back to article Microsoft pats self on back over Windows 8 sales

Think Windows 8 isn't performing as well as Microsoft expected? Think again! The software giant says sales of its new OS are chugging along quite nicely, thank you very much, in much the same fashion as Windows 7 before it. Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Tech Forum at CES 2013 on Tuesday, Tami Reller, one of the two newly minted …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hummm!

    Microsoft needs to read the article in the reg entitled 'Not even Santa could save Microsoft's Windows 8' and explain the difference. Using the hype given by Microsoft makes me distrust MS intensely.

    1. dogged
      WTF?

      Re: Hummm!

      And yet you trust Matt Assay's opinion, based on one month's estimated figures and viewed through the TOTALLY IMPARTIAL eyes of a professional Open Source advocate who writes nonsensical clickbait columns on the Register for money.

      Seems legit.

    2. The_Regulator
      Windows

      Re: Hummm!

      Your dumb troll comments just keep on coming, somewhere between the open source bs about how windows 8 sucks so badly and the MSFT at least partial bs on how Win 8 is the best thing since sliced bread lies the truth. Now, no matter how you look at it 60 million licenses sold in 3 months since the release date is pretty nice and whether those are installed right now or not the fact is that windows runs on more computers than anything else so....if you were a developer (I am guessing you are not because you seem to be just a troll) and you could get in early on something that is pretty close to surely having a very large audience why would you not do that......

      BTW liked the Bootnote, if you actually try Win 8 with an open mind and continue to use it for an extended period of time it really is pretty darn good.

  2. Efros
    Thumb Up

    In terms of sales

    probably not performing, however, in terms of usability, it works for me, running it on a 4 year old laptop (dual core lenovo ideapad) and a 5 year old desktop (quad core Q6600 home build) faultlessly. The upgrade process was also the smoothest I've experienced. Mind you perhaps it bloody should be it is Windows EIGHT after all!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Windows it's like the belly-button

    It's very popular since everybody has one (actually it's pretty hard to avoid having one) but who needs a second one.

    1. Chemist

      Re: Windows it's like the belly-button

      "actually it's pretty hard to avoid having one"

      Well somehow we manage to. I'm not sure why you think that you NEED a Windows machine - it's simply not true.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Chemist - Re: Windows it's like the belly-button

        I never said you need one, that's why I compared it to a belly-button. Also, I never said it is impossible not to get one.

        1. Chemist

          Re: @Chemist - Windows it's like the belly-button

          Ah well, you reinforced the belief out there that it's not possible to live life without Windows.

          I've heard & seen people saying such rot as "Oh, you need it for banking", "Can't edit HD video without", "3G dongles only work with Windows", "How do you manage RAW camera files ?" and countless others.

          The one that amuses me most is "How do you manage as a scientist without Excel?) - well I managed for 20 years before Excel and most of the time Excel was available the data sets I handled were FAR bigger than Excel could handle. Even now I get people to send me data as CSV files and crunch the data with purpose-written C. That's the way to handle 7 million lines of data.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows it's like the belly-button

      What, you mean half the population want to stick metal spikes into it and make it bleed?

    3. Dana W
      Meh

      Re: Windows it's like the belly-button

      Somehow I've avoided having one since 2005.

      1. Euripides Pants
        Windows

        Re: Windows it's like the belly-button

        How have you avoided having a belly button since 2005?

  4. W.O.Frobozz
    Thumb Down

    I use it at work too

    And it is f-cking awful in every respect. I'm grateful that I only have to deal with a rack of the bastards for testing purposes...my desktop is Win8 free.

    And for the record, the large multi-national I work for has no migration path to Windows 8. Thank god.

    1. Roger Greenwood
      Happy

      Re: I use it at work too

      "no migration path to Windows 8" then why have you got a rack full of them? Just wondering.

      1. Ragarath

        Re: I use it at work too

        Erm, it's in his message, for testing now an enquiry into what they make would have been better. I assume they make some kind of software that they sell/needs to run on tele-workers machines needs to run on it.

