"But for your standard clamshell notebook? It's Windows 7," she added.
"From a business perspective, I would say 99% of our sales are Windows 7," she explained, noting that it was "clearly" the best operating system at the moment for the business market, and was why Toshiba loaded it on its new systems.
"At this point, there are few exceptions in corporate America in the enterprise space for Windows 8," she added.]]>
Over the past month, Windows 8's share has increased by 0.61 percentage points, rising to 8.02% of the total share. Whereas, on the other hand, Windows 7's share increased by 0.8 percentage points, rising to 46.3% of the market.
To put this into context, Apple's latest desktop operating system OS X 10.8 operating system grew by 0.27 percentage points to a mere 3.7% of the overall share. But this figure accounts for just shy of half of Windows 8's overall growth for August. Clearly businesses are going from Windows XP to Windows 7. And it's businesses which seem to be the only big buyers of PCs at the moment. Consumers are in effect on strike. Microsoft still gets the money - but Windows 8 doesn't get the mindshare.]]>
Both Acer's president and chairman declined to say what kind and level of support Google and Microsoft are offering Acer for it to shift its product mix.
For the current quarter ending Sept. 30, Acer's mobile device shipments, including notebook PCs, tablets and smartphones, may register on-quarter growth of between zero and 5%, company President Jim Wang said.
"For the PC industry, I haven't seen light at the end of the tunnel," he said. "First, we have to sustain our market share and protect our bottom line…and by doing tablets and smartphones right, we can be prepared for the day after tomorrow." Second quarter of losses in a row. Acer hopes that Android + Chromebooks could be up to 30% of revenue in 2014. In Q2, Chromebooks made up "close to" 3% of Acer shipments.]]>
I’ve read recently that people aren’t interested in touch-based PCs. That’s ludicrous. As anyone who has actually used such a machine will tell you, once you go touch, you can’t stop touching all screens. Don't try the screen-touching thing around designers. (Thanks @Avro for the link.)]]>
The Iconia is a lumpen slab of cheap-feeling plastic and glass. At 500g, it’s significantly heavier than all of the compact tablets in this month’s Lab, bar the ruggedised Panasonic Toughpad JT-B1. It’s larger than all of them, too, thanks to a needlessly thick bezel and an extra plastic lip at the bottom, used to house the Windows button.
All that could have been forgiven – perhaps – if the screen was scintillating, but it’s far from it. The 800 x 1,280 display has that old-school, mottled touchscreen effect that makes it look as if it’s been sprayed with a fine mist. Colours are washed out, largely because the screen doesn’t span the entire SRGB gamut, although the maximum brightness of 329cd/m2 is acceptable. Yours for £330 for the basic 64GB model with an 8.1in screen. (The equivalent spec iPad mini is £429, 1024x768, weighing 308g. But would you need a 64GB iPad as you might a Windows device?)]]>
Windows 8.1 should have no impact on the attractiveness of tablets based on the platform. While it does offer some improvements, tablet purchases are based on two primary factors (for both usage segments) - application availability and price. Even smaller Windows 8 tablets are far more expensive than competing Android tablets (prices of which are dropping to the $99 range). This problem is being compounded by low OEM interest in the ARM version, Windows RT. Surely if people know that you can set up a Windows 8.1 machine to boot to the desktop, they'll be interested in buying it? But that still assumes people outside businesses are still as interested in buying PCs as they used to be. The data suggests otherwise.]]>
Desktop and Start Screen
Improvements have been made to better support users who prefer a mouse and keyboard experience to access applications.
