Microsoft Scraps Windows 8 Major Updates. Bets The Farm On Windows 9

Forbes ^ | 08/08/2014 | Gordon Kelly

[SeekAndFind]

It’s official, Windows 8 is a write-off . Sales for the operating system have been poor and now it is even starting to lose market share to Windows 7. To Microsoft MSFT -0.12%’s credit it has bravely persisted addressing issue after issue. Most notable was the major Windows 8.1 Update 1 patch released in April which makes the OS a genuinely credible platform. Still it remains far from perfect and now Microsoft is prematurely pulling the plug.

In a blog post by Microsoft Senior Marketing Communications Manager Brandon LeBlanc, he explains that there will be no more major update releases for Windows 8: “despite rumours and speculation, we are not planning to deliver a Windows 8.1 ‘Update 2’.”

LeBlanc reassured Windows 8 users that they “can expect that we’ll use our already existing monthly update process to deliver more frequent improvements along with the security updates”, but in my opinion this doesn’t wash. A roadmap with no major updates on the horizon is the deathknell for any operating system. Android, iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone along with previous Windows versions all deliver regular improvements, but they still make a point of issuing major updates to introduce the biggest changes and generate interest.

Instead what is now clear is for Microsoft the next big ‘update’ will be Windows 9 and in taking the decision to sideline an OS that won’t even be two years old until the end of October the company runs a huge risk of undermining the confidence of users who expect Windows versions to last 12 years like Windows XP.

[aft_lizard]

Well I like 8, but I suppose if you dont take time with it it can be I guess a pain. I hope they offer me a discount for the upgrade like they did for Vista users.

[rbg81]

The only good thing about 8 is the fast boot. Otherwise, I much prefer 7.

[GeronL]

Will they issue a recall?

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Every single credible voice in the IT world told Microsoft that Windows 8 was a very, very poorly thought out and implemented design. Every single credible voice in the IT world said that people would prefer to stick with Windows 7 rather than migrate to a new OS that required relearning everything that Windows did.

Microsoft ignored them all. The only word for that is hubris.

[tet68]

I wish I had my old Vista, would perhaps switch to 9
if they made it cheap enough.

#Win8isdrek

[Bobalu]

I’m going to use Win7 for as long as possible.

I boot Linux, Win7 and XP depending on what I’m trying to do.

[Resolute Conservative]

Because MS as every other large tech firm has been inundated with foreign workers and millenials who don’t no crap about making good, robust software but are all about diversity and social media over science. Oooh, look at our phone app it plays music and tells you where the nearest Starbucks is in 5 languages...

[discostu]

I’ve learned to tolerate 8. But it just isn’t good. Tablet-centric design causes some serious stupid, like the always full screen calculator and the jacked up internet first Media Center replacement. Part of the problem is that I’m 7 at home and 8 at work and time and again things that are easy at home have no real direct path at work. If I never worked with 7 again I’d get used to 8 faster, but the constant supply of things easier on the earlier OS adds aggravation.

[DTA]

Uncontrolled greed and sheer stupidity are formidable for of destruction.

I guess it has much to do with the generation change. Incompetent Gen. X ("Aborted generation") managers and idiotic Generation Me staff ("Wow, that's kewl")will ruin everything they touch. Out of greed and out of stupidity.

Microsoft is only small-scale model what will happen to America. Millenials are the last line of defense. The question is - until Millenials reach the seats of power, will there be anyting to defend?

[Ghost of SVR4]

I run linux on bare metal and run Win7 in a VM on top of linux for work. It’s kind of cute using kRDP (separate desktop) in linux to access the win7 vm.
I think MS bet the farm on Win8 and tablets only business didn’t adopt tablets like they thought they would and now they are reeling from that decision.
Windows 9? They should introduce multiple desktops, native vm technology (akin to WINE) in the kernel to support apps going back to XP and give the beta(s) away for free to anyone that wishes to download it with a literal feedback app built in (and crashdump capture app - with the users approval, of course, that sends results back).
MS got too bulky (kinda like google is getting now), but I don’t think they are out of the game by a long shot. They can still recover and have prominence.
Meanwhile, I’ll run my commie operating system, linux. ;)

[redangus]

You have an awful lot of faith in the millennials. From what I’ve seen they are nothing worth waiting for. Selfish, everybody gets a trophy mentality, I can’t wait.

[Moonman62]

Windows 8 is good once it’s tweaked a little bit. People forget that XP inspired websites like Windows Annoyances and also required tweaks.

[ßuddaßudd]

FUMS
I had to go to 3 stores last week just to find a copy Win 7 Pro 32bit here in the valley ,,,, the big box stores were pushing the 8 . .

[TXLady]

I bought a new lap top with Windows 8 on it last fall. I hated it so much I wouldn’t use it. I spent 105.00 on Windows 7, had my son, a computer engineer, change it out for me. Best 100.00 I have ever spent!!

[lefty-lie-spy]

OS X was my answer more than 10 years ago. I’ve only had to reboot when I shit down to go on vacation. Everything else I need is from Parallels and sourceforge.

[Tanniker Smith]

All I know is that I had to hold onto my old bug-ridden computer to get certain things done. My Windows 8 machine won't read my external hard drive and I bought a recommended microphone to try my hand at voice-over stuff, and it doesn't acknowledge that I plugged it in. It only takes audio from the built-in camera. Oh, yeah, I have a Microsoft Life-Cam, which doesn't seem to work, either. If I want to record notes for a video for my students, having a camera that I can move without lifting the entire machine would be preferable.

I haven't bothered with the free upgrades. Figured that they'd just suck more.

[aft_lizard]

Full screen calc? Not mine, you must bebusing the app on the start page. If you type calculator you can open the old school one.

[aft_lizard]

From what I have heard you may just be getting that. Although the Ultimate editions have been able to emulate xp natively for years.

[Alex Murphy]

In a blog post by Microsoft Senior Marketing Communications Manager Brandon LeBlanc, he explains that there will be no more major update releases for Windows 8: “despite rumours and speculation, we are not planning to deliver a Windows 8.1 ‘Update 2’.” LeBlanc reassured Windows 8 users that they “can expect that we’ll use our already existing monthly update process to deliver more frequent improvements along with the security updates”, but in my opinion this doesn’t wash. A roadmap with no major updates on the horizon is the deathknell for any operating system. Android, iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone along with previous Windows versions all deliver regular improvements, but they still make a point of issuing major updates to introduce the biggest changes and generate interest. Instead what is now clear is for Microsoft the next big ‘update’ will be Windows 9....

PFL