    2. dogged
      FAIL

      Re: I use it at work too

      f-cking awful in every respect

      Yeah, that improved task manager, that's fucking awful.

      The optimised boot, that's fucking awful, too.

      The multi-desktop enhancements, those are fucking awful.

      The JBOD implementation (I forget the name), that's fucking awful.

      The build in antivirus, that's fucking awful.

      All the other improvements are fucking awful too.

      "Every respect". "Every". "Respect". "In every respect"

      Liar.

      1. Geoff Campbell Silver badge

        @Dogged

        You missed out the improved file copying, and Minesweeper - both excellent.

        It's the little things that make an upgrade good. I like Windows 8, having been using it for a while now. No doubt I'll get downvoted just for saying that.

        GJC

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ W.O.Frozbozz

    Bet you have not really used it. Bet you are just spouting crap to try to show off to your reg friends. And even if you do work for a large Multinational, which I doubt, I bet you are far too junior in the organization to be told about their deployment plans........

    Yawn!

  6. Jordan Davenport

    I've deployed Windows 8 at a small workplace and customized it for a few home computers. I've found that once all the file associations with the Metro Windows Store apps are changed, using it with the classic desktop isn't really any more cumbersome.

    The only real problems I've really encountered have been with a few drivers and Server Message Block. Introducing a Windows 8 PC to the network caused SMB 1.0 support to stop working from a Windows 7 machine for some inexplicable reason, which somewhat expedited the situation in regards to upgrading away from XP. Furthermore, a few drivers were preventing certain updates from applying. That's since been remedied through Windows Update though.

    Overall, the performance enhancements have been nice. I'm still not a fan of Metro, but you can work around it if you have to. It still feels like two separate desktop environments ironed together, but perhaps that's best since you can still revert for the most part. As it stands, after a bit of configuration, less training has been required for my coworkers than I had previously expected.

    That said, I've just provided one anecdote. Only time will tell how it will be ultimately received, but my own experience has shown that it won't be the nightmare most have feared. I admit I still do have a bit more to learn with regards to Windows 8 management though.

  7. n4blue
    Stop

    100 million downloads - shocklingly unimpressive?

    Hmm. Let's see...

    SAN FRANCISCO—September 9, 2008—Apple® today announced that iPhone™ and iPod® touch users have downloaded more than 100 million applications from its groundbreaking new App Store since its launch on July 11, 2008. More than 3,000 applications are currently available on the App Store

    CUPERTINO, California—December 12, 2011—Apple® today announced that over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac® App Store™ in less than one year... “With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

  8. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Irrelevant

    As a long time MS user since the DOS days I've found Windows 8 and MS increasingly irrelevant. The horse has bolted, and they still don't get it.

    Most users outside corporations simply have no need for MS any longer since their iPad/Phone or Android device can do everything that most users need to do at home. Those users then bring those devices to work and can cover a large range of tasks. For all those tasks where MS Office and Windows remain essential we'll keep with Windows 7 thank you very much, it's highly competent and no need to change.

    If we are forced to consider upgrading due to new machines and if Win 7 is no longer available then we might as well at the same time evaluate other option such as Mac and Linux since the learning curve and unfamiliarity issues are so big, we might as well consider a new Roadmap with a new OS.

    Sure, MS is banking on organisations being locked in and consumers getting familiar with their Win 8 mobile devices but this is an increasingly small set of Windows enthusiasts who are the opposite of the critical mass and upward thrust that is needed to continue the WIndows ecosystem.

    Having said that, Office and Outlook will remain highly relevant and would not be surprised if MS is forced to port fully to Linux / Android given that it now has more than 75% of the market. I have 2 MS Exchange / 365 business email accounts plus one similar for personal email and could not believe the ease and lack of any issues in connecting and synching a Galaxy Tab to them, then working on docs with Polaris. Stunningly easy.

    Hate to say it, Google have done a great job here, and I really hate their Gapps etc but on Android it's a spectacular effort.

