What are the OEMs official stance on how Windows 8 will affect sales?

I'm drooling with anticipation to hear what the official comments are from the big OEMs regarding Windows 8 and how it will be affecting their sales of PCs laptops and desktops, and the avalanche of complaints they will have when customers receive their new OEM PCs.

Anyone working for HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba, ect that can give us insight into how these companies are reacting and gearing up for Windows 8?.

Honestly I wonder if some of the OEMs will simply continue to offer the option of Windows 7 until MS no longer supports it. I have a feeling that we WILL be seeing this angle from the more business oriented OEMs like HP, Lenovo, and Dell.

I don't work for any of them, but I will offer some speculation to the mix. They are pumped and ready. Even LONG before a release of Windows 8 was announced for beta testing and development, Intel, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and AMD were already building chips just for Windows 8 tablets. It's rumored that by the release of Windows 8 or at least November, there should be at LEAST 30 different tablet offerings running 8. I think Intel will be the main supplier of those chips as well. There is already huge speculation with the Surface tablet, although Acer poshes it. Speaking the business end, HP won't be offering a WinRT tablet and will be sticking with the traditional Windows to please their business partners, they're building tablets for Windows 8. One of their business oriented tablets already has some leaked pictures of it, as does a Dell tablet. Even at the recent PC expo this summer, ASUS, Acer, Samsung and other OEMs showed off their PCs running Windows 8. I would think there is a resounding tone of support and oomph for Windows 8 in the tablet space as well as the tradition PC space.

Although I would LOVE to hear from an insider as well...

Although I would LOVE to hear from an insider as well...

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I am not so sure you would like what they had to say.

SIW2 said:

Although I would LOVE to hear from an insider as well...

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I am not so sure you would like what they had to say.

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Somehow I find myself NEVER agreeing with cokey. I agree with you SIW2!


I would bet that HP, Lenovo, and Dell are especially peeved by the thought of trying to sell Windows 8 to small enterprises, of course these three also sell a lot of their prosumer line to large businesses as well, so it must really be a thorn in their sides.

I'm hoping that they simply offer Windows 7 along side windows 8 as an option. I'd figure they will have to do this to satisfy there enterprise customers .

I certainly wouldn't mind if they offered Linux Mint as an option as well. I've been using Mint for quite a while now and it is VERY polished and as good or better than Windows 7 in many areas, not to mention the solid security aspect of it.

I certainly wouldn't mind if they offered Linux Mint as an option as well. I've been using Mint for quite a while now and it is VERY polished and as good or better than Windows 7 in many areas, not to mention the solid security aspect of it.

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Yes and No.

I have recently had a quick look at Mint and Pinguy.

I am a complete Linux noob.

I admire what the guys have done - all credit to them.

However, if they are trying to make an o/s for the average user, they are not there yet.

All is not lost.

The oem's are stuck with windows ( except for their phone offerrings).

I don't think they like it. They can see Linux has done well on phones.

They must be thinking about getting something together - a full scale o/s - that will free them from their reliance on Windows.

A full blown o/s is a big task - but they are not starting from scratch.

I hope we do see a truly usable viable Linux desktop o/s on a whole selection of oem machines.

My question is, if Windows 8 is such a thorn is their sides, why are they building Windows 8 tablet PCs? Why not just say posh to all that and continue to build desktops and laptops and use whatever Linux OS they wanted on them?

SIW2 said:

I certainly wouldn't mind if they offered Linux Mint as an option as well. I've been using Mint for quite a while now and it is VERY polished and as good or better than Windows 7 in many areas, not to mention the solid security aspect of it.

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Yes and No.

I have recently had a quick look at Mint and Pinguy.

I am a complete Linux noob.

I admire what the guys have done - all credit to them.

However, if they are trying to make an o/s for the average user, they are not there yet.

All is not lost.

The oem's are stuck with windows ( except for their phone offerrings).

I don't think they like it. They can see Linux has done well on phones.

They must be thinking about getting something together - a full scale o/s - that will free them from their reliance on Windows.

A full blown o/s is a big task - but they are not starting from scratch.

I hope we do see a truly usable viable Linux desktop o/s on a whole selection of oem machines.