(Thanks @Stephenjpc for the link.)]]>
We found that, on average, a Windows 8 user will launch a Metro app 1.52 times a day. Tablet users launch the most Metro apps at 2.71 times per day. People who have touch-screen enabled laptops launch 47% more Metro apps than people with a standard laptop…
We found that among desktop and laptop users, 60% of users launch a Metro app less than once a day. This number significantly improves with tablets, but still 44% of Windows 8 tablet users launch a Metro app less than once a day. That latter statistic is really weird. A Windows 8 tablet where you don't launch a Metro app? (Thanks @rquick for the link.) ]]>
"Windows 8 has been, from our standpoint, not necessarily the catalyst to drive accelerated growth that we had hoped it would be," said Brian Gladden, Dell's chief financial officer, in a call last week with Wall Street analysts to discuss the quarter's financials. Those results were shocking - profit down 79% to $130m on revenues down 2% to $14bn. That's a 1% margin - the same, as it happens, as HTC in smartphones. But for very different reasons. (Thanks @modelportfolio2003 for the link.)]]>
During her remarks today, Tami reiterated our goal of delivering continual updates to create a richer experience for Windows customers. Windows 8.1 is part of that and continues the journey we first began with Windows 8 last fall. Windows 8.1 will help us to deliver the next generation of PCs and tablets with our OEM partners and to deliver the experiences customers — both consumers and businesses alike —need and will just expect moving forward. No word on whether WinRT will get a similar update.]]>
"You shouldn't expect an iTunes app on Windows 8 any time soon," said Tami Reller, chief financial officer of Microsoft's (MSFT, Fortune 500) Windows division. "ITunes is in high demand. The welcome mat has been laid out. It's not for lack of trying." Only available in Desktop mode. Don't hold your breath for the Metro (or RT) version.]]>
But in a recent post to the Official Microsoft Blog, Mr. Shaw called out The Financial Times and The Economist, two staid publications that made the mistake of correctly identifying the core problem with Windows these days. I can only imagine what he thinks of me right now.
In the wake of a mini-publicity tour in which Microsoft executives tried to paint its about-face with Windows 8.1 “Blue” as an example of it “listening to customer feedback,” these publications have correctly suggested that this never would have happened had the Windows team simply listened to customer feedback during the six-year buildup to Windows 8 instead.]]>
For all this uncertainty, I can say this: The biggest single issues standing in the way of Windows 8’s success are the same as they’ve ever been: Bad perception and the continued eroding of PC viability as a business due to the continued “success” of PCs with low-ball pricing. That’s right. It’s the revenge of the netbook all over again. His numbers on PC prices are, frankly, surprising. And who he blames for it? Even more so.]]>
The radio silence from Redmond isn't a good sign this time around, and confusing figures from market research firms aren't helping. IDC estimates that PC sales are down 13.9% from the same quarter last year, and Gartner says they're down 11.2%. However, IDC's figures do not include Windows-based tablets and some hybrids. IDC revealed to The Verge that "all slate-form factor devices with detachable keyboards, regardless of name, manufacturer, OS, or chip type, are considered tablets and not PCs." As a result, the company tracks tablet shipments separately. Gartner says it tracks Windows 8 tablets and hybrids as "ultraportable PCs," but the firm does not track Windows RT devices.
The difference between the two data points suggests that Windows-based tablets only account for just over 2% of PC shipments.]]>
"There is an adoption curve," Otellini acknowledged, talking about Windows 8 and its "Modern" user interface (UI), a radical overhaul of the traditional desktop. "We didn't quite have that same kind of adoption curve in Windows 7 versus XP before it. This requires a little bit of training."
Otellini, however, did say, "Once you get over that adoption curve, I don't think you go back." He also argued, as have most analysts and many Windows 8 users, that on a touch-enabled device Windows 8 is easier to use than Windows 7.
Shortages of touch-ready hardware, particularly notebooks, have plagued the industry since Windows 8's launch. And the higher prices of touch PCs have put off many consumers, who have been trained for years to expect low-priced machines. When they can't find a touch PC in their price range, experts have said, they instead steer toward lower-cost touch tablets.]]>
As she has been researching a new laptop she plans to purchase this year, she said a PC running Windows 7 was more appealing than the newer designs. "I'm not entirely thrilled with Windows 8," she said. "There's a lot of show I don't see the functionality in."