    1. fiddley
      Pint

      Re: Irrelevant

      Ha! Good luck with your Mac rollout. With your centralised authentication and policy management etc. Unless it's for a negligable number of users, or each and every one is savvy enough not to get temselves in to trouble, it's a gargantuan task to get that all working as smoothly as AD & Group Policy et al.

      It can be done but, cripes, that's a *lot* of difficult work just to be bone headed! You'll need a beer when you're done!

      1. Kevin Davidson

        Re: Irrelevant

        Pure FUD. Both Linux and Mac can authenticate just fine against AD.

        And if you want further control over Macs you can use either Managed Preferences (by extending your AD schema to include the missing fields required or by using an Open Directory/Acitve Directory Magic Triangle). This is all well used and documented. Or use the Profile Manager (which will manage your iOS devices as well).

  9. Khaptain Silver badge

    Sales figures are not very relevant

    What they need to publish ss the number of "activations" and also to split those activatiosn into Upgrades and New Installs in order that we can determine the trend.

    In relation to large corporate deployment strategies, we don't even have one. XP will be around for quite some time yet, it's not because of the OS though, it's because of ActiveX and IE....... ( I'm not the Architect, don't blame me).....

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      Re: Sales figures are not very relevant

      They'll never publish those.

      I don't think they ever have, and the whole point of these kinds of press release is to spin whatever internal data they have the best possible way by cherry-picking and other techniques that would make an honest statistician have a fit!

      That's why the Santa article is probably right - if this is the best spin they can manage, Win 8 is pretty much dead in the water.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sales figures are not very relevant

      Microsoft, like any corporation, only need to publish information required by law or demanded by their shareholders. They may choose to provide other information but as always this needs to be interpreted and de-spinned, for instance activations don't say much about actual usage or the health of an application market.

  10. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Meh

    I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

    Having recently bought a new laptop, delivered with W8, I'm no doubt showing as a W8 user. But since I'm using Mint, and don't even have W8 on the boot menu, it's for damn sure I'm *not* a W8 user...

    My objection is the same as I had with other OS changes: it's change for changes sake and it gets in the way of my work. There's absolutely no sense in learning new keystrokes, new shortcuts, whatever - I have thirty years of muscle memory telling me how windows should work and while they may not be the ultimately most efficient, they're what I know...

    As far as I can see, the main purpose of W8 is to provide a gateway to allow me to purchase things. In essence, TIFKAM is an advertising hoarding. When the adverts are removed (do I *really* need an animated display of the weather in Paris, not actually living there and all?) the desktop is much cleaner. Still unpleasant to look at, but hey, that's just my taste.

    That's not how I use a computer. I appreciate that many obviously do, but it's not for me. And I wish I'd been able to specify a different OS when I bought this laptop; I might have kept it.

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

      you may not be a Windows 8 user, but you are a Windows 8 sale. That alone will have made MS some money, though not as much as if you had stuck with 8 and paid for some apps as well.

      1. Neil Barnes Silver badge
        WTF?

        @Graeme L

        That's exactly my point. I didn't want it, but there was no choice. You buy a new laptop, and particularly at the budget end, there is no choice. It comes with Windows, like it or not.

        Yes, you can go through the palaver of not accepting the licence terms and returning it to the maker, but that leaves you with nothing... I want the laptop, but I don't want windows... but I can't get it without windows. And in most cases, you don't even get a choice as to which version you get - assuming you know the difference.

        I think the technical term is 'all sewn up'.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @Neil Barnes

          Wow, what a great business opportunity for someone to start a business building and selling laptops with no OS, so that you can install whatever you want instead!

          I wonder why nobody ever thought of that before - there must be hundreds of customers out there - thousands even!

          1. Nuke
            Holmes

            @AC - Re: @Neil Barnes

            Wrote :- "Wow, what a great business opportunity for someone to start a business building and selling laptops with no OS, so that you can install whatever you want instead! I wonder why nobody ever thought of that before"

            They have, but they lose the chance to bundle the Windows-oriented adware and crapware with it, for which they are paid. The payments they receive more than offset the cost of the OEM Windows licence, so the PC ends up costing more.

