Windows 8.1 is a winner, but PC sales will plummet, says..

Microsoft is caught in the ultimate good news/bad news syndrome: Windows 8.1 will likely fix Windows 8's woes, but PC sales will still take a nose dive. So says two recent Gartner reports, and they may well be right.

The report makes one thing perfectly clear: For the next several years at least, Microsoft's glory days are behind it. Once it essentially monopolised personal computing. Today and for the next several years, it's struggling to hold onto a 15% market share. Windows 8 clearly isn't going to help that, and has likely hurt. For a big change, we may have to wait until Windows 9.

Windows 8.1 is a winner, but PC sales will plummet, says Gartner | Computerworld Blogs
 
Sorry, not buying Gartner's outlook. Everyone keeps assuming people will replace the desktop/laptop with a touch device. There is zero evidence this is the case. Yes, touch devices are selling more, only because it's a new market. Most people, really everyone, I know has both. I have not yet met anyone who told me they were ditching their desktop for an iPad or Android device.

Assuming the trend remains, and it likely will, there are still over 1 billion windows devices on the market. Assuming Microsoft does not cut off its nose to spite its face, those numbers should remain steady. New device may drop because upgrade cycles are slowing, but the base remains. What Microsoft needs to do is not screw the desktop, but keep its base happy while focusing its modern UI on the touch market and doing everything in its power to coax developers into making quality applications that will compete with Android and iOS apps. Currently though, Microsoft seems to be working harder at pushing away its base, and creating an mobile environment that is very usable, but no hard core developer support over its competitors.
 

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Microsoft is caught in the ultimate good news/bad news syndrome: Windows 8.1 will likely fix Windows 8's woes, but PC sales will still take a nose dive. So says two recent Gartner reports, and they may well be right.

The report makes one thing perfectly clear: For the next several years at least, Microsoft's glory days are behind it. Once it essentially monopolised personal computing. Today and for the next several years, it's struggling to hold onto a 15% market share. Windows 8 clearly isn't going to help that, and has likely hurt. For a big change, we may have to wait until Windows 9.

Windows 8.1 is a winner, but PC sales will plummet, says Gartner | Computerworld Blogs


Hi there

Ms's better off days are NOT behind it --Ms doesn`t rely on Windows for 100% of its profits -- it makes money on a whole slew of other things these days.

Pc sales will do whatever PC sales are going to do -- absolutely nothing to do with W8 / or any other OS. W8.1 is a good improvement on W8.

For Ms doubters -- just look at the Markets recently - Ms is about the only stock still showing sort of gain -- and this is after the latest carnage in the Markets where in the last 3 days we`ve seen a drop of around 400 points.

I`d go with Market sentiment rather than some people purely looking at PC sales or Windows.

Gartners are also 100% RUBBISH -- they must be one of the most useless sources of information on the planet. I`d be BETTER OFF going with the exact OPPOSITE of what they say.

Gartner recommended Apple when they were over 700 USD -- now the price is under 400 USD !!!! If you`d gone with Gartner your capital would have been wiped out

Enc Market chart AAPL for today

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Jimbo
Pc sales will do whatever PC sales are going to do -- absolutely nothing to do with Windows 8 / or any other OS.

I have no idea why you keep posting that. It is nonsense.

You are right about MS having income from other sources, and that is unlikely to suddenly disappear. However, that is not what the article is about. The article is about Windows no longer monopolising personal computing.
 

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Jimbo
Pc sales will do whatever PC sales are going to do -- absolutely nothing to do with Windows 8 / or any other OS.

I have no idea why you keep posting that. It is nonsense.

You are right about MS having income from other sources, and that is unlikely to suddenly disappear. However, that is not what the article is about. The article is about Windows no longer monopolizing personal computing.
With over 90% of PCs using Windows, its hardly "no longer monopolizing". Even at 50% it would be monopole.
 

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And stop trying to say the price of MS stock has anything to do with how 8 or 8.1 was received. MS stock price has been around the same numbers for many years, stagnant.
 

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And stop trying to say the price of MS stock has anything to do with how 8 or 8.1 was received. MS stock price has been around the same numbers for many years, stagnant.

