.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hilarious

    Many very funny things about this data:

    1. Chromebooks dominate Macbook sales without hardly even trying.

    2. Chromebook is doing it without an OS that's even mature yet. With NO vital productive apps yet.

    3. By next year, Chromebooks will be out-selling Macbooks + iPads combined.

    4. And yet, Google won't eat it's own dogfood - all the Googlers in Mountain View are addicted to Macs.

    1. MrMur

      Re: Hilarious

      I was pretty sure that Ubuntu makes a strong showing in Google's offices.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hilarious

        From what Google said when it talked about its network management applications it looks most people work on Macs. Of course they also need other OS to test and develop upon.

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Oh yeah?

      1) Macbooks to expensive/complex for Joe Bloggs. What's funny about that?

      2) The Googlers in Mountain View are not the target market for Chromebooks. What's funny about that?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Oh yeah?

        @Destroy - "2) The Googlers in Mountain View are not the target market for Chromebooks. What's funny about that?"

        What's funny is that I have a Chromebook (which I love), but it doesn't have a mature OS or any killer apps or programs. And it probably won't have them anytime soon.

        Why?

        Because Chromebook isn't any kind of a priority to the Googlers - they use Macs (http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2011/01/31/google_open_sources_mac_deployment_engine/).

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: Oh yeah?

          Chromebooks probably aren't the first choice for software engineers at Google.

          But to say this is a fault is like saying a 747 is crap because Boeing employees don't commute in them

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Holmes

            Re: Oh yeah?

            @Yet Another - "But to say this is a fault is like saying a 747 is crap because Boeing employees don't commute in them"

            If you heard that Boeing employees refused to commute in 747's, wouldn't you at least question what kind of priority they are for the company (if not outright questioning their safety)???

            As a Chromebook owner, I know I've got a lightweight, cheap, awesome little web browsing device that will never be able to effectively edit a single office document or spreadsheet beyond the most basic, juvenile-looking level. Not because it couldn't be made to do it (it certainly could), but because Google will never care enough to bother.

            If the Googlers had to eat their own dogfood, it would be a different story.

            1. Eddy Ito

              Re: Oh yeah?

              "If you heard that Boeing employees refused to commute in 747's, wouldn't you at least question what kind of priority they are for the company (if not outright questioning their safety)???"

              No, I wouldn't. I might question their sanity if they preferred to commute in a 747 in the same way I'd question the sanity of the finish carpenter who chose to use a jack-hammer to install a mirror into a frame.

              I don't think you're giving Google enough credit for the Chromebook. It would be fairly cheap for them to make unlocking the hardware trivial but they go to great lengths to make sure it stays only as capable as they choose. I'd love to pick up one and turn it into a Mintbook but it seems you have to be careful choosing which piece of hardware you get since the newer C7s with the 1007U haven't been broken open just yet.

              Consider that if MS tried locking down hardware in the same way as Google has with the Chromebook, people would be howling at the top of their lungs. Make no mistake it's mostly a [meta?]data collection device and there's probably a pretty good chance that somewhere down the road we'll find out that some 'rogue' Google employee has 'accidentally' been collecting fairly disturbing data because they didn't remove some 'debugging' code somewhere along the line.

              Besides, if Googlers had to eat their own dogfood, what makes you think they would share it with you?

            2. Wibble

              Re: Oh yeah?

              > As a Chromebook owner, I know I've got a lightweight, cheap, awesome little web browsing device that will never be able to effectively edit a single office document or spreadsheet beyond the most basic, juvenile-looking level

              Errm, therefore you're saying that for a *work* device, the Chromebook's not particularly effective, whereas a full-fat MacBook Pro with it's full suite of development and creative tools is effective.

              How could Google eat their own dogfood when it doesn't meet their *needs*? It's like you're saying that Sony should be using PS4's for their company computing devices (or Microsoft using Xbox RT Slablets)...

              1. Tom 7

                Re: Oh yeah?

                Google dont need to eat their own dog food - crouton on your chromebook and you've got full blown linux and all that goes with it - full office, full development full everything.

