You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Science & Technology
Little Demand for Microsoft's Windows 8
2012-10-30
[An Nahar] Microsoft
...producers of Windows, Office, and the late Microsoft Bob, contributed $852,167 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
bills Windows 8 as a "re-imagining" of the personal computer market's dominant operating system, but the company still has a lot of work to do before the makeover captures the imagination of most consumers, based on the results of a recent poll by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named and GfK.

The phone survey of nearly 1,200 adults in the U.S. found 52 percent hadn't even heard of Windows 8 leading up to Friday's release of the redesigned software.

Among the people who knew something about the new operating system, 61 percent had little or no interest in buying a new laptop or desktop computer running on Windows 8, according to the poll. And only about a third of the people who've heard about the new system believe it will be an improvement (35 percent).

Chris Dionne of Waterbury, Connecticut, falls into that camp. The 43-year-old engineer had already seen Windows 8 and it didn't persuade him to abandon or upgrade his Hewlett-Packard laptop running on Windows 7, the previous version of the operating system released in 2009.

"I am not real thrilled they are changing things around," Dionne said. "Windows 7 does everything I want it to. Where is the return on my investment to learn a new OS?"

Microsoft usually releases a new version of Windows every two or three years, but it's different this time around. Windows 8 is the most radical redesign of the operating system since 1995 and some analysts consider the software to be Microsoft's most important product since co-founder Bill Gates won the contract to build an operating system for IBM
...contributed $532,372 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
 Corp.'s first personal computer in 1981. Microsoft is hoping the way Windows 8 looks and operates will appeal to the growing number of people embracing the convenience of smartphones and tablets.

The consumer ambivalence, however, was even more pronounced when it came to Microsoft's new tablet computer, Surface, which was built to show off Windows 8's versatility. Sixty-nine percent of the poll's respondents expressed little or no interest in buying a Surface, which Microsoft is hoping will siphon sales from Apple Inc.'s pioneering iPad and other popular tablets such as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire and Google
...contributed $814,540 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
Inc.'s Nexus 7.
Posted by:Fred

#17  Barbara: I was hoping to spend less than $ 200.00 and have something relatively durable that my mom can use to browse the web.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2012-10-30 23:41  

#16  I have a regular Kindle - it's a good ebook reader. The Fire (which I do not have, but have seen) can act like a tablet with Wi-Fi
Posted by: Frank G   2012-10-30 21:03  

#15  What does a Kindle (Fire or otherwise) do besides download books from Amazon, Thing?

Sound like you can use it as a computer - is that true?
Posted by: Barbara   2012-10-30 19:09  

#14  I understand Stardock has some suitable start-menu substitutes, but I haven't researched it further.

If I had to buy a computer tomorrow (and believe it or not, I do, because both of my parents' computers broke this week) I'd probably scrounge until I found a refurbished one with Windows 7. Although getting Kindle Fires until Things Are Better is looking both cheaper and better at the moment.

On my personal machine I'm currently running xfce on linux, it gets out of the damn way.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2012-10-30 16:38  

#13  We are migrating 20K computers to Win7 after 2014.
Windows 8 is not spoken of except for current toyage and a general deployment no sooner than 2020.
Posted by: Shipman   2012-10-30 16:17  

#12  Most non-Metro applications seem to work ok under the 'Desktop' - they just don't benefit from the newfangled metro interface.
I've heard you can configure it with the Desktop as the 'standard' - lifehacker.com has some articles on it (but their servers are down right now due to Sandy).
Posted by: CrazyFool   2012-10-30 16:01  

#11  I thought Metro was dropped from windows 8 release...

In any case I also heard Metro didn't like to play nice with other non-metro apps.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2012-10-30 15:10  

#10  Win 8 is designed to support both tablets and desktops. Can't speak about tablets, but the user interface on the desktop is horrible. Very inconsistent, counter-intuitive, and slow.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili   2012-10-30 14:42  

#9  I'm not switching to Windows 8 until some concerns are addressed. Among them the security increase that seems to keep track of users just like outside threats.
Posted by: Charles   2012-10-30 14:02  

#8  So I should buy a new computer now, to avoid getting stuck with Windoze 8?
Posted by: Bobby   2012-10-30 13:08  

#7  I've been using "8" for a month or so now (MSDN Subscription). There really doesn't seem to be much change from 7 except for the new user interface with Metro. I say new because the old 'desktop' is still there, and you can write and run apps on it (Microsoft isn't that stupid) and you can run with the desktop and even (I've heard) restore the old start menu (unlike, for example, some other OSes which insist that everyone use their new tablet-like interface with HUGE icons, sliding and flicking.)
Metro is the 'tablet-like' user interface and can be handy - if you have a multi-touch screen or a tablet where you can slide and flick things around.
If you have a tablet or a slate you might be tempted to get windows 8. Or if you want to get one of the new web-applications which are designed to work with metro - much like a facebook 'app' works with android.
One of the problems I see for Microsoft is that Windows 7 works well. When 7 came out it was well tested, had very good reviews, and well working - people jumped to switch from Vista or the 'old' XP. Also most people don't need what 8 offers - windows 7 works just fine.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2012-10-30 11:13  

#6  I got a Surface RT and I actually really like it. Much more immersive than iPad which I also own. It's enjoyable whipping those big tiles around.

Who knows, in a few years it may be considered a rare collectible.
Posted by: Glinesh Craling7938   2012-10-30 10:55  

#5  Hey, Microsoft - I'll buy Win 8 when you make Win 7 drivers that work with HP printers (including the 'universal driver) that don't hang in the middle of a print run. Deal?
Posted by: Raj   2012-10-30 10:40  

#4  New Coke.

As Zhang Fi says, it'll be a new computer upgrade. However, most computers outside of gaming rigs and number crunchers are already adequate for day to day operations. Given how the economy is running, I suspect most business customers with volume purchases are going to hold off as long as possible before thinking of any new upgrades in hardware or software.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-10-30 10:38  

#3  This is a pretty vacuous article. Most people with existing computers won't upgrade their OS's. However, people who want to run the latest software will buy a new computer because of more stringent HW requirements, and that new computer will come with Windows 8.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2012-10-30 09:34  

#2  I know "8" was only recently released but has anyone had any experience with System 8 at this time that would indicate a change from "7"?
Posted by: JohnQC   2012-10-30 09:17  

#1  What, exactly, does the average or even above average person need from an OS? The ones that exist now are capable of so much. Other than the fact that as other software, particularly browsers, became slower due to their size and complexity, I could use my version of Windows until they plant me and be very satisfied.

I'm guessing that way over 95% of people will never, ever use the bulk of the features that exist in the operating systems we already have. The only changes that would be in demand are ones that make an OS speedier.
Posted by: no mo uro   2012-10-30 05:37  

00:00