Windows 8 usage can't even keep up with Vista/s poor numbers. (Data from Net Applications)
Posted on 03/05/2013 8:24:48 AM PST by ShadowAce
Windows fans will whine, but Net Applications' desktop operating systems numbers don't lie. Windows 8's pathetic user adoption numbers can't even keep up with Vista's lousy numbers.
Windows 8 usage can't even keep up with Vista/s poor numbers. (Data from Net Applications)
The numbers speak for themselves. Vista, universally acknowledged as a failure, actually had significantly better adoption numbers than Windows 8. At similar points in their roll-outs, Vista had a desktop market share of 4.52% compared to Windows 8's share of 2.67%. Underlining just how poorly Windows 8's adoption has gone, Vista didn't even have the advantage of holiday season sales to boost its numbers. Tablets--and not Surface RT tablets--were what people bought last December, not Windows 8 PCs.
Windows 8, and its relatives Windows Phone 8 and RT, make no impression at all in the smartphone and tablet markets. (Credit: Net Applications)
Windows 8's failure is actually greater than it appears. The tablet and phone markets in 2007 were next to non-existent. Now, in a market where NPD expects tablets to out sell notebooks by year's end, neither Windows 8 nor its cousins Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 even appear on NetApplication's mobile and tablet reports for February 2013. How bad is that? Android 1.6, with is tiny 0.02% of the market, does make the list.
I predicted that Windows 8 would be dead on arrival last year, but it's flopping even more than I thought it would be. So, why has Windows 8 been such a failure? Here's my list:
I said it before, I'll say it again: Metro, or whatever you want to call it, may make an OK tablet interface, but it's ugly and useless on the desktop. It requires users to forget everything they ever learned about Windows and learn an entirely new way of doing things for no real reason. To quote a popularly held opinion, Metro is "awful."
True, you can use a more traditional Windows interface, but you know what would have been a lot better? If Microsoft had just kept the Windows 7 Aero interface for the desktop version of Windows 8 and give up this idea that the Metro touch-friendly interface is for every device.
Can you tell me one new thing that Windows 8 brought to the desktop that was truly innovative? Exciting? Engaging? I can't. Windows 8 is faster than Windows 7, but that's about it -- and that dual interface mess makes it slower for practical purposes.
I said all along programmers wouldn't like throwing out their hard-won .NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) expertise to work natively on Windows 8. I was right. Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of video game company Valve, said it best: "Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space." He then started moving his Steam game empire to Linux.
We saw this happen before with Vista and XP. Then, as now, the new operating system -- Vista -- was not better than the old operating system -- XP -- so very few people moved to it. We're seeing it again now.
In addition, in an economy that's still not moving forward quickly, who really wants to move from tried-and-true Windows 7 to new, expensive Windows 8 PCs? As Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu observed, the $500 to $1200 price tags slapped on Windows 8 hardware makes it "uncompetitive" in a world where people want iPads and Android tablets.
If you are going to buy a new computing device in 2013, chances are it's going to be an Apple iPad, an inexpensive Android tablet, or a Chromebook. The PC desktop isn't dead, but it's not very profitable either -- and Windows 8 isn't helping PC sales.
Microsoft has to know this. If Microsoft does indeed start selling, or rather renting, Microsoft Office for iPad, you'll know they've seen the light. Microsoft's future then will not lie in operating system and application sales, but in services.
And Windows 8? Like Vista before it, Microsoft will re-release an older version of Windows, Windows 7 this time instead of XP, and start talking about wonderful Windows Blue, the next version of Windows, will be.
Are you unhappy with Win7? No reason to update to 8.
Apple makes me sad†; ever since they (a) got rid of the underlying Pascal API, (b) went to the x86, and (c) became just another *nix the attitude in programmers [towards system programming] seems to have become much more of a “if it isn’t C, you can’t do systems programming [well] with it” and “if it’s not *nix [or POSIX] then it’s not a good OS.”
† Apple fans rub me wrong though; I don't care about what your stupid phone can do: all I want from mine is to make phone calls and store contact info/numbers. That said, Apple did get some things right, such as treating files as objects (with a [usually single] program association) rather than the bag-o-bytes philosophy from the Unix world.
Just like you, and me, and everyone else who can rub two brain cells together.
I especially don’t like the fact that when you open something in Metro there is no option to close the window. You have to return to your tile screen point to the left corner of the screen with your mouse, open a mini window, right click then choose close. What happened to the “X” button?