                The chromebook is perfect for web browsing and a bit of e-mailing 'on the go' with chrome OS running. But with linux its completely full blown. I have absolutely no need for one of these things but I'm going to lob £130 or so on the Dell chromebook when it comes out early next year just to see what it can do and then pass it on to one of my offspring

                If it works as the netbook should have done before MS pooped on it (is this why Dell went private) I expect to have a very useable portable system that can run full blown libreoffice for those that think computing involves paper shaped shit, or allow me to hack some code on the beach or send selfies to my idiot friends.

                If only we'd been allowed netbooks...

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: Oh yeah?

                  @Tom 7 - "Google dont need to eat their own dog food - crouton on your chromebook and you've got full blown linux and all that goes with it - full office, full development full everything."

                  I've used Crouton on my Chromebook to install both Ubuntu and Debian. It's a bit more limited than what you might think - unless you have an x86 chip in your Chromebook (mine does not - it's a Samsung ARM device), then under Crouton you can only install packages that have been modified to run under ARM.

                  Therefore, I'm limited to installing LibreOffice. Which doesn't handle correct formatting on about 50% of my office documents. If I could install OpenOffice, I'd be at around 75%. Throw in SkyDrive, and I can get up near 80%.

                  That's a huge amount of work-around to get to possibly edit a fraction of the documents I receive by email. Stock Chromebook can't handle even 25% of office documents. As I say, the stock document and spreadsheet editing apps are completely juvenile, and Google ought to do better, but I get the feeling that they don't give a crap.

                  All that aside, I absolutely love my Chromebook. I just wish it could live up to its obvious potential.

                  1. Tom 7

                    Re: Oh yeah?

                    Andy - GCC et all work on ARM so most packages will just need a ./configure;make; make install sequence to work. There's not a lot of stuff with assembly in it these days! Actually some of the audio processing stuff I use does have assembler in it but its not too arduous to work round or translate as it was only there for steam powered intel.

                    I cant imagine its going to be long before full blown linux releases appear for the ARM chromebooks - they probably exist already if only I could enter the right search string.

                  2. Anonymous Coward
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Re: Oh yeah?

                    "under Crouton you can only install packages that have been modified to run under ARM."

                    What important packages still need modifying to run under ARM?

                    ARM-ready packages include those that have been (or can be) built to run on (say) raspbian - debian for Raspberry Pi.

                    Plus packages that have been (or can be) built to run on Suse 13.1 (another Linux with a Pi flavour).

                    Plus a zillion invisible but frequently useful packages that are in your smart TV, your home router, and so on (Busybox and others).

                    I'm not seeing much of a problem there. What problem are you seeing?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hilarious

      I have an answer for your #4. In the part of the world where I was born we use to say "You must do as the priest says and not as the priest does".

    4. big_D Silver badge

      Re: Hilarious

      ISTR a report last month, that all Mountain Viewers had to switch to ChromeOS, unless there was a business reason not to.

  4. Mikel

    Christmas numbers aren't in yet

    I'm predicting an Android avalanche.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Christmas numbers aren't in yet

      From the channel? Are seriously suggesting that businesses have gone on a mad Android shopping spree? Do you know what 'the channel' is? Or are you just another slobbering droidtard? Fuckin' fandroids, they are everywhere...

  5. phil dude
    Linux

    numbers need adjustment...?

    I am curious what percentage of PC's are bought simply to put another OS on them. The apple figures are probably accurate, since noone is going to put *nix on an expensive apple box. However, I have been unable to buy a PC without Windows on it for, well , ever. Not counting "workstations" of course, which are hardly included in consumer stats.

    It may be a small number (?) , but M$ has a vested interest in saying it is zero, when it most clearly is not.

    I imagine it is only $60 on the average PC cost, but it has cost create a great deal in the inertia it supports, in an otherwise fast moving technological industry.

    P.

    1. EvanPyle

      Re: numbers need adjustment...?

      It's going to be well under 1% probably less than 0.01%, channel sales are going to be dominated by corporate players and anyone running Linux probably just builds from components.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: numbers need adjustment...?

      "I am curious what percentage of PC's are bought simply to put another OS on them."

      By "another OS" and the icon you've chosen, the implication of your statement is that some Windows PC are bought with a Windows licence which is never used.