            See Michael Meeks' comments here :-

            www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/11/michael_meeks_linux_desktop/

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

      The most important of all new features in W8 is secure-boot. MS desperately needs a mechanism to keep the competition on arms length when they no longer can keep relevant through innovation.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

        Go back, research about secure boot requirements for Win8 and check your facts.

        1. Secure boot is not needed for x86 or x64 machines

        2. It's only a requirement for Win8 RT machines.

        3. You can override the secure boot to allow other OS to run (but RT won't), by simply turning it off.

        4. You can use a secure boot compliant version of "Linux"

        Tell you what I'll start the process:

        http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/blogs/browse/2012/10/linux-foundation-uefi-secure-boot-system-open-source

        1. HollyHopDrive

          Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

          But if you turn off the secure boot (and you have to boot into windows to get to the bios - don't even get me started on that) windows then won't boot because it was installed with secure bios enabled. So I'm going to reinstall. (Or maybe there is something else but I lost the will to live finding my way around that mess of a os.) As a Linux /Mac / android user windows is just seeming a bit clunky these days. (Fisher price toys)

          1. dogged
            Stop

            Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

            @HollyHopDrive

            you have to boot into windows to get to the bios

            Er, no you don't. I use a Win8 box for development. The ASUS motherboard was already UEFI enabled (just as it was when the same machine ran win7) and in order to get to the secure boot switches in UEFI, you just have to, er, press DELETE during the UEFI boot.

            Same as you would with a BIOS boot.

            ....

            You haven't actually tried this, have you? Why are you criticizing something you haven't tried?

            1. HollyHopDrive

              Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

              Sadly on the asus laptop i bought which comes with win8 pre-installed this isn't the case. Trust me, I've been doing this shit a lot longer than most. And no you can't, the option only appears #after# you disable the secure boot in the bios. (It is available on my Asus desktop motherboard though)

              My point is after spending so much time on the other side of the fence (5 years since I had a windows PC) I was genuinely interested to see windows 8. And in *my* opinion its a mess. It may not be yours but it is mine!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

        Yeah, that guy that said he's running Mint on his new laptop must be a Troll - everyone knows that Microsoft forced the Hardware Vendors to lock Linux users out of Windows 8 Certified Hardware with Secure Boot!

    3. Mark Allread

      Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

      "My objection is the same as I had with other OS changes: it's change for changes sake and it gets in the way of my work. There's absolutely no sense in learning new keystrokes, new shortcuts, whatever - I have thirty years of muscle memory telling me how windows should work and while they may not be the ultimately most efficient, they're what I know..."

      You just sound like an old dog not willing to learn new tricks. 30 years you say - would you like your OS to be the same as it was 30 years ago?

      1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

        Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

        I am old dog; hear me bark.

        I don't want what we (almost) had thirty years ago; I want a consistent interface that doesn't get in the way of me working. I fail to see - for me - what improvements W8 offers in other than glitz, glamour, and user lock in.

        My argument is not that W8 is bad - it's simply not to my taste in the same way that Gnome 3 or Unity aren't - but that I don't have a choice about it. I get it, want it or not, and MS claim this as a sale.

      2. TheOtherHobbes

        Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

        You sound like an idiot who has no idea what standards are or why they're important in computing.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

      Going by the Linux usage figures, over 99% remain unchanged in the consumer market. Corporate is an entirely different matter, I'd not like to even hazard a guess.

    5. EvilGav 1
      FAIL

      Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

      30 years telling you how Windows should work? That's quite impressive, not least because the interface that everyone complains they want to keep is only 17 years old (introduced with Windows 95 in, errr, 1995).

      30 years ago the interface was completely different from what has been the norm for the last 17 years, it was also at a time when we tended to only have, errr, 98 key (i think) keyboards - so none of the Win key shortcuts that I assume your muscles now know.

