Frank Shaw (MS) Staying centered

It is not a good sign.

Staying centered - The Official Microsoft Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

 

[Kari]

I find this is extremely well said and true:

In this world where everyone is a publisher, there is a trend to the extreme – where those who want to stand out opt for sensationalism and hyperbole over nuanced analysis. In this world where page views are currency, heat is often more valued than light. Stark black-and-white caricatures are sometimes more valued than shades-of-gray reality.

 

[XweAponX]

Out of the corner of my eye? When I glanced at this post? I thought it said "Freak Show" hahaha!

But he is posting as if his figure of 100 Million is the amount of actual people USING Windows 8, which it ain't. It's the same Bloat they used when saying how many people "bought" Vista. If I was not sure earlier I am positive now, that these figures they are puling out of thin air are not actual amounts of people using their product.

 

[SIW2]

Notice he then points at FT and Economist as being extreme, and by implication wrong.

It’s been a week like that, from a couple of unlikely sources.

Very odd.

 

[Kari]

Notice he then points at FT and Economist as being extreme, and by implication wrong.

It’s been a week like that, from a couple of unlikely sources.


Very odd.

It might be that as we want to understand his blog post both in a way that would support our different opinions, we interprete it totally differently. I read the sentence you quoted in a context of black and white versus shades-of-grey; those articles mentioned are really biased, clearly colored with the writer's own agendas.

 

[SIW2]

It might be that as we want to understand his blog post both in a way that would support our different opinions, we interprete it totally differently

Speak for yourself.

Those are not some spotty teenagers personal blog.

It the FT and the Economist.

Either

1) MS are attempting some sort of misguided damage control. That indicates they are hurting, not a good impression to broadcast.

Or

2) MS do not understand the situation.

Unfortunately , there are some comments, notably from Miss Julie, which support the latter.

 

[Wenda]

Either

1) MS are attempting some sort of misguided damage control. That indicates they are hurting, not a good impression to broadcast.

Or

2) MS do not understand the situation.

Unfortunately , there are some comments, notably from Miss Julie, which support the latter.

I also suspect the latter.
Sad really, but it's looking more and more like Win 8 will be my last Microsoft OS.
I do not share their 'vision' and will not be going there.

Wenda.

 

[SIW2]

They may surprise us.

They might be keeping it under their hats.

One gets the impression there really is no plan B.

MS realise windows will not enjoy the dominance it once had.

They have done the right thing making Office available to other platforms.

They seem to be pushing as many of their services as possible. Bing integration to leverage their remaining monopoly power , affording it an advantage over other search engines.

Metro is the way are pushing those services constantly at the users, while they still can.

Perhaps they think they have to keep doing that, and there is no other way.

 

[SIW2]

I thought he was asking for trouble:

"There will be people who agree, strongly. There will be those who disagree, equally strongly. All good, all expected."


Hold on a sec. So it's still OK to disagree strongly with Microsoft's direction? And talk about it? Because a minute ago it sounded like he was saying that wasn't OK.

We'll spare you Shaw's link to a Microsoft marketing blog but we'll leave in his second link, which is his example of "more light." Specifically, it is a link to an editorial on Gizmodo.

Got that? The Financial Times, The Economist ... don't trust those shameless, muckraking charlatans! Stick with Gizmodo.

Microsoft honcho pleads with media: 'Stop picking on us!' ? The Register

 

[XweAponX]

haha! Some of these Tech Rags have NOT been as Kind to Windows 8 as we have basically been in here.

 

[labeeman]

Looks like the water in the pot that M$ is in is getting too hot to handle, hope M$ can figure out how to turn the fire off.

 

[Coke Robot]

From their side, they have a bunch of people who refuse to learn anything new of their new OS that they had to do in order to stay relevant in this time era of the desktop being passé. They're rebuilding their core product to modernize it for the 21st century, and if that means upsetting certain people, so be it. By certain people, it's more like the ones that follow technology which equates to a VERY small user base compared to the hundreds of millions of others.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
How do they KNOW how many people are USING windows 8 -- They never asked me so their number is at least wrong by 1 (I leave that to you as to whether it should be +1 or - 1).