      I suggest that many more Windows PCs are bought and then imaged with a customers Windows site licence build. Certainly the company I work for sells large numbers of PC, all with a Windows licence and almost without fail, every customer re-images them. No one seems to know or care about this wasted money going into MS coffers. I'd not be surprised at all if actual Windows licenses in day to day use is only 50% of licences sold.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: numbers need adjustment...?

      Just look at the Linux market share on desktops/notebooks and you have tha answer. Just a small percentage of them.

    4. Mikel

      Re: numbers need adjustment...?

      This is pretty much how it works in the enterprise business. You just take the stupid OEM Windows license and scrape that crud off when the PC comes in. It's just not worth it trying to get out of paying for the Windows license. One day...

    5. AlbertH

      Re: numbers need adjustment...?

      We're quite fortunate here in the UK in that we have several suppliers who will sell you a machine without the Windoze infection. You also do have the right to demand the refund of the price of Windoze if you refuse to "sign" the EULA - I've got refunds from several computer manufacturers including Dell, HP, Compaq (when they existed) and many others. You just have to be persistent!

      I'm typing this on a Novatech quad-core Intel thing with 16Gb RAM, 1Gb of NVidia graphic card and 4Tb of HDD space, built to my specification, running Ubuntu. They supplied it without Windoze and I spent the money on an extra hard drive.

      1. RealFred

        Re: numbers need adjustment...?

        Compaq haven't existed for over 10 years. I call BS

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: numbers need adjustment...?

          "Compaq haven't existed for over 10 years. I call BS"

          The guy did say "when they existed" and the refund option for not agreeing to the license has existed for more than 10 years. I call BS on your BS.

  6. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

    Let me get this straight, just so we're clear.

    1) The PC is not dead. Desktops and notebooks (whether Windows, Mac or Google) still sell by the truckload.

    2) Small, simple "good enough" notebooks that look an awful lot like netbooks are doing "surprisingly" (to whom?) well.

    3) Windows is suffering in the wake of Windows 8 and Microsoft alienating virtually their entire customer base. ("If you're an edge case you don't matter" versus "everyone is an edge case at some point.)

    Well holy pants batman. Who the fnord could have predicted that?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Windows

      @Trevor - "3) Windows is suffering in the wake of Windows 8 and Microsoft alienating virtually their entire customer base. ("If you're an edge case you don't matter" versus "everyone is an edge case at some point.)"

      I am absolutely an edge case - I love the hell out of Win 8. Best version ever. Faster, more stable, more secure - what we always wanted. One simple program - Classic Shell - gives us back our beloved Start menu, and otherwise what's not to love? I put all my Windows users on Win 8 machines with Classic Shell, and as long as they don't accidentally open a Metro App, I almost never hear a peep of complaint.

      And, now that I've gotten myself a hybrid laptop/tablet Win 8 machine, I find I love the new Metro Start menu in tablet mode. Much faster to flip between programs. MS actually got that part right - they just shouldn't try to stick desktop users with it.

      1. sam bo

        I have to agree, I never see the metro start page, all metro apps were uninstalled and classic shell (free) works wonders. I only wish i could disable the hot corners as I accidently activate them from time to time. I am not a big fan of the flat graphics but it's the fashion for now , so unless a third party hack can enable aero, I will put up with it.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Sod the MS Churn

        I'm happy with Windows XP.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Sod the MS Churn

          Good luck, from next April...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Sod the MS Churn

            XP will be desupported soon - you may like it but running a desupported system is only dangerous. As running an old no longer supported distro of Linux - no matter how you may like it.

            Also it will mean probably no drivers will be released for new hardware - while new software will start to use features available only from Vista onwards, or even 7 (and there are some interesting ones, from the programmer point of view).

      3. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

        @Andy Prough

        There's nothing wrong with being an edge case. Macolytes of the early 2000s had their own religion. Desktop Linux is "a thing" in some corners. So on and so forth.

        The issue comes when Metroids desire to "convert" others, usually with by belittling and using broken logic. My favourite argument is that it is somehow the "duty" of paying customers to adapt their desires, workflow and even how their brains process information to better suit the profitability of a multinational corporation.

        I tend to believe it is the duty of the multinational corporation to sell products that people actually want to buy.

