Microsoft, PC makers begin taking preorders for Windows 8 software & devices

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  • Reply 21 of 60
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    Don't forget when they did their surface event a few months ago they spent very little time showing the device and software in use. It was all about VaporMg and Touch Cover. Yet even with all the focus on the touch cover they didn't let anyone use it. So we still don't know how well (or not) it will work.

    I'm still trying to figure out why Microsoft would hold a product event several months before launch with little to no specs or pricing, no real demos to speak of and no hands on working devices for the attendees to play around with.


    Agreed.  Unless they are afraid to reveal who crappy the whole windows 8 desktop is.  The pricing will most likely be over priced as usual.

  • Reply 22 of 60
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GTR View Post



    I very, very, very interested in how this is going to be received.

    Very.

    By the way, for an interesting look at Microsoft's last decade or so, check this out:

    http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer


    If you compare Apple's pricing of OS X to Microsloft you will see that Apple has brought it's os price down so cheap that Microsloft can't compete.  And even the Xbox was a successful failure.  The units even failed so much people quit buying them and sales of the units dropped so bad that Microsloft was forced to either redesign the unit or stop making them all together.  And all the other ventures Microsloft prices were so high people were discouraged from participating.  Microsloft just doesn't get it.  Wayne Gretzky what is it he said.  "I want to be where the puck is going to be."

  • Reply 23 of 60

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tylerk36 View Post


    Has any one ran Winders 8?  I ran the public beta.  I didn't like it.  When you click on start this so called home screen slides over and you have active icons.  I wanted to play a game.  I had to create a shortcut on the desktop in order to play the game.  I think that Microsloft (yes Microsloft) should have made the start screen an option not have it force you to use it.


     


    Look at this link.  The video is nice.  Yet it doesn't show any functions beyond a sorta iOS competitive view.


     


    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview



     


    I am running the release preview on a test machine I have, but I like many who have tried it dislike the "Metro" interface.  My computer does feel a little snappier than Windows 7, but outside of that I don't see any reason to upgrade over Windows 7.  I installed Classic Shell to give me my start button back and to go straight to desktop mode so for me it is not worth the upgrade.  I will probably use it and test it out here and there until the release preview expires in Jan 2013 and then just put Mint back on it.

  • Reply 24 of 60
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    tylerk36 wrote: »
    If you compare Apple's pricing of OS X to Microsloft you will see that Apple has brought it's os price down so cheap that Microsloft can't compete.  And even the Xbox was a successful failure.  The units even failed so much people quit buying them and sales of the units dropped so bad that Microsloft was forced to either redesign the unit or stop making them all together.  And all the other ventures Microsloft prices were so high people were discouraged from participating.  Microsloft just doesn't get it.  Wayne Gretzky what is it he said.  "I want to be where the puck is going to be."

    Agreed.

    Microsoft has been 'steved'.

    Jobs did them from the outside, while Ballmer did them from within.
  • Reply 25 of 60
    gtr wrote: »
    Agreed.
    Microsoft has been 'steved'.
    Jobs did them from the outside, while Ballmer did them from within.

    Ballmer is a joke as a CEO. MS has been declining steadily since Bill Gates left. While no Jobs, Gates knew what he was doing and did it well. In an unscrupulous way, perhaps, but it was successful.

    Apple may be king in consumer electronics, but MS is still the top dog in IT. Enterprises are still running Windows workstations, servers, and applications. They work well, but really only because they are the defacto standard. If Apple can make a good push in that sector, we may see the MS pyramid topple for good. Or maybe this will be where we see Red Hat and Ubuntu make some positive gains.

    In all, I think in 10 years we'll look back on Win8 and see it was a turning point for the IT world.
  • Reply 26 of 60


    Originally Posted by MarquisMark View Post

    In all, I think in 10 years we'll look back on Win8 and see it was a turning point for the IT world.


     


    I sure hope you're right. Apple will have to step it the heck up on the server end of things if they want to start the ball rolling, but once it does roll, it will be completely unstoppable.

  • Reply 27 of 60
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    mstone wrote: »
    That Start Screen shows nothing but casual consumer computing. Where are the business applications?