Also "Using" means totally different things -- For example If I use an automated Ticket machine to buy a train ticket and the machine is powered by WINDOWS does that mean I'm a USER of Windows -- same with any other device that uses windows - even If I for instance am only looking at the Destination Screens in Airports to find the Gate for a flight I'm meant to be on.

These sorts of Stats whether they come from the F.T or the Peoples Beer Drinking Party are meaningless unless they state how the stats were obtained and what they meant by "USING" Windows.

If they include "Passive Users" such as people viewing Airline destination screens at an Airport for example and these screens are powered by Windows (either at the front end or via a back end server) then there very well might be 100 million "Users".

Same could apply to ATM's or EPOS cash terminals in supermarkets etc etc.

Some of the writers of these articles really would put George Orwell's "Newspeak" in his novel "1984" to shame.

Newspeak and George Orwell's 1984 - George Orwell Links

Cheers
jimbo

 

[DooRules]

Windows 8 is already more "passe" than the desktop. And it was accomplished in an astonishing short amount of time.

 

[4wd]

I thought it said "Freak Show" hahaha!

rofl

Windows 8 is already more "passe" than the desktop. And it was accomplished in an astonishing short amount of time.

Yep, a considerable deed! In a short timespan effectively ruining years of amassed goodwill & recognition (W7).

But in a way a thanks to MS for delivering this rat's nest-OS > got somewhat shaked out of old habits, into getting this (thanks SIW2) on one of the laptops, works great for many (most) daily tasks, and looking into Wine.

 

[XweAponX]

From their side, they have a bunch of people who refuse to learn anything new of their new OS that they had to do in order to stay relevant in this time era of the desktop being passé. They're rebuilding their core product to modernize it for the 21st century, and if that means upsetting certain people, so be it. By certain people, it's more like the ones that follow technology which equates to a VERY small user base compared to the hundreds of millions of others.

Not really - I've offered to install it to several of my customers's PCs - Even when I offer it for FREE, swallowing the cost of the licence they Still refuse. Regular everyday Joe's, they just don't WANT it. This is what MS does not comprehend - The Regular Users are afraid of it, its not "learning to use a new thing" - It's too drastic of a change.

If MS were to account for all of the new machines were the drives were wiped and Windows 7 installed, this figment, this "100 Million" figure would become maybe 5 million.

 

[SIW2]

You don't understand any of this Cokie.

Ms is selling a product.

They have to please the consumers.

Not the other way round.


It isn't hard to understand.

They do have a certain amount of monopoly power - but even so, the consumers have given them a bloody nose. Rightly so.

They say they have listened to the consumers and will make substantial changes. So they should. That is the correct thing for them to do.

 

[Kari]

I have already learned that I should stay out from these discussions, but let me just say this: Of all "regular users" I have talked or shown Windows 8, at least four fifths are and have been very positive about it, about a half has made switch to Eight straight away and a surprisingly great number of those have later sent a message or called telling how nice it is.

My almost computer illiterate family members and friends are also a good example. Take my wife, who after a few extra lessons on how to use her Hotmail account on the IE10 app found out everything else on her own. My neighbors wife asked why is it that first now Windows has become so easy everyone can use it, talking about Start Screen. I even have a number of converts, Mac to Eight telling how Windows is finally nice to use.

As I do not know it for sure, I can only guess that some of the positive feedback me and my colleagues are getting is because when we tell and show Windows 8, we do not accompany presentation with "BTW, it sucks", "Trust me, I am a pro, it's not good for you", "Worst OS ever" and such statements. Instead we show how easy it is to use and customize as you want to, that you can run any app and program you had on Seven etc.

Always amusing to read these threads. "Absolutely nobody want to use it even if free", "Nobody likes it", "Everybody hates it", "No business will ever use it" and so on. Statements like this presented as facts!

I know I will receive my usual share of negative feedback again but honestly, I do not care. And this all for what? Start Screen which can be bypassed and one missing button which can be brought back.