        So, enjoy your operating system, I've no issue with that. What I do take issue with is the constant drumbeat of lies saying "if you just put a startmenu back on it then there's no reason to dislike it." That's bullshit. There are a litany of complaints that go beyond the start menu and the issues - on these forums and elsewhere - arise when Metroids refuse to acknowledge that truth and proceed to prosletyse their religion.

        It really is no different than Macolytes. I never cared that they used a Mac. I wouldn't care if they decided to have a great big Mac parade down Jasper Ave to proclaim their love of their weird and wonderful brain chemistry that made Macs the Right Choice for them. If other minorities can have a parade, hey, why the hell not them?

        But I loathed the bastards who tried to convert me. To my mind a Macolyte or a Metroid that demands I accept their special, different floweryness whilst denying my right to life my life as I want are no different than the asshole religious nutters showing up at my doorstep at 7:00am asking if I've "heard of God the Mother."

        There's a reason I answer the door in the nude now.

        If I had a way to answer the internet in the nude and subject the unwanted evangelism of the Macolytes and Metroids to the same "shit you can't unsee" visual horror show I would. I loathe those people. It's the sheer arrogance of it all. It isn't enough that they like what they like, they have to convert people.

        If other users want to pressure a multinational, profit-driven corporation to provide features that they desire before spending money on that product, rest assured some asshole Metroid will pop up out of the fucking ground and proclaim that their religion demands other people be denied the choice of having features they want.

        Macolyte, Metroid...it's all just religious posturing. I hope each and every one of the evangelical pricks spend however long is necessary getting constantly barraged by a dozen different religious missionaries until they finally come to understand that other people - in this case the overwhelming fucking majority - deserve the right to choice as well.

        I don't care what religion people want to push, just don't fucking push it here.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @Andy Prough

          Yes, thats exactly how I feel about Linux zealots

          1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

            Re: @Andy Prough

            I feel that way about Linux zealots too. Anyone who pushes a given a technology or company as a religion is a douchebag. The proper and professional response is to do a needs assessment based upon the individual's circumstances, provide list of multiple different technologies that could solve the problem, with an objective and impartial list of pros and cons then allow the individual to make an informed choice.

            Linux zealots were really bad for being functionally incapable of that about a decade ago. Most of them have since matured, as - quite frankly - have the bulk of the Macolytes.

            That leaves Metroids as the primary group of technological religious zealots I encounter on a daily basis. Personally, I hope the get [redacted] and [redacted] themselves to [redacted]. Every last miserable [redacted] one of them.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @Andy Prough

              Maybe we should call the whole thing off, what with all the religious wars, the total lack of privacy and the internet filters, we could hold a good oldfashioned computer burning and solve half of the worlds problems

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @Andy Prough

              I think you need to get out more. Your left hand must be getting terribly sore by now

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @Andy Prough

          Trevor, to be honest mate, you're a bit of a know-all. You see, if people ask, and people do ask, what someone with a more than a fleeting interest in computing would recommend, then they may evangelise their choice because (here's the kicker) they actually like using their chosen system! Fucking nuts, isn't it!? Trouble is morose pricks like you don't like anyone enjoying anything. They also blather on about 'choice', but what they really mean is their choice. You hear someone recommending a platform enthusiastically, and if that platform differs even slightly from what you'd recommend you just hear them 'shilling' for the vendor. I know this to be true Trev, you've written it right here, loads of times. So please, get down from you ivory fucking tower and shut the fuck up. You're fucking boring and a fucking hypocrite.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

            Re: @Andy Prough

            There's a world of difference between saying "I like this and here's why" and trying to convert people. Let's explore:

            Situation one

            Person A: "I've just had a bad day. My girlfriend left me, I lost my job, my cat died and I stepped on my brand new Macbook."

            Person B: "When life gets me down, I turn to my faith and it helps me through the issues."

            Person A: "That's nice, but I'm not a person of faith, I need a different solution."

            Person B: "Well, if you come up with any other way I can help, let me know!"

            Situation two

            Person A: "I've just had a bad day. My girlfriend left me, I lost my job, my cat died and I stepped on my brand new Macbook."

            Person B: "When life gets me down, I turn to my faith and it helps me through the issues."

            Person A: "That's nice, but I'm not a person of faith, I need a different solution."