    That image shows (some of) apps that come with Windows 8. Which business apps are not part of.
  • Reply 28 of 60
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    Ballmer is a joke as a CEO. MS has been declining steadily since Bill Gates left. While no Jobs, Gates knew what he was doing and did it well. In an unscrupulous way, perhaps, but it was successful.
    Apple may be king in consumer electronics, but MS is still the top dog in IT. Enterprises are still running Windows workstations, servers, and applications. They work well, but really only because they are the defacto standard. If Apple can make a good push in that sector, we may see the MS pyramid topple for good. Or maybe this will be where we see Red Hat and Ubuntu make some positive gains.
    In all, I think in 10 years we'll look back on Win8 and see it was a turning point for the IT world.

    Just out of curiosity - did you have a chance to actually use Windows 8 in any meaningless way?
  • Reply 29 of 60

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    <..>

    LeBlanc noted that the packaging for Windows 8 takes a "fresh approach," with five different illustrations available. The new packaging also utilizes paper-based materials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption while also reducing the packaging weight by 41 percent.


     


    <..>


     


     


    Apple still wins : zero packaging needed for Mountain Lion ...

  • Reply 30 of 60
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    tylerk36 wrote: »
    Has any one ran Winders 8?  I ran the public beta.  I didn't like it.  When you click on start this so called home screen slides over and you have active icons.  I wanted to play a game.  I had to create a shortcut on the desktop in order to play the game.  I think that Microsloft (yes Microsloft) should have made the start screen an option not have it force you to use it.

    Look at this link.  The video is nice.  Yet it doesn't show any functions beyond a sorta iOS competitive view.

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview

    RTM is available for partners from early September. I've been using it for the last month on my work PC - pretty heavy load for 8 hours a day.

    At this stage, I'm much more inclined to upgrade my home PC to Windows 8, than to downgrade work PC back to Windows 7. To my knowledge (which is decent since I am in charge of company's volume licensing), around 30% of our staff has upgraded, no complaints so far.

    Now... we are IT company, so our staff is likely more flexible and capable to adjust to changes than ordinary corporate computer users. It will be interesting to see how transition goes when end-users start receiving new PCs with pre-installed Win 8, or decide to use Software Assurance to upgrade to Windows 8.

    Much as I am concerned, it took me around 1 hour to find all I needed to get around new Windows. Again, this is personal preference, but I like new Start Screen. All my business related apps are sitting on classic desktop, and Metro apps are used for my personal needs, so I can quickly flip start screen and see if I have new emails, new messages or calendar schedules... without actually having to open any app, and without having to mix personal and work related. Right-click on Start corner is a gift from heaven. In my scenario, machine boots in around 20 seconds from cold start, 40% of time it was booting Windows 7, and since uEFI init takes the same time in both scenario, I'd say that Windows 8 boots in 30% or less compared to Windows 7, with all the drivers, services and other startup-included software (I did upgrade from 7 to 8). This is not really important for desktop, but might be for laptops.

    So far machine is rock-solid, and everything works (including apps that are officially not supported, in my case Corel 5, Connect+Wise). Kaseya has some visual glitches in new IE10, but works as it used to in Chrome and Firefox. The only program we came across that doesn't work is Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, our Friday afternoon beer-time companion. I've sorted my problem with Windows 7 VHD in dual-boot (Hyper-V doesn't support hardware 3D, to my knowledge, and game, old as it is, still requires some hardware D3D/OpenGL).

    At this point I don't see a reason for complaints about Start Button missing. You still go to low-left corner and left-click for Start screen programs. Right click on Start Screen gives option for expanded list of all installed items (like "All Programs" button on previous Windows). Difference is more cosmetic than functional.
  • Reply 31 of 60
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member


    2013 could be a watershed year for Microsoft.   From what I read:
    • world wide sales of new desktop PCs are down and going lower -- meaning fewer automatic "new sales" of Windows 8
    • the Intel Surface-class Tablets aren't really tablets -- and aren't cost competitive enough to drive new sales (and Windows 8)
    • the UltraBooks are not compelling enough to drive new sales (and Windows 8)
    • Windows 8 is cumbersome to use compared to Windows 7, with no compelling features -- causing installed users to defer or avoid upgrade sales of Windows 8
    • Office 2013 offers no real advantages over 2013 -- why buy it?
    • when times are tight, consumers and companies tend to "avoid spending money and make what we have, work"

    All-in-all that's a pretty bleak picture for New Windows 8 and Office 2013 sales.