I do not repost my earlier posts often, in fact I am not sure if I have ever done it, but now I want to post what I wrote a few weeks back in another thread:

This about how many clicks it takes to restart is once again one of those small shameless lies used to negate and bash Windows 8. By default it takes 3 clicks to restart Windows 7 and 3 clicks to restart Windows 8, two if you do Win + I first.

Before someone responses that "But in Windows 8 before you can make the first of those three clicks you must bring the pointer to the corner to open charms!", I just want to remind you that in Windows 7 you have to bring the pointer to a corner to be able to click Start.

I have not joined these discussions as I find it useless, like this well know imaginary gentleman from La Mancha fighting the windmills. Is there something wrong in me because I find Windows 8 both nice, fast and easy to use? Please keep in mind I have no touch screen devices except the mobile phone. No, I am talking about Windows 8 on a normal laptop or desktop. Also, I am not talking as a normal home user who needs PC and Windows only to surf the net, email and games. No, I am talking about my use of Windows 8 both as a heavy duty geek in private life and professional use of Windows 8 working in a company which among other things is developing tailor made Windows 8 in a stick (Windows ToGo) systems for business use.

It is so extremely easy to find anything on my PC now with Windows 8. For newbies I recommend you try to learn to use Win + Q, Win + W and Win + F keyboard shortcuts and learn their difference, and you have no more need to desperately seek your hard disks. Basically Windows 8 is nothing else than a revamped Seven; not counting the Start button, everything else is there. It runs same software PLUS additional Windows Apps, it can mount an ISO image natively, first time in PC history a normal OS includes an advanced virtualization platform with no additional cost (Hyper-V, available in Pro and Enterprise).

It is funny to read these comments about how a feature should be natively included in Windows 8, that it is a failure because this or that feature is only available through a third party tool. Most often these comments come from users who have Windows 7 filled with third party tools, Daemon or similar to mount ISOs, Rocketdock to get "nicer" buttons, Rainmeter skins because they are not happy with the default Windows themes, and so on.

I am 54 years old. I've done this all my adult life. I left the world of Windows mid 90's for Unix and Linux as I needed something Windows was not capable to give me. Windows XP brought my interest back, Seven took me totally back to Windows and Eight confirmed it: Windows is my operating system. Flexible, easy, fast, reliable.

Thank you Microsoft.

Kari

 

[SIW2]

"Absolutely nobody want to use it even if free", "Nobody likes it", "Everybody hates it", "No business will ever use it"

Those are obviously exaggerations. It is part of normal human communication.

Have you ever come out of a movie and said - that was complete crap - I have just wasted 2 hrs of my life?

It is the way we speak.

Whatever your impressions are of how your circle thinks 8 is ok - that is not borne out in the wider world.

MS have publicly announced they are going to make substantial changes.

The feedback must be very significant or they wouldn't bother.

In spite of MS spun figures, it is not selling well. Even the oems are saying so.

Ian Moulster has the right idea:

Microsoft: emphasis on Start Screen shackled Windows 8 | News | TechRadar

 

[Coke Robot]

From their side, they have a bunch of people who refuse to learn anything new of their new OS that they had to do in order to stay relevant in this time era of the desktop being passé. They're rebuilding their core product to modernize it for the 21st century, and if that means upsetting certain people, so be it. By certain people, it's more like the ones that follow technology which equates to a VERY small user base compared to the hundreds of millions of others.

Not really - I've offered to install it to several of my customers's PCs - Even when I offer it for FREE, swallowing the cost of the licence they Still refuse. Regular everyday Joe's, they just don't WANT it. This is what MS does not comprehend - The Regular Users are afraid of it, its not "learning to use a new thing" - It's too drastic of a change.

If MS were to account for all of the new machines were the drives were wiped and Windows 7 installed, this figment, this "100 Million" figure would become maybe 5 million.

The people I talk to who ARE the consumer demographic Windows 8 targets are more indifferent to Windows 8. Some like it, few don't, others just believe they'll eventually have to learn it either way.