            Person B: "You really should consider it. Jesus saved me, and he can save you too! These sorts of issues are so much better when you believe in Jesus. Also, when there's a church full of people who also believe in Jesus, then you can all believe in Jesus together and everyone sympathizes with your issues, things are better."

            Person A: "Uh, that's nice, I really don't feel that your religion is the answer to my problems."

            Person B: "But if you don't believe in Jesus you'll go to hell!"

            Person A: "I think you should leave now."

            I hope you are capable of understanding the difference. If not, I recommend seeking professional help; the majority of our species does indeed make a distinction, and indeed we see it as a critical definition of character.

            You are right in that there are a very specific set of people I believe are shills. There is one particular Anonymous Coward (*ahem*) whom I believe to either be an outright shill for Microsoft, or who has a significant interest in seeing others adopt Microsoft en masse or very clearly has psychiatric problems requiring medication. It would seem to be the same guy every time. We all of us know the one.

            There's Matt Bryant. He's not quite a textbook shill, but he's close enough for jazz (in that, IIRC he has a noted financial interested in the products he pushes) that I have no problems labelling him as such. Mmeier and RICHTO both may quality, though in both of those cases I'm more than willing to go with "brand tribalists bordering on religious zealots" and not necessarily label them as "shills".

            That said, I'm not the one labelling people "Linux shills"; that would be the province of the aforementioned Anonymous Coward. (Also completely ignoring the underlying "how do you become a Linux shill/who would pay someone to shill Linux" argument...)

            I don't think that someone who pushes Apple is an "Apple shill." I loathe Chrome, but I still don't think you're a "Google shill" if you push Google. None of those companies have any history of employing Astroturfers, nor do their "partners". Microsoft and Samsung (amongst a few others) do.

            Similarly, the chances of someone being an "EMC shill" or a "Cisco" shill are pretty damned minimal. Enterprise-focused admin that hates the SMB? Sure. Shill? No.

            When I call someone a shill I mean it. It is an indication that I honestly believe they are writing comments because of their personal financial interest, not because they have any professional interest in helping others find the best solution for their needs. I do not use the word lightly.

            If you like something, that's great, I'm happy for you. Whether that be your personal vision of Jesus, Windows 8, and EMC filer or the special shape of UK power plugs. I don't give a bent damn.

            Where my tits get twisted is when you unrelentingly try to make others like what you like. "Hey, I like this and I think it could solve your problem" is a big fucking world away from dogged determination to convert unbelievers. That usually involves both a dogged determination to both slag off the competition as well as pushing your own "chosen one."

            What you seem incapable of understanding is that I do not have a brand/product*/protocol/service/company that I push on others religiously. What exactly do I go out of my way to say "damn it Jim, this will solve all your problems!" Where, do I say "you should trow away everything you have and try Crest(TM) Teeth Whitening Super-Hypervisor to make the baby Ballmer happy and save the world!"

            Instead, I encourage people to think critically. I encourage them to analyze each and every case separately, independently, and take factors ranging from the technical to the personal, the financial to business in mind.

            In a world of near-religious brand-tribalists and technical holy-wars I encourage rational thought and science. Indeed, I feel the use of the brand-tribalism-as-religion comparison is wholely apt primarily because brand tribalism and religious fundamentalists are the groups I have encountered in my life who go on the offensive against critical thinking.

            It is irrational to claim that I am trying to convert anyone to a given brand, product, service or company because I have advocated for and against every single brand, product, service and company I can think of, when and where circumstances seemed appropriate.

            And yes, I do bang on about choice. Deal with it.. I believe in choice at a fundamental philosophical level. Everyone has a right to believe what they want, however, I do not hold that anyone has the right to attempt to forcibly convert another. The individual's right to religion ends at the point that their expression of religious beliefs would deny another individual their own right to freedom of belief or expression.

            Again, let's try some specific examples:

            1a) You can sit in your house and worship Jesus all you want. You don't get to tell gay people that they can't get married just because they're gay.

            1b) You can sit in your house and use Windows 8 all you want. You don't get to tell people they they must change their workflow, business model or the way their brains work (which is genetic, thanks, and cannot be altered in most people) in order make themselves more conducive to a multinational corporation's chosen means of embiggening it's profit margin.

