Microsoft execs warn of PC sales drop in crucial Q4 Senior Microsoft executives are warning that PC sales in the last quarter will be lower than expected, saying the effects of the floods in Thailand are having a lingering impact. CFO Tami Reller told a JPMorgan Chase & Co. conference that the flooding was causing the PC industry more serious problems than had been expected. …
And yeh... it may not save the desktop, but it will save Microsoft. It's the first time since I ran my first beta of Windows 95 that I truly felt like Microsoft was doing it right. They finally get the whole battery life is important thing. They finally get the touch thing. It's just really that damn good.
I am transitioning all my programming over to the slate and though it's been on my desk for the past three weeks, people are still walking by saying "Oooh.. I like it" or "I'm jealous..." and since everyone in the entire office has an iPad (it was a Christmas gift in 2010), it really means something.
Oh... the fact that they pretty much rewrapped the entire Windows development system in new series of consistent APIs is just a bonus... well if you don't count the bastardization of the C++ language... still a bonus :)
I'm not sure about the sick of Windows things... but I would say it is nice that there are now alternatives. Mac is a great alternative these days thanks to the presence of Office and Android has promise thanks to Office Live 365 maturing.
Out of all the office packages out there, oddly enough, WordPerfect Office is by far the next best thing to Microsoft Office. Unlike OpenOffice, it is actually an enterprise product. All it really needs is a great email client. But Office is still the strongest office suite out there and while Windows may become more of an option to users, Office will still be the king of the hill for a while.
I am expecting however that when Microsoft releases a touch based office for Windows 8, it won't be long before we see a touch based office for other platforms even if it's web based.
that means they have been doing just that. At the coffee shops I used to see lots of laptops and now I see lots of tablets so something is happening even if Dell says it isn't. And here Microsoft is without any kind of options for selling into the tablet space. 2012 is not going to be kind to Microsoft it seems.
with tight budgets and a general lack of spending in the economy people are cutting back on non essential spending. This includes PC's. Punters are finding that the kit they bought 2 or 3 years ago still runs perfectly fine.
Businesses are also extending their PC upgrade cycle times. What was once every 3 years is now 4 or even 5 years between refreshes.
Please note that I'm talking about the majority of PC users. These are the people who don't want ro need to play the latest FPS or other games on them. These are the minority.
This is not rocket science. Perhaps the pundits in Redmond should take a wider view?
Apple and Amazon were selling a million tablets a week during the holiday season. Some of those were purchases in addition to a new PC, but a sizable portion had to be people foregoing PC refreshes to purchase a tablet. Their XP or existing Win 7 PCs do everything they need them to do and have more than enough on the spec side. Tablets are going to take a significant bite out of Microsoft and their distributors (HP, Lenovo, Dell and the rest).
Microsoft and company and failing quickly. If the US or EU would break up the Microsoft monopoly we would all benefit. Microsoft is depending more on extortion from companies using Linux/Android. Microsoft's agressive bullying attitude and product churn that costs compatibility and money but add no new functionality does not attract customers.
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