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SIW2,


Do you really think that a truly usable Linux destop os is really possible? And these OEMs together could create such an OS? If you think that they would choose Ubuntu, I would say that it is not possible as it is very unstable and buggy. And the OEMs need a stable OS for their products. Mint and Pinguy both are based on Ubuntu. Of course they can not start from scratch for a Linux OS. I think they may contact Canonical (Ubuntu's maker) for a customized OS which could appeal to the people. Or they can contact Google to create a desktop version of Android. But it would take a long time in both cases for the chosen operating systems to be as smooth and stable, user friendly and having a lot of software and usability as Windows. So I think they have to depend on Windows for a long long time!

Yes, I am sure it can be done.

I am also sure oem's would love to have an alternative to Windows.

They have seen how Android has done well on phones.

It is logical they would be looking at a full Linux o/s,.

I don't know exactly how they would get it together - or who would be involved - but it is hard to see how oem's are going to survive long term unless they do something - starting now.

I would say that it is not possible as it is very unstable and buggy

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Is it? Works fine for me and millions of others. If you google about, you might get the impression win7 has lots of issues. My grad dad used to say :

Believe nothig that you hear , and only half of what you see.

The problem really is that the average user will not feel comfortable with it.

It needs work, sure.

It is also not going to be the best solution for obsessive gamers.

SIW2 said:

Yes, I am sure it can be done.

I am also sure oem's would love to have an alternative to Windows.

They have seen how Android has done well on phones.

It is logical they would be looking at a full Linux o/s,.

I don't know exactly how they would get it together - or who would be involved - but it is hard to see how oem's are going to survive long term unless they do something - starting now.

I would say that it is not possible as it is very unstable and buggy

Click to expand...

Is it? Works fine for me and millions of others. If you google about, you might get the impression win7 has lots of issues. My grad dad used to say :

Believe nothig that you hear , and only half of what you see.

The problem really is that the average user will not feel comfortable with it.

It needs work, sure.

It is also not going to be the best solution for obsessive gamers.

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I don't think the OEMs would want to use a Linux based OS, like android. See, if android tablets are great and better than the ipad, why aren't they more mainstream? Also, I should mention that EVEN THOUGH android is the most popular used "smartphone" OS used, that doesn't mean it's the most enjoyed. Basically any user satisfaction survey/study will find that either ios or Windows Phone 7 will either first or second with android being a good third. I've literally never heard a good word about android other than widgets, literally, and I've come across a lot of people with androids, and I subsequently introduce them to my Windows Phone and they're interested.

And, yes, you can get a stable working Linux OS, if you get the best one out of I believe 500 different variants of the OS. Even still, many of those OSes aren't user friendly enough. Ubunbtu is ok, but the complete different UI and the dependence on WINE to run Windows apps isn't a good trade off for many a user to make.

I said phones. It has sold well and continues to do so.

It hasn't done well on tablets.

It needs work. The variant running on nexus looks better.

It will get better still.

many of those OSes aren't user friendly enough

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Yes, I agree.

That doesn't mean they can't be made user friendly.

SIW2 said:

I said phones. It has sold well and continues to do so.

It hasn't done well on tablets.

It needs work. The variant running on nexus looks better.

It will get better still.

many of those OSes aren't user friendly enough

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Yes, I agree.

That doesn't mean they can't be made user friendly.

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Yeah, I know you're talking about android phones. They have been selling well, but again, android ranks lower than ios or Windows Phone on the user satisfaction ranking. Popular doesn't always equate into being great. On tablets, it's iffy. ASUS, Samsung, I think Dell have been slaughtered when they used android on their tablets and want something better than can compete and exceed the ipad, as why many are pumped and ready for Windows 8.

And yes, that doesn't mean Linux can't be made user friendly, but it's had a lot of time to get there and opportunity to overtake Windows the past decade, it has yet to do so. We'll see though.

Sales are what counts - Android has done well on phones

Not well on tablets . Not yet.

Google are having a go there - they aren't some tin pot concern. It will do better on tablets than it has so far.

The landscape has changed.

There wasn't any real attempt to make Linux work for the average prior to the phone stuff.

Now the oem's know that it can sell.

There wasn't any need for them to look elsewhere previously - the relationship with MS worked ok for the oem's - then .

There is no point in talking about the past decade.

Now is a different ball game.

Coke I am willing to bet that the nexus outsells the windows 8 tablets
I am not arguing about which is the better OS but about pure sales.
Lenova thinkpad 2 with w8 scheduled to launch October 26th with an estimated price of $1200
ouch!!!

Yep. Thought they might be gunning for the ultrabook end.

Surely MS can bring Surface in a lot less than that.

Curious as to how they will price it.