            2a) You can sit in your house clutching your bible and wishing really, really hard that all those Muslims would go away. You don't get to deny Muslims the vote just because they're Muslim.

            2b) You can sit in your house fondling Metro and wishing that really, really hard that the desktop would go away. You don't get to tell people they shouldn't be allowed to petition Microsoft to make changes in their software to better suit their needs.

            3a) It is not the duty of a citizen to alter their beliefs in order to align with the desires of their government. It is the duty of a government to represent and govern according to the desires of it's citizens.

            3b) It is not the duty of the customer to adapt themselves to the business model of the vendor. It is the duty of the vendor to sell a product that customers want to buy.

            You come into The Register's forums and attempt to play the aggrieved victim on a regular basis. Yet when I actually look at your arguments, I repeatedly find that If I replaced "Microsoft" and "Windows" with "Jesus" and "God" you start to look a hell of a lot like Westboro Baptist Church. Everything from telling people they shouldn't have a right to choice to screaming that you have a right to convert people to your religion that somehow overrides the right of people to believe what they want.

            If's all fair game for you to viciously lay into Linux, Linux users and so forth...but it's persecution for someone to call you out on your bull or - worse yet - to say Mean Things about your chosen fuzzy wuzzy. Again, all very in line with the pile of bullshit I've come to expect to be shovelled by religious fundamentalists.

            If you want to try to take me on personally, to make me the centrepiece for your demented little power games and requirement for technological faith, you go right ahead. I will defend myself vigorously and I will defend the right of others to believe what they wish. Even if that annoys you.

            I will also continue to advocate that a rational, logical, needs-based analysis be done on a case-by-case basis as the standard for professional conduct in our industry. I believe that leaving faith behind and moving towards needs-based and evidence-based IT architectures is a necessary evolution of our industry.

            If you view that as an Ivory Tower then you have a ball with that. You will be the very first - to my knowlege the only - person to have ever accused me of arguing anything from an Ivory Tower. Given that I have been called "the big voice of small business," "argumentum ad edge case", "the SMB personified" and "the ultra-populsit" I am pretty sure that your assessment of my arguments as coming from an Ivory Tower are so utterly singular that it borders on ludicrous.

            I don't give a fig if people recommend something different than what I'd recommend. There are lots of cases in which I get into arguments just to understand why a given recommendation is being made. Shocker of shockers I'll even admit to being wrong on a regular basis, and say "yep, that looks like a better choice.

            Like whatever you like. Recommend whatever you like...but if you are going to recommend something, be prepared to back your recommendation up. When you do so, don't use pesudo-religious techniques and wishy-washy arguments in your attempt to convert someone. I will challenge you, and anyone else who does so...just as I expect to be challenged in turn when I make such mistakes.

            Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go nuke a tablet because the Windows 8.1 update somehow blew up. The ISO for the clean install is done downloading and we're going to take this thing to 8.1 from scratch. Long night ahead of me...

            *Okay, Ninite. I am allowed one, and I do try to keep the noise on that to a minimum.

      4. Jess

        re: I love the hell out of Win 8

        So what you are saying is if you install some third party software, and don't use any of the new metro stuff, then it is a good system.

        But isn't that the generally accepted wisdom? (Certainly agrees with my observations).

        But, without those tweaks it is a hideous pile of kak (on a single screen machine).

        While it is possible (without 3rd party software) to remove all the hideous, jarring jumping to full scree garbage (which may have been an acceptable behavior in 1993) and be left with a system that is simple to use for anyone familiar with the dos/win 3.1interface, this is not going to be acceptable to many users.

        Installing a third party piece of software just to make the system useable is not acceptable in many situations, hence the roll out of windows 7 in many situations.

        Personally, I'd prefer a metroless Windows 8 (without the start menu) to windows 7, both for support and use, but that won't happen, so the "dated and cheesy" windows 7 is being rolled out all over the place.

        And this is all down to Microsoft's idiocy/stubbornness. It would be so simple for them to fix.

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You're not an edge case Andy. You are a textbook fanboy.