Other consumers, like Gene Elmer Munson, have held off buying PCs all together as they increasingly rely on mobile gadgets.
Mr. Munson, a 40-year-old human resources-and-finance worker, has a desktop, a laptop and a smartphone and 7-inch tablet powered by Google Inc.'s Android software.
He bought the 7-inch Google Nexus tablet in December, and now finds himself using his laptop less and his tablet more, especially for personal work, including the novels he writes in his spare time.
"If I didn't have a smartphone and a tablet I would have replaced it by now," said Mr. Munson of his HP laptop. "I don't see myself buying a laptop in the foreseeable future." Also has a fascinating graph showing sales growth since the iPad launched. It's pretty much a straight line down. (Subscription probably required.)]]>
Mr. Wong said the company's operating margin had already bottomed at 0.3% in the third quarter and is expected to rise this year. The company expects its tablet shipments to exceed 5m units this year, with a 50% chance of reaching 10m, boosted by strong demand for Acer's new low-cost tablet, the Iconia B1, he said. What are the factors in that 50% each-way bet of hitting 10m? And of course those aren't PCs - they're tablets running Windows 8.]]>
That lack of practical information is, in business-speak, a barrier to entry. I spoke recently with Terena Bell, CEO of the translation firm In Every Language, who explained why she'd been impressed by Microsoft's extensive ad campaign behind the Windows 8 launch. Yet when she decided to plunk down her company's cash on a Windows 8 machine that would run upwards of $1,000, she was stumped by her hardware choices and had trouble finding reliable information and reviews. Microsoft's slick ads were both friend and enemy - they first got Bell interested in, and later confused by, Windows 8.]]>
It arrived, but I forgot about it for a couple of months until he had a problem whereupon I popped round to fix it. I asked him how he found Windows 8. His reply was: "I hate it." This in and of itself was not entirely unexpected. But what happened next left me feeling profoundly guilty. I watched him try and do simple tasks and saw him again and again just floored by Windows 8's odd usability modes. It's not just parents; people who have been used to Windows XP and Windows Vista and Windows 7 - hundreds of millions of people who just want a computer they can use - are discovering whether they're in the 10%, or 90%. Don't miss the followup article, which examines his mailbag. There are plenty of 90%ers in there. (And in the comments, of which there are more than 600.)]]>
''The global PC industry is steadily shrinking despite the launch of Windows 8. I think the Windows 8 system is no better than the previous Windows Vista platform,’’ said Jun Dong-soo, president of Samsung’s memory chip division, in a meeting with reporters at the COEX InterContinental Hotel in Seoul, Friday.
The executive stressed there was no expected boost to PC sales due to the failure of the Windows 8 platform and forecast the PC industry would gradually phase out. Ouch.]]>
Disappointing holiday sales, an underwhelming reception to Windows 8, and continuing economic malaise that further crimped IT budgets marked the face of the market during the second half of 2012, leading to a year-on-year decline of 8.3% in fourth quarter shipments, the most substantial decline recorded for a holiday quarter.
Furthermore, emerging market growth potential is declining and coming closer to that of mature regions. 2012 marked the first year that emerging markets have seen a volume decline, and while 2013 will return to growth, it is projected at less than 1% and with modest, single-digit growth through 2017. For mature regions, 2013 will mark the third consecutive year of volume declines. IDC continues to expect limited growth in 2014 and 2015 with contracting volume in later years. Wow. The emerging markets stagnation seems unlikely to be economically driven.]]>
I refuse to believe that Chromebooks make any sense at all for businesses or educational institutions, and that the manageability of Windows RT and Windows 8, combined with still-reasonable pricing, the familiarity of the environments, and the cachet of modern, new tablet form factors, won’t just keep Microsoft in the game but will in fact allow the company to continue to set the pace. Gauntlet, consider yourself thrown.]]>
Windows 8 failed to turn around slumping PC sales during the recently-concluded holidays, final data from US retailers showed, confirming earlier estimates.