Learn ALT-F4. It is your friend. It will allow you to close any application. I did a little looking, and it appears to still apply in Windows 8.
Metro apps are not designed to be closed like a desktop application. They go into suspension just like they do on the iPhone when you switch from them so they are not eating up memory.
You CAN close them, but it isnt necessary.
“About Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge PC operating system. SJVN covers networking, Linux, open source, and operating systems.
Got Bias? “
They are the only people you can pay to write garbage like this with a bag of peanuts.
I await his breathless article on the adoption rate of Ubuntu, which I hear has failed.
I’ve still got a bad cold, my woman has left, my dog’s died, and my car needs new tires. As they say in this neighbourhood, I could care less!
They only had a few laptops as they were waiting for the new ones to get there that had Vista on them.
The one I got had XP on it, and it was discounted quite well as it was a Cosco demo ‘puter.
Lucked out, I did NOT want to be a guinea pig “testing” their new wonderful product.
A year ago or so I had to replace my laptop, and got a real good Samsung with Windows7 on it.
Using it now. I've managed to slip through the cracks pretty well.
I have IE8 on this laptop, and IE7 on my PC.
Now that I have gotten used to 8, I'm thinking of upgrading my PC to it also.
Any negative things I should think about before doing that?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Following that, Win8 sux so people will wait for Win9.
I've been wondering if Win7 was the last 'leapfrog' point and people will just stop migrating to the latest Windows OS. Win9 will tell the tale.
That’s my take on it. Who, except for tech nerds and power users, needs a new OS every couple years? I just got a new computer for my birthday in January, built by my son. He installed Win 7, and I like it just fine. Until then, I had been using a computer I bought in July of 2001 with XP on it. Played a private party this weekend and had to use the hosts computer to print off the set list I’d forgotten. She had Win8, and was obviously not thrilled with it. Confused the crap out of me, and all I wanted to do was print a simple list from my email.
Will do, thanks!
This is true for Microsoft, Apple AND Google.
Don't forget Yahoo and that Obama bundler new CEO. She claims her priorities are Faith, Family and Job in that order. We know what God she worships.
Apple is your enemy.
They will use your money against you.
Count on it.
Microsoft and Google are no better.
Buy a generic x86 laptop that meets your performance requirements and install Linux on it. Most former windows users like Ubuntu. Very nice user interface, and if you don’t like it, there are many desktops to choose from. You’re not just stuck with one.
“I’m about ready to invest in a new computer and my friends who have them tell me to get an IMAC......they’ve pretty much got me convinced”
Well you are right to use the word INVEST when it comes to IMAC’s. You can buy plenty of shares with good Company’s for the price of an IMAC.
I guess I don’t like things open in suspension, especially email. I just wish there was an option to close. I’ll try the ALT F4 method, however I am more comfortable with the classic desktop view. I’m not totally poo-poo’ing windows 8, I just think Metro sometimes gets in the way, so to speak. I understand why Microsoft wanted it. It makes sense that a phone, desktop, and Xbox look and function the same way. I just don’t feel it is nessasary for me to use it on a stand alone desktop.
Five reasons why Windows 8 has failed
Because, from the end user's POV, it breaks everything they've become used to for the past 18 years (since Win95).
2 hints, for anyone stuck with Win8 on a new PC or Laptop:
1.)Classic Shell is free, and will give you your start menu back.
2.) "Downgrading" from Windows 8 to 7: What you need to know
Obligatory Linux plug here.
Agreed, and how. I'm working on the first W8 machine I've spent any time on, developing and testing a custom app. Can't even figure out how to run friggin Wordpad without 10 minutes of screwing around. Search doesn't find files I later find out actually did exist. Stupid [P]OS won't let me write files to C:\ without setting admin permissions. Won't let me disable Metro[sexual] interface to get back the one that works. (Would use one of the shareware/freeware Start menu replacements but it's not my machine so I don't want to customize it too much) Stupid, stupid, stupid.
bump
Who wants to make PC’s as non-functional as a cellphone?
Even without the commercials, if those assholes like it, it HAS to be pathetic.
No it doesn't. Well, I guess it makes sense to have a unified UI available for users who want it, but there's almost never a reason to FORCE users to go along with your vision. If it's better, they'll adopt it anyway. If it sucks, you have no right to try to mandate it. And they can't mandate it anyway, because people can just tell them to go screw themselves and save a hundred or two in the process.
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