  7. W. Anderson

    The dichotomy between the anecdotal references of (the few) commenters here on TheRegister, Zdnet and other Windows focused forums who love their Windows 8 tablets and the "actual" sales statistics for Apple iPAD and Android tablets by comparison could not be more stark, and should serve as a serious investigation tool for the incoming Microsoft CEO, as opposed to this new Redmond administrator listening to the company loyal fan club that surely does not represent the "reality" of uptake in Mobile technology for year 2014.

    Heeding feedback from dyslectic focus groups and Microsoft supporters who blindly purchase anything the company offers was one of the mistakes made by Steve Ballmer.during his tenure.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @W. Anderson -

      It's too bad that nearly all the new Windows tablets/hybrids are so dammed expensive. I think if more people got their hands on one and tried one for awhile, they'd absolutely love it.

      My HP hybrid laptop/tablet is the best device I've ever owned. A fast i5 processor, great graphics, SSD drive, huge 13.3 inch widescreen "tablet", which completely detaches from the keyboard. There's really nothing I can't do with it, and in tablet mode it's a full-blown computer, plus it has some excellent tablet functions.

      Asus and Lenovo are doing a good job of bringing the price down on some of these. They have a few hybrids you can pick up for under $450.

      1. W. Anderson

        In response to "Andy Prough". Your anecdotal experience - of satisfaction with Windows mobile , proves my point exactly, in that the "reality", or truth of the mobile sales status shows that you are attempting to connect "your" love of Microsoft tablet with some "fictionalized" great sales volume for Microsoft for their tablets..

        Apparently Independent Research Reports (several) indicate most mobile tablet purchasers, for personal, schools, organizations and business "prefer" Apple or Android Tablets - by a wide margin, and therefore shows by math equations that the vast majority of tablet purchasers "do not want" Microsoft products.

        How does this simple mathematical calculation seem to go over heads of Microsofties?

    2. CCCP

      W. Anderson is a c@ck

      So you want a demeaning way to describe stupid people. Hmmm. I know, dyslexics. They can't read well so they must be stupid. As it happens, their spoken language is often good.

      But don't let that stop you. Let's have focus groups, spoken forums, of people who can't read well - stupidity squared.

      Next time your willy waving misses your scr@tum because it doesn't reach, think before you write. Tu capisci?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Chromebooks

    Having been to a bunch of stores to do Christmas shopping recently, I can't begin to count all the prefab Chromebook displays I've seen. They are being pushed heavily. I've never seen anybody actually LOOKING at them, but they're there and it doesn't surprise me that people are buying them. The silver Samsung Chromebook looks just like a MacBook Air from 5 feet away, same shape/size/weight/color at one fifth of the price. Not bad if all you're going to do is look at some web pages.

  9. saif

    Landfill included?

    I suspect that the stats do not include the majority of the unbranded tablets that appear to dominate the e-stores at least in the UK.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lots of champagne bottles opened at the NSA and GHCQ...

    ... when the news about Chromecrooks sales reached them. Why bother to reach data on users devices when the willingly share them with world+dogs?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Lots of champagne bottles opened at the NSA and GHCQ...

      How fast the Googlebot to downvote.... keep your data safe on your devices, don't sell them to Google & C. just because a device and its applications are cheap or "free". You're paying with your data, remember.

  11. Captain Obvious

    Sigh

    No one sees the obvious here? Android tablets will outsell everything as you can pick them up for around $50 USD. These are throwaway devices as they perform poorly but are given to kids to use instead of an expensive iPad, laptop, etc. All I see is more stupid junk devices going to the landfill.

    1. feanor

      Re: Sigh

      Yeah, I keep telling my neighbour that his Golf GTI performs so poorly, its a hunk of junk that he should just get crushed right now. Then he can buy something decent like my Ferrari.

      </Sarcasm>

      See the thing is, these things only have to perform well enough to fulfill their stated purpose. And they clearly do. So while you may be able to afford the latest super duper turbo iPad

      to dismiss all these other products because they don't perform like yours is frankly the abject stupidity of someone with more money than sense.

  12. Chairo
    FAIL

    A good lesson...

    ...how to destroy your market with too much greed and a bad strategy.

    Both, Microsoft and Intel had this market cornered with the netbooks. Microsoft didn't like the low margin for the netbook flavour of Win7 and Intel wanted to push ultrabooks, so they both killed the netbook market with their imposed limitations. (800x600 screen resolution, 2GB memory limit, 32bit only CPU, ...).