    MS is doomed. Oh, wait. They just had record Q4 revenue.
  • Reply 32 of 60
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    nikon133 wrote: »
    MS is doomed. Oh, wait. They just had record Q4 revenue.

    Look at what he wrote. He made no mention of MS's current revenue being low.nor then conclude they will not be successful next year because it is low. He very clearly started that next year many things, in his opinion, could hinder MS. He included a listed and used the would "could" not "would". There is absolutely nothing in his post that deserves your response.

    I've been using Win8 an WinServ2012. I've used WinPh7 and read quite abit about WinPh8 and the Surface. I quite like what they are doing with Win phone and the underlying system of Win desktop but they aren''t gaining traction in the phone dept., doubtful they will make a splash with the Surface or with WIn8 on tablets, and their desktop OS is cumbersome and confusing for a userbase that widely doesn't understand computers and doesn't like change.

    My company still uses WinXP for desktops. Vista made a lot of companies scared to change. Win7 is a great upgrade over WinXP but the damage was done. Win8 might be better than Vista on resources but the UI is too much of a radical change that I don't think it will be received well. "If you'll have to relearn how to use a PC OS UI I might as well just get a Mac " is something I expect many people to say to themselves.

    Now, I'm quite a fan of MS server OSes. They are simply the best, bar none. This is where their revenue and profits come from. This won't be changing for a long time but if they lose the consumer they will eventually lose that extra barrier of defense if a better enterprise solution comes along. Why does this speculation of a simple chain of events bother you to the point that you have to mention their quarterly revenue that has nothing to do with their collapsing consumer hold?
  • Reply 33 of 60


    Interesting! How sure we care that window 8 works fine?

  • Reply 34 of 60
    hftshfts Posts: 386member


    2013 could be a watershed year for Microsoft.   From what I read:
    • world wide sales of new desktop PCs are down and going lower -- meaning fewer automatic "new sales" of Windows 8
    • the Intel Surface-class Tablets aren't really tablets -- and aren't cost competitive enough to drive new sales (and Windows 8)
    • the UltraBooks are not compelling enough to drive new sales (and Windows 8)
    • Windows 8 is cumbersome to use compared to Windows 7, with no compelling features -- causing installed users to defer or avoid upgrade sales of Windows 8
    • Office 2013 offers no real advantages over 2013 -- why buy it?
    • when times are tight, consumers and companies tend to "avoid spending money and make what we have, work"

    All-in-all that's a pretty bleak picture for New Windows 8 and Office 2013 sales.

    Thanks. Someone who agrees with me that Surface devices are NOT tablets.
    Please refer to these as non-tablets for want of a better description.
  • Reply 35 of 60

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hfts View Post





    Thanks. Someone who agrees with me that Surface devices are NOT tablets.

    Please refer to these as non-tablets for want of a better description.




     if not tablet then what is it?

  • Reply 36 of 60
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    hfts wrote: »
    Thanks. Someone who agrees with me that Surface devices are NOT tablets.
    Please refer to these as non-tablets for want of a better description.

    They are tablets. That is defined by the HW. It's the OS that isn't well designed for tablet HW, which means it's just another poor Windows-based tablet.
  • Reply 37 of 60

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    They are tablets. That is defined by the HW. It's the OS that isn't well designed for tablet HW, which means it's just another poor Windows-based tablet.


     


     


    I don't think it will just be another poor Windows-based tablet. windows work well

  • Reply 38 of 60


    Originally Posted by fatusmiles View Post

    windows work well


     


    Not Windows 8.

  • Reply 39 of 60

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Not Windows 8.



     


     


    how did you know? it is not yet released

  • Reply 40 of 60
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    fatusmiles wrote: »

    how did you know? it is not yet released

    If only there was a way one could use the freely downloadable beta that has been out for months, watch videos of it on YouTube, or read reviews from around the world¡
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