The answer, said Steven Baker of the NPD Group: Raise prices.
"This [fall in sales] had to happen," Baker said in a Monday interview, referring to the unsustainable razor-thin margins and the continual rush to undercut competitors' pricing. "Even if Windows 8 had been a warmed-over Windows 7, [OEMs] would still have been beaten up," Baker said of a counter-factual where Microsoft just kept doing what it had been doing, and declined to turn Windows in a different direction. Surely netbooks - and all the other evidence - demonstrates that the variable demand for Windows PCs is price-elastic. (There's a base demand that is unlinked to price because it's giant corporate buyers.) So raising prices means lower demand.]]>
And this isn’t my opinion, it’s a fact. Despite being created as a “touch-first” OS, only 4.5% of Windows 8 PC sales including multi-touch capabilities. When you couple this with the fact that statistically zero percent of PCs that were upgraded to Windows 8 included touch capabilities, you can see that even in the tiny current market of Windows 8 users, virtually no one is using multi-touch. And that is a problem, because Windows 8 is really all about the multi-touch potential.]]>
Initial appetite for the software, introduced in October, is “weak,” Fujitsu President Masami Yamamoto, 58, told reporters in Tokyo yesterday. Slumping demand in Europe amid the sovereign-debt crisis will also erode sales, he said. PC deliveries for the year ending March 31 may be more than 6m units, compared with an October estimate of 7m, he said. That's a 15% shortfall. Europe's economic woes, and the US's slowing appetite for PCs, are likely to be the explanation used by quite a few chief executives later in January. (Thanks @modelportfolio2003 for the link.)]]>
Having used a Samsung Windows 8 tablet for a few months, I have a theory as to why: you think you want a full desktop computer on your tablet - I certainly did -- but you don't. It simply doesn't work.
In the case of Windows 8 you can blame some of the "not working" on the buggy, incomplete software that is Windows 8, but not all of the problems can be attributed to a shortcoming of touch APIs.
Much of what makes a full desktop interface terrible on a touch screen tablet is simply the whole desktop paradigm was never designed to be used on a tablet and it shows. The Metro interface for Windows 8 is excellent; different, but in my experience really well done.
Where Windows 8 on a tablet falls apart is when you try to bring the software keyboard to the traditional desktop interface on a tablet. The software keyboard takes up half the screen, which makes even simple tasks difficult. How to you rename a file and move it? First you tap it to select it, then you tap the button to bring up the keyboard, then you type, then you touch away the keyboard, then you touch the file again. It isn't just awkward and slow; it's downright antagonizing…
[But] There is a device that just might fit the bill for many a Linux user who thinks they're dreaming of a Linux tablet - the touchscreen laptop.
The touchscreen laptop is exactly the place for an only slightly tweaked OS - touch "optimized" if you will - to succeed. When it's more convenient to touch the screen you can, but when you need to type there's a keyboard available.]]>
There's no penalty in sticking with Windows 7 and waiting as the Windows 8 ecosystem matures. In fact, there's no penalty waiting until the first big update to Windows 8 appears, perhaps as soon as mid-2013.
Or, as I wrote back in July: "Honey, if you don’t want to upgrade, just don’t upgrade."]]>
“It’s economics, really,” he said. “It’s going to be a better year for my mechanic than it is for me.”