    Now someone else filled the gap and they lost their market share. Too bad, isn't it?

    Ironically these cheapo tablets manage to deliver acceptable performance with similar or even worse hardware, than the netbooks had.

  13. Himalayaman

    I wonder how many people will be amazed that their brand new Chromebook is basically a paperweight, albeit a rather cheap one.

  14. Martin Maloney
    Go

    Up and coming

    There's a deluge of Android tablets coming in from China. They're cheap, and they're not junk.

    Go to eBay, type in irulu, and see examples for yourself.

    Top-of-the-line is a 9.7" iPad lookalike and workalike. Dual core 1.5 GHz CPU, Android 4.2.2, 8 GB NAND, 1 GB DDR3 RAM, 10-point multi-touch capacitive screen, 6000 mAh battery. Clamshell case with keyboard. Resolution is 1/4 of the iPad -- "only" 1024 X 768, which was the default resolution of 17" (16" actual) CRT monitors. Google Playstore. One year warranty.

    Are the specs as good as those of the iPad? Nope. Are they good enough? Yep.

    And it's only $140. Add $25 for a 32 GB micro SD card, and laugh at the iPad fanbois and their empty wallets.

    You'll also find 10.1", 9" and 7" tablets, at even lower prices. Given the state of the world's economy, these tablets are gonna be big news in the channel this year.

    BTW, I have no economic connection to the manufacturers or to the vendors.

  15. John Doe 6

    So "The Year of Linux on the Desktop"...

    ...has finally arrived ?

    ...after "The year of Linux on the phone" and "The year of Linux in the TV-set" and "The year of Linux in the fridge".

    1. feanor

      Re: So "The Year of Linux on the Desktop"...

      And Linux on virtually all of the top 500 Supercomputers, Linux in Vehicle ECU's, Linux in the TiVo sets, Linux in Tablets, Linux in Smartwatches, Linux in ADSL Routers and Wireless Access Points, Linux in NASs, Linux in Satellites, Linux in Linux in etc, etc, etc

      Linux is everywhere, in all the devices we all depend on, because it is affordable, stable, reliable, customisable, optimizable, maintainable, secure, and it is all of these things because it is Open.

      However because it has not yet broken into the desktop market (where brand loyalty, blind inertia and picking the devil you know are massive factors) apparently it is rubbish and a failure.

      Go figure.

  16. W. Anderson

    To Andy Prough, CCCP and all the other delusional commenters here - all the irrational arguments and vitriol expressed won't change "facts on the ground". Windows tablets and smartphone sales are weak and continually falling behind Apple and Android brands. That is "fact". By all means continue to chose, use and love your Microsoft devices as if your life depended on it.

    However the world moves on, with recent Apple and China Mobile agreement to sell 600 MILLION tablets in Asia, the Samsung and Intel "joint venture" introduction of Tizen Linux based tablets in 2014, and the combined Huawei and ZTE (total one BILLION plus Asian, African and South American customers at present) flooding the world market with all ranges - in quality and price - of Android tablets soon, Microsoft will need all the help it can get in their loyal supporters shelling out for much less popular products. Windows PC dominance is a sad history.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Desperate for a plan B

    It seems to me that people are trying very hard not to buy a Windows 8 machine.

    Chromebook isn't ideal but it cheap & user friendly.

    Its doing well because of the lack of options.

  18. arctic_haze
    Thumb Up

    Actually Win 8 is a decent OS

    especially after you replace it with your favourite Linux distribution.

  19. RyokuMas

    Yet to see...

    ... a Chromebook in the wild.

    I did actually see a Surface being used a few weeks back - chap in the Morrisons that just opened down the road from me was doing some kind of of inventory on it.

    Probably had it foisted on him by the higher management - really can't see it being a BYOD, somehow.

  20. Livinglegend

    Not exactly

    It is only the figures for the US. The rest of the world buys differently to one single country, which makes the figures look very suspect as a way of informing people of sales. It is the equivalent to using one companies figures to say that all companies have the same financial results.

    Highly misleading, unless you are made aware of the difference. Poor reporting by El Reg for once.

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