The Windows 8 Sales Data Is In, And It's Horrible News For Microsoft

Business Insider ^ | 11/30/2012 | Nicholas Carlson

[angry elephant]

I use an Apple Extreme router. It is pricey but it runs on the N standard and will back it down to G standard for older equipment.

I run three Win 7s, one XP, one Applebook, one iPad 2, one Samsung Tab 2 and a Blackberry phone on that network.

I used to use a DLink router to run all this stuff, but would lose the internet periodically. I also have four Apple express mini routers to extend the network to my exterior home office as well as running my stereo systems remotely.

My current work software does not run on Apple but maybe in the future. I have the little Macbook on a dual boot with the Mountain Lion iOS on one half and Win 7 on the other half. So I have to run my main software on the Win 7 half of the machine.

I was a long-time M$ user, but in last couple years have added in some Apple products. But Microsoft is for work, and Apple is mostly for entertainment.

[discostu]

I haven’t heard of any serious compatibility issues. Lots of guys where I work have updated their desktops and nobody has complained. I think anything that works on 7 will work on 8. Really it’s almost the same OS, in the developer edition when you use the hot key to get rid of the tablet interface you wind up with a desktop that’s 7 without a start button.

[Jonty30]

Retail corporations are not going touch screen, due to the low skilled workers. They are going touch screen, because they screen an make whatever changes they need to from head office. They don’t need somebody in each store or area to make those changes.

[tacticalogic]

Not always. A fair number of Mac users prefer the MacOS even though 99% of their work is in the same Adobe Suite that is available for Windows.

You can always find exceptions (I'm sure I can find developers that buy operating systems purely for porting and testing their apps on that OS, and security companies that buy copies purely for pentesting.)

Also, if you consider Windows 3.1 to be an operating system, it sold quite well even though the only major apps available for it early on were Word, Excel and PageMaker. Most folks were mainly playing solitaire on it, as they were still locked into 1-2-3, WordPerfect or Multimate, and didn't use PageMakwer.

I never really considered that an OS. It was a GUI layer on top of DOS.

[9YearLurker]

Vista was slow and floaty and did stuff for you, after a spell, that you didn’t want done. It’s been too many years for me to remember the specifics, but Windows 7 immediately fixed all of it.

[9YearLurker]

I’ve got a big, complex application on my laptop now, the Finale music composition program that I’d imagine you’d have to go back to 7 on your 8, if you will, to make run. But who wants to deal with that?

If you’re just using email, a browser and Microsoft Office, I’d guess you could just be current with 8.

[Dr. Sivana]

. Someone who bought a PC circa 1990 had to be much more of an expert on how to configure them than someone today.

Yes! I haven't had to use debug from the DOS prompt to low-level format an MFM hard drive in a LONG time. I also haven't had to tweak config.sys and autoexec.bat to use memory efficiently or correct memmaker's mistakes.

Go back a little farther, and the serial cables had to be custom made from one make to another.

And DON'T get me started on configuring MicroChannel Architecture cards for the ISM PS/2 series!

[Windflier]

If you’re gonna use Windows 8 RT with a phone or laptop using phone service you had better get the unlimited data package or you’re gonna be paying gazillions.

I've got no plans to do that. I don't compute on hand held devices. Not yet, anyway.

[discostu]

Their website says they’re fully compatible with 8.

[Dr. Sivana]

Agreed, but SSDs are still very expensive. Hard to justify versus waiting a minute for a boot.

I paid $180 for 240GB. Besides the improved speeds for boot ups, it makes sorts and field changes on massive relational databases MUCH faster. Don't play with those? How about increased reliability, no moving parts, less power consumption and fewer over heating issues?

And it's only going to get better.

[RetiredArmy]

I just had to buy a new lap top and it only came in this Windows 8. I do not like it at all. I wish I still had the 7.

[9YearLurker]

Ha—you’ve investigated further than I have.

But grrrr—I still don’t like 8!

[Dr. Sivana]

You can always find exceptions

Graphic arts and typesetting is a pretty significant exception. It kept Apple afloat during the lean years.

never really considered that an OS. It was a GUI layer on top of DOS.

Agreed, which is why I put in the disclaimer. MS certainly tried to sell it as an OS, even describing it as such from Windows 2.1 on the 1.2 MB floppies. Depends on how you define an OS, I guess.

[discostu]

I don’t like the tablet look. But I do like the idea, it’s a good utilization of the 95-5 rule (95% of users use 5% of the features). Most of us spend the vast majority of our computing time using just a couple of apps, which ones they are is different for each of us of course, but really we don’t use much. If you’ve used your quicklaunch in 7 well that’s probably the vast majority of the programs you launch. And really all the tablet thing in 8 does is expand that quicklaunch to the entire screen, and some apps actually do stuff on that screen without being “launched” (e-mail apps is the big one, they check the server, and flag you when you receive stuff). Which is pretty cool. Also they expanded the already pretty awesome Windows 7 search, it’s now got 3 hotkeys, one that’s the old search everything, one that’s just search apps, and one that’s just search files. That app search is pretty much everything you need for those occasions when you want to use something other than your primary half dozen.

If it weren’t so damn ugly I’d be impressed.

[9YearLurker]

Interesting—though I like not hearing from my email application when I have it closed.

[discostu]

From what I’ve seen all it does is add a waiting message count to the tile. Of course you could always not put it on a tile, or put the tile on the second page.

[oh8eleven]

I suggest Classic Shell if you want the Start button back, and also other older Windows features.
It's free.

[battousai]

Hmm a user named ‘unixfox’ tells me Win 8 sucks...that’s sort of like the main stream media telling Republicans what they are doing wrong... ;)

No Win 8 doesn’t suck, it is quite a bit faster than Win 7 on the same machine and with a touch screen it is just fine.

[Teacher317]

Windows 8 sucks. PERIOD

Which is said about every new OS

[American in Israel]

I never had problems updating software from the head office. But then, perhaps that is because I was not using a touch screen to do it... -grin-

Seriously, remote updates and control is easy, try hamachi for instance. Of course, you do have a point in that you do not have to retrain the operators. You take away and icon and you put back an icon.

burger, no burger, easy!