Weak PC sales this holiday season suggest that the struggles of Microsoft and other companies that depend heavily on the computer business will not abate soon. Plenty of consumers already own PCs and seem content to make do with what they have, especially in a shaky economy in which less expensive mobile devices are bidding for a share of their wallets…
“What you’re seeing is not a retirement of PCs, but a push-out in the replacement cycle,” said A. M. Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. “If people used to buy PCs every four years and are now buying them every five years, that could lower PC sales by 20 percent over time. That’s substantial.” PC sales have been declining year-on-year in the US pretty much all through 2012.]]>
Since notebook vendors still have high-levels of Windows 7 notebook inventory, most vendors are aggressively offing price cuts. Some Core i5-based notebooks have been priced below US$599.]]>
For cost considerations there might always be some computers without touch, but I believe that the vast majority will. We’re seeing that the computers with touch are the fastest-selling right now. I can’t imagine a computer without touch anymore. Once you’ve experienced it, it’s really hard to go back. Lots of implications in this. (Thanks @rquick for the link.)]]>
First-tier vendors' 10-inch Windows 8-based tablet models average above NT$20,000 (US$685). Compared to 10-inch models with Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor and Android there is a price gap of about NT$8,000-12,000.
In addition, the number of apps that is currently available for Windows 8, is far lower than those for iOS and Android, the sources noted. It was going well until that final paragraph. (Which is the penultimate paragraph of the story.) Do they mean "Metrofied" apps for Windows 8? Or Windows RT? Either would be fine, but there are as many apps for Windows 8 as there are for Windows 7 - arguably, more.]]>
One thing that Android and iOS do not address is how to handle the requirement of offering a legacy Xerox Alto-style mouse-and-windows environment. Microsoft here integrates the tablet and the standard Windows desktop in the most inconvenient and inconsistent possible way. Greenspun approaches it calmly enough, and the comments (there are lots) are fascinating too because - once you ignore those which say "I'm a developer.." or "I've been using it since the RC.." - they come from actual users.]]>
With a few exceptions – touchscreen Ultrabooks are undoubtedly cool – the new era hasn’t started well.
“It’s definitely as good as a hybrid gets right now,” proclaims one of our reviews team, of a Dell hybrid laptop with a screen that swivels round within its bezel. The comment was meant as a positive, but it’s hard not to see it as summing up the first wave of hybrids. "Hybrid" as in "it's a tablet and a notebook." Biology note: most interspecies breeds are sterile.]]>
The most glaring omission is Facebook, a company that Microsoft invested $240m for 1.6% stake in 2007.
"That's a bad thing," said Ray Velez, chief technology officer of digital agency Razorfish. "But Facebook doesn't have the greatest track record. They are really hard to work with."
Facebook's absence from the Windows app store is even more curious considering many of the Surface's preinstalled apps - Internet Explorer, Maps and Weather, among others-are integrated with Microsoft-owned Bing, the search engine that's integrated with Facebook.
"We are constantly evaluating our strategy for supporting new platforms ... as the market and consumer adoption evolves," a Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement. "Shun" is the wrong word, because it suggests actively staying away from. Windows RT's problem is that app developers have other platforms they're focussing on first. Such as Windows 8, to name one of many.]]>
The new Microsoft's biggest rival turns out to be its old self.]]>
Acer declined to give sales figures for its Windows 8 products so far, and executives said last month that they were uncertain how Windows 8 would be received by consumers. Acer’s 15.6in Aspire V5 is the top-selling Windows 8 touchscreen laptop on Amazon’s website, with the Vivobook close behind. However, neither of them – nor any other touchscreen laptop – breaks into the 20 best selling laptops on Amazon.com. 40m licences sold v "not that good" demand. The intrigue continues.]]>
Windows 8 accounted for 0.45% of all computers running Windows during October, Net Applications noted earlier this month, five times less than Windows 7's 2.33% for the same month three years ago…
Numbers recently unearthed on Net Applications' website, however, now allow a head-to-head comparison for previous months.