Or you could use a better word than stagnant.... stable.

For guys that don't try to use the stock market like a Vegas roulette wheel trying to guess which jackpots are going to hit... a stable stock can be a very good thing as an investment.
 

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Who knows whether 8.1 is going to be a winner - only time will tell. Gartner must have a special crystal ball.

I would suspect that M$ has frustated enough of their PC user base with 8.0 to make 8.1 a bummer too.

Maybe M$ can get a small share of the mobile market (very small share) - but if that is at the expense of the PC market, they made a very poor trade-off.
 

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Who knows whether 8.1 is going to be a winner - only time will tell. Gartner must have a special crystal ball.

I would suspect that M$ has frustated enough of their PC user base with 8.0 to make 8.1 a bummer too.


First sentence: I was thinking the same thing. How can something be called a "winner" when it hasn't even been released yet?

Second sentence: Many users are going to be very upset with 8.1 because MS isn't really correcting the issues users are complaining about. Yes, they are putting the start button back in place, but it sounds as though the button doesn't work the same as it did in previous Windows versions. When you click on the start button you should see the familiar menus. That isn't what MS is doing with 8.1. Is it really that difficult to give people the option to switch back and forth between classic and new menus? The phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" comes to mind when describing 8.1.
 

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Who knows whether 8.1 is going to be a winner - only time will tell. Gartner must have a special crystal ball.

I would suspect that M$ has frustated enough of their PC user base with 8.0 to make 8.1 a bummer too.

First sentence: I was thinking the same thing. How can something be called a "winner" when it hasn't even been released yet?

Second sentence: Many users are going to be very upset with 8.1 because MS isn't really correcting the issues users are complaining about. Yes, they are putting the start button back in place, but it sounds as though the button doesn't work the same as it did in previous Windows versions. When you click on the start button you should see the familiar menus. That isn't what MS is doing with 8.1. Is it really that difficult to give people the option to switch back and forth between classic and new menus? The phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" comes to mind when describing 8.1.

I say more: They are making it impossible to use Classic Shell, Start8 and other third party solutions, at least it's what I could ascertain in the server flavor !

:mad:
 

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The phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" comes to mind when describing 8.1.
That's exactly what they are doing. That so called 'Start button' is a joke. I can just as well push the Start button on my keyboard. What they are doing is an insult to their user's intelligence.
 

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I think they might do fine with the tablets.

Massive promotion budget, and presence via oem's everywhere.

Because of that, the os would have to be truly disgusting to do badly. It is probably ok for tablets, so MS might get 20% or more.

It might continue to keep potential buyers away from pc's. We shall find out.



Who knows whether 8.1 is going to be a winner - only time will tell. Gartner must have a special crystal ball.

I would suspect that M$ has frustated enough of their PC user base with 8.0 to make 8.1 a bummer too.

Maybe M$ can get a small share of the mobile market (very small share) - but if that is at the expense of the PC market, they made a very poor trade-off.
 

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Looks like they are aiming for the LCD.


That's exactly what they are doing. That so called 'Start button' is a joke. I can just as well push the Start button on my keyboard. What they are doing is an insult to their user's intelligence.
 

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And stop trying to say the price of MS stock has anything to do with how 8 or 8.1 was received. MS stock price has been around the same numbers for many years, stagnant.

Or you could use a better word than stagnant.... stable.

For guys that don't try to use the stock market like a Vegas roulette wheel trying to guess which jackpots are going to hit... a stable stock can be a very good thing as an investment.

My thoughts exactly. Stable.

MS, Apple, Google, and other Corps have been profitable, but that's not the point. It's about investor confidence of what they think a company will do in the future. It's like a farmer who won't plant seeds in bad soil or thinks there will be a drought. He/she may invest their money in something like cattle instead.

I would imagine that Apple stock took a hit when Steve Jobs died. That would certainly put a damper on investor confidence.

BTW, large corps are faring well during this world wide recession. It's mostly small business that took a big hit. :(

I don't think 8 was targeted at enterprise, although some may adopt it. I think eventually customized apps specific to a business will enter the scene. I've read articles on that.

All in all, don't forget that Microsoft has an ace in the hole > 7.
 

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