Windows 8 Five reasons why Windows 8 has failed

ferguj1

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Summary: The numbers are in and they don't lie. Windows 8 market adoption numbers are well behind Microsoft's greatest previous operating system failure, Vista.

win8vsvista-600x365.png

Windows fans will whine, but Net Applications' desktop operating systems numbers don't lie. Windows 8's pathetic user adoption numbers can't even keep up with Vista's lousy numbers.
Win8vsVistaWindows 8 usage can't even keep up with Vista/s poor numbers. (Data from Net Applications)


The numbers speak for themselves. Vista, universally acknowledged as a failure, actually had significantly better adoption numbers than Windows 8. At similar points in their roll-outs, Vista had a desktop market share of 4.52% compared to Windows 8's share of 2.67%. Underlining just how poorly Windows 8's adoption has gone, Vista didn't even have the advantage of holiday season sales to boost its numbers. Tablets--and not Surface RT tablets--were what people bought last December, not Windows 8 PCs.
MobileOSFeb2013Windows 8, and its relatives Windows Phone 8 and RT, make no impression at all in the smartphone and tablet markets. (Credit: Net Applications)


Windows 8's failure is actually greater than it appears. The tablet and phone markets in 2007 were next to non-existent. Now, in a market where NPD expects tablets to out sell notebooks by year's end, neither Windows 8 nor its cousins Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 even appear on NetApplication's mobile and tablet reports for February 2013. How bad is that? Android 1.6, with is tiny 0.02% of the market, does make the list.

I predicted that Windows 8 would be dead on arrival last year, but it's flopping even more than I thought it would be. So, why has Windows 8 been such a failure? Here's my list:
1. Metro, aka Modern: An ugly, useless interface.


I said it before, I'll say it again: Metro, or whatever you want to call it, may make an OK tablet interface, but it's ugly and useless on the desktop. It requires users to forget everything they ever learned about Windows and learn an entirely new way of doing things for no real reason. To quote a popularly held opinion, Metro is "awful."

True, you can use a more traditional Windows interface, but you know what would have been a lot better? If Microsoft had just kept the Windows 7 Aero interface for the desktop version of Windows 8 and give up this idea that the Metro touch-friendly interface is for every device.
2. Windows 8 brought nothing innovative to the desktop.


Can you tell me one new thing that Windows 8 brought to the desktop that was truly innovative? Exciting? Engaging? I can't. Windows 8 is faster than Windows 7, but that's about it -- and that dual interface mess makes it slower for practical purposes.
3. Developers hate it.


I said all along programmers wouldn't like throwing out their hard-won .NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) expertise to work natively on Windows 8. I was right. Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of video game company Valve, said it best: "Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space." He then started moving his Steam game empire to Linux.
4. Legacy Windows 7 users aren't moving.


We saw this happen before with Vista and XP. Then, as now, the new operating system -- Vista -- was not better than the old operating system -- XP -- so very few people moved to it. We're seeing it again now.

In addition, in an economy that's still not moving forward quickly, who really wants to move from tried-and-true Windows 7 to new, expensive Windows 8 PCs? As Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu observed, the $500 to $1200 price tags slapped on Windows 8 hardware makes it "uncompetitive" in a world where people want iPads and Android tablets.
5. Tablet, smartphone, and desktop competition.


If you are going to buy a new computing device in 2013, chances are it's going to be an Apple iPad, an inexpensive Android tablet, or a Chromebook. The PC desktop isn't dead, but it's not very profitable either -- and Windows 8 isn't helping PC sales.

Microsoft has to know this. If Microsoft does indeed start selling, or rather renting, Microsoft Office for iPad, you'll know they've seen the light. Microsoft's future then will not lie in operating system and application sales, but in services.

And Windows 8? Like Vista before it, Microsoft will re-release an older version of Windows, Windows 7 this time instead of XP, and start talking about wonderful Windows Blue, the next version of Windows, will be.
 
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6. Selfishness - They made this to run on their Surface tablets, not giving a crap about people who use standard laptops and PCs. (non touch screens)

Did they really think people we're suddenly going to run out and buy Surface tablets by the dozens just so they could run Windows 8?

Tiles belong on smart phones, not laptops and PCs.
 
It requires users to forget everything they ever learned about Windows and learn an entirely new way of doing things for no real reason.

Everytime I sit at a Windows 8 Desktop, the first thing I still do is move the mouse pointer to the bottom left of the screen lol

It's such a natural thing for Windows users to do, head straight for the "Start Button\Orb"

I know too that there are a lot of 3rd party alternatives to restoring the start button\orb, but why did MS remove it?

Seriously, "Why did they remove it?"

It would have bee so easy for them to at least have an option on the start screen to turn it on or off (especially for Desktop\Laptop users). I firmly believe that such a simple screw up has played a huge part in users dislike for the OS?

You could argue that the new Windows 8 start screen is the start button (one huge start button in your face?) If that were the case? why doesn't it automatically contain the most clicked items such as computer, documents, run etc?

Another major hangup MS have is deciding on the the different flavours they make available, how difficult should that be? I mean come on, would 2 not cover it? Home & Professional? I wonder why they are not making a full retail version of Win 8 available? I really think that someone at the helm in MS needs to do the following,

1. Push their closed fisted arm up their anus\rectum.

2. Push it out their mouth.

3. Open their fist.

4. Wave at all their users.

5. Grab their lip and pull till they have fully turned themselves inside out. :dunno:

6. Stand back and have a fresh look at what they are doing.
 
Take their security offering too, It used to be called "Windows Defender" then they changed it to "Microsoft Security Essentials" (I actually thought "Security Essentials" was a better choice of name) but in Win 8 it's gone back to Defender & they also removed the ability to right click and scan an individual file.... Where's the logic in that? :dunno:
 
Hello Everybody!
Does anyone know why Windows 8 (Version.8.1) doesn't allow a third part internet browser like Firefox to be run on their platform.I've tried even ''Firefox Nightly'' wich is supposed to be supported by Windows 8 and still not working. But I found another option of Firefox browser called ''PirateBrowser'' releasedby the site ''The Pirate Bay'',and its working like a charm with a To Proxy.
 
I am running Chrome on mine without any issue? What type error are you having?
 
Well Ferguj1, After installing Firefox and so on, when I try to click the shortcut for to open it, so I get an error message saying: ''your Firefox is already running ,but it is not answering'' .But Before when I had the Widows 8.0 , Firefox had no issues. But the new upgrade from Windows 8.0 to Windows 8.1 had messed a lot of things, now Ican't find even my games ,like Adera, Solitaire etc...So I can say that Microsoft is becoming a piece of crape. Maybe I need to switch to Mac or even Linux. I'm really tired of Windows in general ,especially when is messing with my Network Connections.
 
I'm looking to test out Windows 8.1 - Any good?

Slightly better than 8 but still not to my liking.

Sometimes I think they move item locations and name things slightly differently just to make it look new and send you into a tailspin as you embark on a whole new learning cure just to do the every day tasks you'd normally have done blindfolded.

I think they call it progress!!!
 
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