      If we're talking muscle memory of Win key shortcuts, errr, they're all still there in Win 8, extended even too add mroe options.

      tl;dr I call bullshit on your 30 years of Windows usage being the reason you wont shift to a new OS

      N.B. Yes, I use Windows 8, on a system that dual boots between Win 8 and Ubuntu, on 5 year old hardware. It was the most painless dual boot i've ever done.

    6. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

      Pretty much all the keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8 are exactly as they are in Windows 7 and XP. That's one of the things that made the transition so painless, for me.

      Not that I have a problem with you choosing a Linux distro over Windows, more power to you.

      GJC

      1. Paul Shirley

        Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

        "Pretty much all the keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8 are exactly as they are in Windows 7"

        For a touch centric OS it's very telling that people keep saying that ;)

        1. dogged
          Headmaster

          Re: I wonder how many installations are simply as the machine came?

          For a touch centric OS it's very telling that people keep saying that ;)

          I'm having some trouble in understanding your point here - although a brief perusal of your post history indicates strongly partisan anti-Win8 views so it might be an attempt at a snide comment - so let me walk you through why it's important.

          Most PCs don't have touchscreens. Win8 expands on Win7s keyboard shortcuts - you know, those things professionals use, you might have heard of them - making Win7s shortcuts a subset of the new larger collection. Because the desktop is still there and the launcher is still just a launcher regardless of how much people try to insist that it's a whole OS by itself, these shortcuts have no learning curve and make for a painless transition.

          Not so hard, was it?

  11. andro

    forced sales to people who dont know

    I needed to help my mother in law buy a pc last week.

    Microsoft have done a good job of manipulating the sales channel. Its getting quite difficult to buy a machine with windows 7 and that is how they have created these windows 8 numbers. Similar to how as a pc skyrim player you cant buy the current DLC yet, as MS have paid bethesda to make the download exclusive to the 360 for the first month. And you would assume they paid quite a lot for the privelage. I assume money has also put win 8 on all the new machines. They know how to play it.

    Most of the puchasers at the local department store dont know or care about the OS. They just hear "latest windows" and "new and shiney" and buy it. But what do they think after they use it? Thats the real test. Yes windows 8 is shipping out in volume on OEM systems, but now what?

    I bought one of the last low end old windows 7 machines in the shop, put a 27" screen and some good speakers on it, and my mother in law loves it. But if people dont even know what they are buying, and MS is getting win8 on the machines, what does that even mean? and who even cares? haha.

    1. Mark Allread

      Re: forced sales to people who dont know

      If only you'd bought a Windows 8 PC for your MIL, she could now be installing apps and games from the app store without you having to worry about her wrecking it and you having to go and clean it all up again.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: forced sales to people who dont know

        If she can find any.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: forced sales to people who dont know

      Our local HMV store still sells only Windows 7 systems, not a Windows 8 in sight.

      First time I've heard anyone suggest Microsoft is paying OEMs to install Windows 8.

  12. vmistery

    Well I upgraded to Windows 8 as a test on my Desktop because its only £25 at the moment. I find the lack of a back button in the 'Modern UI' or whatever they call it now most annoying, this is probably because I am using a mouse not a touch screen. It also feels half done, the full control panel and all MS applets should have been migrated to the new interface rather than having half on the 'old' desktop and half on the new, its annoying and messy. The last thing I don't like is its close tie-in with Windows live, for one thing I dont like using the same password to login to my PC as I do for my email - but perhaps I am just paranoid. Will I go back? Well at the moment I dual boot but am trying hard to not use Win 7, as it takes my Win 7 installation an age to get going though this might be the motivation I need to stay with Windows 8 and keep 7 on for emergencies.

    As for their celebrations? Have they realised its doing a Vista?

