Posted on 04/28/2012 7:46:30 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
Microsoft revealed late last week that usage of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview has doubled that of Windows 7 during the same pre-release timeframe for that version. “Millions” of people are already using Windows 8 every day, the company claimed.
Because this is literally all the information that Microsoft communicated about this incredible milestone, let’s read between the lines a bit. I have two thoughts about this issue, one of which has been bothering me for some time.
First, this announcement is an attempt by Microsoft to remind people of how popular Windows really is. While the mainstream media is busy trying to bury Windows by constantly reporting on the “surge” of sales of iPads and other tablets (and rewrite history in the process), the truth is a lot less dramatic. In fact, as I pointed out last week in Good News and Bad News for the Future of Computing, even in a worst-case scenario in which tablet sales really do surge and actual PC sales fall by 35 percent, Windows still dominates the iPad and Android-based tablets as far into the future as 2016, the last year for which any estimates are available.
Second, and more alarming, the delivery of this little news tidbit represents just another step in an ongoing trend at Microsoft in which the responsibility for delivering a statement to the press and thus the outside world isn’t attributed to any executive or other person who works for or represents Microsoft in any official capacity. That is, Microsoft didn’t announce this information via a press release or have an actual human being working at the company utter the words that triggered this story.
No, Microsoft delivered this news via Twitter.
(Excerpt) Read more at windowsitpro.com ...
See Number Four.
Of course the hardware and software people are “in cahoots” ;the endless race for faster computers and more memory,etc. etc. etc. no doubt meets the lusts of gamers ,video porn, and scientific cimulations but for the vast majority of users ,we won’t come close to needing or using those capabilities any more than most people need a Ferrari for the daily commute.
I note that big business is slow to jump on the newest OS;I think Win95 was out for 2 years before being adopted at P&G, and my current workplace is XP.In many businesses the software absolutely MUST work correctly because a “glitch” could actually cause major economic loss or even loss of life (chemical flow controls,etc.)
I liked Kubuntu (that’s what I actually used) very much. I have no knowledge of linux, but for every problem— until the package manager problem— I was able to go to forums and find a solution. Some day, I’ll go back to linux (maybe not Kubuntu). I just don’t think I’ll pay for another Windows OS after this one. And I’m sure not going to pay for a Mac.
[Before I hear from Mac fans, I’ve used Macs at work for nearly 18 years— desktops and laptops. I find Macs limiting and way too expensive for my simple needs.]
George, you missed Windows 2000. It was the Anti-ME. ME took everything bad in 98se and NT and made a really, really sucky OS. Win2k got the best parts of both, and was my personal favorite Windows OS. I ran it as my primary until 2004, when XP became so ubiquitous that I had to use it to keep up with my user base.
Thanks for the suggestions. My home version doesn’t seem to have the flexibility on the task bar that my wife’s professional version has. I can’t move things around on it like the professional version and XP allow. My other beef is that when I open a program, like the browser, it then is a tab on the task bar, and to open another window in it, I have to right click, and select it from a menu. I also like being able to click the desktop icon, and go to the desktop to rummage through files. The desktop feature on Win 7 isn’t bad though, and it might be better once I get used to it. And so it goes. I’m a baby. I’ll check out the webpage you gave me, and see what it gives me.
Actually I’ve heard that support for Kubuntu is being dropped by Ubuntu, and folks are now looking at the KDE-enabled version of the Linux ‘Mint’ distro. (And I bet their package manager works just fine).
You are right about Windows 2000. I never did go through that because 2000 was primarily targeted to business and the server market. It is my understanding that XP used a lot of 2000 as its base.
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