Windows 8.1: Five Hopeful Signs

Information Week ^ | 05/19/2013 | Michael Endler

[SeekAndFind]

Missed Hopeful sign Number 3:

3. More Touchscreens, Form Factors, Sizes

Windows 8 struggled partially due to a lack of elegance in the new interface. But a lot of that bad buzz came from people who ran the OS without a touchscreen. Some of these Win8 installations involved new licenses installed on old machines, which gain little value, if any, from the new UI. But OEMs exacerbated this problem when, heading into last winter, they managed to release only a handful of touch-enabled options.

By the time this year’s back-to-school and holiday seasons roll around, store shelves should not only feature a great abundance of touch-oriented Windows 8 devices but also a greater diversity of form factors. This variety will include some novel ideas, such as 30-inch hybrid tablets that can be docked like a desktop but also laid flat to create a table display. But the entrance of mini-tablets is probably the most notable development.

As mentioned above, these devices — thanks to not only their ability to offer legitimate productivity tools in a consumer-friendly tablet but also their low prices — could be enormously popular. Microsoft might even debut a 7-inch Surface model as soon as this summer.

[VanDeKoik]

They sold 100 million copies (insert stupid remark about how all of them are unused), obviously consumers have “rejected” it. /s

But don’t let that get in the way of the average tech “journalist” still trying to push the group-think.

[raybbr]

Thanks for this. I am not a WinFan but I appreciate your posts regarding Windows.

I almost don't come to them because of the childish comments from both sides. (Mac vs. Windows)

I am not saying Windows is great or better than Mac but Windows does what it does okay.

I've tried Ubuntu on an old box and it worked great. But, I bought an HP box just before Christmas and it has W8 and I kind of like it. The box was cheap - under $300 and has a quad core AMD, 8 Gb of memory and a Tb hard drive. Hard to beat that...

[dinodino]

Sorry, but as a software developer, you will have a hard time convincing me that it’s not rubbish. I have all Mac/iOS hardware personally, and am a Linux/Mac/iOS developer professionally. Windows flat sucks.

[omega4179]

Research firm Forrester says IT isn’t interested in Windows 8,
That is bull.
Windows 7 is already old in its life cycle and Windows 8 with HTML5 is a future platform as well as present. My firm has no choice but to go with 8 then adapt to IE11 when 8.1 comes out. Not just that we have no choice but the win8 Kernel runs MUCH better on all our platforms than XP.

[Baynative]

My wife bought a new laptop that had the WIndows 8 garbage pile loaded into it. We've had three different IT service techs work on it and it is still garbage.

Cant get emial
won't stay on page
times itself out
brings frustration to every small function

We have just learned of a company that specializes in scrubbing Windows 8 so that computers can function normally and interface with all the other existing systems of the world. We will be going back to XP on this machine asap.

[JCBreckenridge]

probably off of his Droid.

[JCBreckenridge]

Why not 7? 7 is better than XP.

[Gay State Conservative]

I'm very happy with 7 on both my laptop and desktop.I foresee being happy with it for many years to come.I even have an old clunker desktop running XP Professional that still runs OK.

[NormsRevenge]

Wifey is open to a new laptop.. I reckun Blue may be on the horizon.. oh well,, as long as they stay off my tablet, OK. Ya see the price of putters these days. Wow

[NormsRevenge]

I was in Unix long before windows grabbed the lead.. haven’t dabbled in Linux,,yet. Nice to have options.

[NormsRevenge]

I got me a win95 osr2 Sony, beautiful tube, no USB , for sale .. cheap, also a Mac pluck, 10 mb drive, system OS 6.0! has some neat old games..

Other than that, the cycle is most stuff is obsolete in 2 years or less, recycle:-)

[VanDeKoik]

“Sorry, but as a software developer, you will have a hard time convincing me that it’s not rubbish. I have all Mac/iOS hardware personally, and am a Linux/Mac/iOS developer professionally. Windows flat sucks.”

I guess the simple answer is: So? You dont use it out of choice.

I dont use Macs or Linux because I think they flat suck as well*. Since I value my opinion because I’m obviously more “important”, that must mean they do?

I use 8, really enjoy it. Too bad a segment of the internet is too stuck on another platform to actually understand that.

*dont really.

[NormsRevenge]

Uhh

Pluck = plus

Dang kebd bounce

[Secret Agent Man]

Windows Blue (Screen Of Death)

[JCBreckenridge]

6 months in, so far zero BSODs on win7. Vista I went a good 2 years without a BSOD.

[cardinal4]

A good way to avoid the windows nightmare is get a Mac..:)

[The Cajun]

Bookmark.

[Terry L Smith]

All the folks that run WIN7, and have all their icons for everything on the Desktop, will never use WIN8, because of it’s McDonald’s French Fry Order look.

They have read the reports, or heard it from thier kids, that WIN8 disabled all those icons, or put them ‘in some damn tray I have to go find’.

As I see it, WIN7 is what XP could have been, and WIN8 is all the stuff they had to take off Vista, for that platform to do ‘something or other’.