  13. Arctic fox
    Windows

    "At that rate, it will take Microsoft nearly 67 years to match the 40 billion apps"

    That paragraph almost, but not quite, gives the impression that MS should be within handshake distance of matching Apple's download figures already. As a matter of interest how quickly do you think that MS should be able to catch up? Just so that we can see what your bench-mark of "success" would be.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "At that rate, it will take Microsoft nearly 67 years to match the 40 billion apps"

      That 67 years quote smacks of desperation of the author to find any way to pander to the "windows is doomed, doomed I tell you" bunch. When the next point is added to the curve will we hear the number of app downloads within five years will exceed the number of protons in the universe or some such twaddle.

    2. EvilGav 1
      Stop

      Re: "At that rate, it will take Microsoft nearly 67 years to match the 40 billion apps"

      It's not a like for like match anyway.

      Given that it's a comparison with a newly released store which has limited devices attached (one desktop, 2 phones and some tablets), against a 6 year old store, that has had 6 iterations of the OS (I think, iOS is v6 now IIRC); 6 iterations of phones (which no doubt some of those users will have upgraded and downloaded the same app on their new device); numerous variations of iPod; 4 iPads - and do Macs use the Store now too? IDK.

      The only real comparison will be a few years down the line, when some meaningful statistics can be garnered - and where are the stats for the Play store on Android? Surely they are of relevance in all this as well.

      1. Arctic fox
        Windows

        @EvilGav 1 RE:"It's not a like for like match anyway." No it is not, however I see that a ........

        ...............seriously sad person downvoted you for pointing out that which was clearly the case. Some saddos clearly do not like tackling facts. Upvote delivered in an attempt to even up the behaviour of the knobheads.

  14. Phoenix50
    Flame

    Oh for heaven's sake. I'm thoroughly sick and tired of this constant refusal to accept the blindingly obvious.

    As I pretty much stated before Windows 8 launched, it will sell "in the millions".

    Wait! What's this? It HAS sold in the millions! Colour me 'effing surprised. The media, nay, the vast majority of the MS bashers on here just don't want to accept it do they? They're happy in their Google-y world where everyone uses open source and Microsoft are about to go bankrupt. Reality check - Google may have the mobile and search space, but they've a long, LONG way to go before they are a credible threat to Microsoft's dominance on the desktop, and a lot of people out there need to accept that and get on with it.

    Are there 60 million people out there actively using Windows 8? Probably not (though the figure won't be far behind that). Does Microsoft care? Of course not! They've made a sale - 60 million of them, and they will continue to make sales in their millions for the rest of this year and beyond! It's a cold hard fact that seem to have escaped the anti-MS brigade out there. Windows 8 is a SUCCESS - it's a success now, it will be a further success in the future; it is inescapable and inevitable.

    There's nothing more that needs to be said.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The problem for Windows releases

    I am by no means a Microsoft shill, if there was a Linux desktop that met me needs I would be using it.

    In the past I begrudgingly ran Windows 7, far too many applications I need are dependant on Windows and the firm I work for is a Windows shop, back to front.

    Windows 8 was one of the first Windows releases I was keen on.

    First of all it is far more secure than any other consumer operating system today. To get equivelant protection on a Linux desktop you would need to be running grsec or something similar. I know this is hard to stomach for the Linux community, but MS have really lifted their game when it comes to security.

    Second, on a non-touch device, the metro ui is not as much of a hassle as journalists would have you believe. On a touch device, it is beautiful and elegant. From a desktop perspective, its just a full screen start menu. If you want your regularly used applications to be accessabel immediately from the legacy UI, you just pin them to the task bar. Journalists have a knack for taking something so small and turning it into a world ending revelation.

    Which brings me to my point, I think the biggest problem faced by Microsoft (or any large vendor really), is that we now have a new class of technical journalist. These are people who do not have a background in programming or system administsration. They are pure journalists writing for the masses.

    To a journalist which will get more reads?:

    1 - A fantatsic release form Microsoft, bringing together two different UI pradigms into one cohesive operating system

    2 - A dismal release, grandma's, grandpa's and students alike, baffled by vomit interface spawned by satan himself

    Thats what it comes down to, these career journo's are not interested in the art or science of computing. They will do whatever turns them a dollar. And what turns them a dollar is page views and clicks.