By the end of January 2007 - Vista debuted Jan. 30 of that year - the then-new OS powered just 0.19% of all Windows systems, or less than half that of Windows 8 after its Oct. 26, 2012 release. "Less bad than Vista" isn't really a great marketing line.]]>
The sources pointed out that the attractiveness of Windows 8 as well as consumers' acceptance of touchscreen features in notebook devices will also become major factors affecting demand for convertible notebooks. Ultrabooks have so far disappointed. Will convertibles (which have tried and failed once before, about ten years ago) succeed instead?]]>
The other problem is the keyboard—since the screen flips all the way around on its hinge, it leaves the keyboard and trackpad completely exposed. The laptop disables keyboard and trackpad input when not in laptop mode, so accidental input isn't a problem, but it still makes the computer awkward to hold while in tablet mode. This is all to say nothing of the extra wear you're exposing the keyboard and wrist rest to by placing it on a flat surface and scooting it around. The full flip on the hinge is clever, though. (Thanks @hotsoup for the link.)]]>
From a software perspective, however, Windows 8 will probably not take off until about the second quarter of 2013, said Merle McIntosh, the senior vice president of product management of Newegg North America, in an interview.]]>
The charms panel includes features like Search, Share (including email), and Settings that apply to whatever content the user is currently viewing. In principle, it's great to have these commands universally available in a single, uniform design that's always accessed the same way.
In practice, the charms work poorly — at least for new users. The old saying, out of sight, out of mind, turned out to be accurate. Because the charms are hidden, our users often forgot to summon them, even when they needed them. In applications such as Epicurious, which included a visible reminder of the search feature, users turned to search much more frequently.
Hiding commands and other GUI chrome makes sense on small mobile phones. It makes less sense on bigger tablet screens. And it makes no sense at all on huge PC screens.]]>
My wife and I were having lunch when the teenage waiter came by and (noticing our phones and tablets) said “How cute, she is all Apple and you are all Microsoft”. Now the fact that he even knew what my phone (Nokia Lumia 900) was and, likely having caught a glimpse of the Start screen, knew I had a Windows 8 tablet of some kind, is a huge victory for Microsoft. And Nokia by the way, since their iconic Lumia look must be sinking in. Of course it gets better.
The next thing out of his mouth was “Is that the new Surface?” followed by “How do you like it?”.]]>
But it's a far cry from Windows 7's uptake: At the end of October 2009, Windows 7 accounted for 2.33% of all Windows PCs, or 233 out of 10,000. That puts Windows 7 as the easy winner in the early race. Its share of all Windows PCs in its release month was more than five times that of Windows 8's.
There is at least one caveat, however. Windows 7 went on sale Oct. 22, 2009, four days earlier on the calendar than Windows 8, which hit retail Oct. 26. Seems rather early to be calling it "listless". But it's a data point. Let's all check back in a month or two.]]>
I think somebody with way too much time available - like researchers at universities - should look into what pictures people are choosing for their picture password, and then ask for patterns used. I wouldn't be surprised if there are certain types of pictures as well as patterns appearing, and with different classes of pictures (people, nature, objects) we'll see associated patterns to go with each class.]]>
No. The Surface, with an obligatory Touch Cover, is $600. That's a lot of money. Especially given that it's no laptop replacement, no matter how it looks or what Microsoft says. It's a tablet-plus, priced right alongside the iPad and in most ways inferior. A long and considered review, with plenty that it likes about the Surface. But somewhat more it doesn't.]]>
This is a problem.
It’s a problem because, for every reasonable, probing question I get about Surface with Windows RT—the recently launched Microsoft device—I receive at least 10 questions that betray that simple truth: Most people have no idea what’s going on here. (Thanks @gcday for the link.)]]>
And while she kept mostly to the safe path within Word 2013, she found it just different enough to drive her nuts. The same was true of the browser experience. Some Web application editing controls simply didn't function well. The changes in the browser interface were less than intuitive—"How do I change the search engine? How do I bookmark this?," she had to ask. While she eventually managed to get done what she needed to do, I could tell I was going to be paying for the experience for the next week at a minimum. There were several accusations of cruelty. Going to be interesting to see how this one pans out.]]>