    1. TheOtherHobbes

      Re: The problem for Windows releases

      So you're not bothered by the lack of POP3 support in the mail client? Or other 'improvements'?

      MS has always been a temple of mediocrity. Win 8 carries on that proud tradition.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        Re: The problem for Windows releases

        "So you're not bothered by the lack of POP3 support in the mail client"

        No and it's not like you can't download another mail client is it?

      2. chekri
        Megaphone

        Re: The problem for Windows releases

        POP3, wtf? use IMAP and be normal man!

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: not bothered by the lack of POP3 support in the mail client

        "The" mail client? It's Windows - you have plenty of Mail clients to choose from!

        Windows 7 didn't have any Mail client at all - you had to download one!

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Keep the shareholders happy with some spin.

    The reality is,

    PC is on the decline, Windows 8 is not selling well, and has poor reception from home and business customers, Windows Phone is an even bigger disaster zone than it was last year (and even Nokia now have a plan B), Windows RT is dead, Surface is not selling, Xbox has been end of life for 3 years and most gamers are hacked of with Microsoft's double dip pricing and will be going elsewhere next gen. Office is losing home users hand over fist to the free suites, and businesses aren't upgrading either.

    Not looking too rosy at Microsoft...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Keep the shareholders happy with some spin.

      Just writing down things you want to be true, doesn't make them true.

  17. Avatar of They
    Thumb Down

    Hmmm. Propoganda figures me thinks.

    5 of those are my ruddy machine having to be reformatted and reregistered because it is a steaming pile of dog turd.

    Reasons for hating it were not limited to ill thought out partition manager that made my HDD and MBR and thus the 3tb became 2tb and 890GB of lost data area. Despite being told to use my SSD and not the HDD. When will they just nick the partition manager from linux, that works. 90% of the market and they can't write a decent parition manager.

    The whole UI is just pants, to open control panel you search in the metro and it opens in the taskbar version, the new icons only stretch to the basic apps, they don't cover the admin apps, when you turn them on they look god awful.

    A 24inch monitor and no touch screen means a lot more mouse dragging to get to any of the corners (I don't do shortcuts as I didn't know they existed as the windows tutorial just says use the corners and I shouldn't have to use google to use a UI)

    BSOD in the first 3 hours because it didn't like me copying files from a server etc. I am glad the reg hack likes it but for me, well 3 days and MS answers telling me the fix for my licence being unusable because a reformat isn't an upgrade, but to fix it I have to rebuy a copy of windows 7. I decided to stick with windows 7.

    1. dogged
      Holmes

      Re: Hmmm. Propoganda figures me thinks.

      I've seen all these symptoms before.

      They happened when somebody tried a cheap Win8 upgrade over a pirated copy of Win7.

      Oh dear. Playing tricksy games, were we?

  18. Sirius Lee

    Your analysis labours the point about Windows 8 shipments to the channel. But that would have been true for Windows 7. So Microsoft appear to be comparing like with like and that's a good thing. If Windows 7 shipments were considered good and those of Windows 8 are the same what, really, is your point?

    I'm staggered that there are as many as 100 million downloads from the Microsoft store and your cynicism here is a non-sequiter. If you are an Apple user you have no choice but to use the AppStore. If you are a Windows user, why would you use the Microsoft store at all? Windows 8 is Windows and any app you used to use will work perfectly well - admittedly not as a live tile. I assume the majority of those 100 million must, in fact, be by users of full Windows 8 not RT or Phone. Unless Microsoft are being very quiet about sales there can't be enough users to reach even 100 million.

    1. Dana W
      WTF?

      Are you trying to say that OSX DESKTOP users are forced to use the "app store"? This is either colossal ignorance or simple disinformation. I never use Apples OSX app store.

      If not why are you comparing Windows desktop to iOS mobile?

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Multitouch effect

    Despite the 2011 announcement of Windows 8 and information available to OEMs around 2 years ago, it seems manufacturing has been caught on the hop with a shortage of multitouch parts. We already see this in the shops as most of the PCs on sale remain Windows 7 class hardware which must be affecting sales (I'm personally in the wait for new models mode so long as my existing kit holds out).

    Shortages are expected to continue through 2013, keeping higher prices of Ultrabook (which is now mandating multitouch for new systems) and budget systems lacking the new functionality. This situation will get worse if Apple backtrack on their previous statements on MacBook and touch with their Q3 Haswell refreshes. So very early days to gauge consumer interest in the new devices and form factors for Windows 8 irrespective of sales levels.

  20. Pat 4

    Well deuh!

    The one and ONLY reason why Window 8 is selling "as well as" Windows 7 is ... you can't buy a computer without it!

    I would be willing to bet anything that if the still gave consumers a choice... Windows 7 would outsell Window8 3 to 1...

  21. AngryDeveloper
    Stop

    60 million copies, but at what price?

    This article fails to point out that Windows 8 can be purchased for as little as £29 whereas Windows 7 was significantly more. The revenues generated for MS on Windows 8 sales are likely to be considerably down on Windows 7 sales. Microsoft will no doubt be hoping to claw back this revenue from the commissions gained from its app store and in-line advertising. I can see MS blocking (or making it very difficult) to install third party applications not purchased through the app store.

    IMO this release of Windows is a very self-serving, syndical, anti competitive move by Microsoft. They are looking to lock in users and lock out competitors. But hey, at least the performance monitor looks good!

    1. EvilGav 1
      Facepalm

      Re: 60 million copies, but at what price?

      Well, it's actually £25 for Win 8 from MS, but I digress.

      Windows 7 had a similar introductory price for the first 2 or 3 months after it was launched - around £39 IIRC or around half the price it would be once the offer ended.

      There was also a deal to get Win 8 for a mere £15, if you had recently bought a Win 7 machine you could use the serial code to get an additional £10 off (given how much the channel has declined in the last couple of years, it isn't entirely surprising that this hasn't bolstered sales significantly).

      If any company was in a position where 5-10% (60 million of 670 million) of their customers had switched to the latest, paid for, version within 3 months of release - i'm pretty sure they'd be delighted.

  22. Richard Gadsden

    Doubt it includes volume licensing with software assurance

    Else everyone who had SA for Windows 7 - which (a) you need for Enterprise Edition, which you need to get BitLocker and (b) is mandatory if you want an Enterprise Agreement or an Enterprise Subscription Agreement - will have been counted as having bought a Windows 8 license.

    That would be an awful lot more than 60 million VL Windows 8 licenses.

  23. A Butler

    Running since launch on main desktop, no major probs

    Been running on my main desktop, basic Fujitsu with Windows 7 32-bit pro, upgraded without issue since release date. Revise a few windows shortcut keys, setup a free Hotmail account and away you go.

    I do not see the big issue, plus a friend of mine who bought a new laptop with Windows 8 (in his fifties that is not a techno head) adapted to the OS quiet well and was impressed with the way the Hotmail account linked to his Lumia 610 (basic phone I know) brought in all his contacts, calendar and mail all by supplying logon credentials, no need to search for POP3 settings and the like, with the whole ecosystem joined up, it works really well.

    Ok metro can be annoying sometimes, however with a large monitor it gives a lovely browsing, app store experience.

    Add in the low upgrade price, plus the speed of Windows 8 and it almost never crashes; this is no Vista OS its just their is a good few tech industry individuals with a Microsoft grudge.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Here at El Reg, we suspect that Microsoft's 60 million number also includes many licenses that have been sold to enterprise customers through Redmond's Volume Licensing program."

    Enterprise customers can also use a Windows 8 license to run say Windows 7. The license allows for that. SO an enterprise that needed more Windows 7 installs wouldn't buy licenses for Windows 7 but for Windows 8. Does Microsoft even still sell Windows 7 licenses?

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