Research firm: PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops

Full story: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Research-firm-PC-sales-plunge-as-Windows-8-flops-202387501.html

Selected quotes:

Maybe this is why Win9 is already in the works.

 

Could be due to windows 8 being a flop but it could also be that the world is broke.

Hard to buy a sucky new touchscreen oriented windows 8 pc when your windows 7 pc is still awesome, and only a few more food stamp payments until you own it:-D

 

I think Rikky maybe closer to the reason.
Windows 7 is still a superb OS and people are sticking with it especially in these financially constrained times.
As with windows XP when it came out it was the best on the market and a lot of users just would not change from it as can be seen from the number of members here who still run XP.

Most of the hospitals here in Belgium are still using XP and there is no sign of change.

 

They are blaming Windows 8, but the reality is it is due to different factors.

Tablets are the new cool
The world economy is in the crapper.
China is having serious issues.
http://www.zdnet.com/global-pc-shipments-in-steep-decline-due-to-weak-chinese-market-7000012785/
Dell and HP are restructuring, which slows down sales as well.



Then look at the point that hardware isn't leapfrogging like it used to, and computers are last longer because of it. That removes a reason to upgrade.




Windows 8 is not the reason for this, and yeah Windows 9 is in the works. Of course, when XP came out, Windows Vista was in the works. When Vista came out, Windows 7 was in the works. It takes a good year or two of RND for an OS release.

 

With these numbers being compared to last years numbers I'd say that the economy is accounted for already. Still it may be that many people have Win7 http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp and it fits the bill. Why would they need to buy a new computer with a new OS when the last one they bought still works fine for their needs?

 

I wouldn't say the economy for China has been accounted for. Nor has HP and Dell restructuring.


http://www.zdnet.com/global-pc-shipments-in-steep-decline-due-to-weak-chinese-market-7000012785/

Global PC shipments in steep decline due to weak Chinese market
Summary: IDC predicts that worldwide PC shipments could fall by "double digits" — more than previously expected — as a result of a weak Chinese market.

Article is from last month.

 

Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments in the First Quarter of 2013 Drop to Lowest Levels Since Second Quarter of 2009

No Windows 8 blame anywhere.

 

There is an odd statement in one paragraph of the komonews article that caught my eye:

I have to question the validity of that statement.
If Microsoft was concerned with keeping the "traditional" PC(in this case desktops and laptops) relevant, why develop and release an OS oriented towards mobile(smartphones, tablets, etc.) units?

As I recall from early press releases from Microsoft, in response to questions about what features the new OS(Windows 8) would have, the reply was they believed the market was moving towards the mobile devices and the new OS was going to reflect that and support those devices.

As for the decline in sales, from the article:
Windows 8 blamed for biggest PC shipment plunge ever, at Foxnews.com

Think this is a large factor. From the same Foxnews article:

I haven't had an opportunity to work with Win8, but based on comments and reports from others I don't think I'd have much use for it as all I work with are "traditional" PC(s). It seems to me though, this is the same kind of thing that Vista succumbed to, bad press and folks jumping to conclusions, at least as far as whether Win8 is a flop or not.

 

Good catch in that first quote. They contradicted themselves.

 

Another factor is that 90%+ of PC users have no need to upgrade to a new unit.

Eliminate the 10% or so of users who can really benefit from the power of an i5 or i7 (extreme gaming or HD video editing), and you're left with a majority of people who use their PC for Facebook, Skype, YouTube and MS-Office. All of these mundane tasks will run on an ancient XP PC and run incredibly well on a Windows 7 PC. With the exception of MS-Office, all of these tasks will also run on a cheap Android tablet or smart phone.

 

When Microsoft kills XP next year, we will see a slight upclimb in Win8 sales. I have considered 7 to 8 updates myself.

The notion of everything running on a Tablet or Android is not exact either. Android apps frequently will no longer run on my device. I could be still running Win XP on all my desktop applications.

 

I don't see why there will be an uptick when they kill XP support as it hasn't been available new for years now, at least not officially. Besides, most businesses will go to 7 as they have been planning the move for a while now, plus The Interface Formerly Known As Metro (TIFKAM) is not suited for business use without much retraining and gnashing of teeth.

 

With all respect, I think you're grossly underestimating the number of corporations and software providers that are going to try to milk XP beyond its official end of support.

I still see many clients with proprietary or business-specific software that will only run on XP 32-bit (and no, it will not run in a virtual XP setup). Worse yet, when I suggest clients upgrade to a newer Windows 7 compatible version of their software, I'm often told no such upgrade is available from the software vendor. Smaller businesses often do not have the money or time to migrate to a competitor's Windows 7 or 8 friendly software and retrain their employees on it.

The end of XP is still the five-ton elephant in the room many IT people are ignoring. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in 2014 and beyond.

 

I feel that some mega-companies will take out "zombie support" contracts with Microsoft at extortionate rates, but the smaller ones will continue to operate where they have no choice without support, and they will be hit hard security-wise because of it.

 

Windows 3.11 support was still around when XP came out. Microsoft typically hands it off to a third party and the company pays them instead. I know this because I worked for one of said companies.

 

Even if they did that, MS won't be writing patches just for mega corps. . So they will suffer security wise as well.

 

But the problem is that this support is expensive for a small company. A source I have just read quotes a "typical" figure of $200 per licence per year, which for a small office running let's say 30 seats equates to $6000/year, which could be a lot of money for a small business. There are floor and ceiling amounts, but I would guess a medium sized business of 200 users would end up paying let's say $36000 a year for support which used to be free.

 

Well at that point, it becomes a management decision. Weigh the money spent in a private support contract vs. updating software and hardware to Windows 7 levels.

 

Or then you have the option that my placement company went with, which is to go to a thin client OS and run everything through Citrix.

 

Which could easily outweigh the cost of just upgrading the OS.

 

But you can do it with the same ratty old hardware from 2004 with decreased retraining as it has been in use as the VPN system at said company for a few years. Plus, it's known to the support staff, and the current VPN setup can be extended.

 

The thing is, if you are still using the the ratty old hardware from 2004(which should still support 7 nicely), that means you are using a connection client then and not making true thin clients, right?

That leaves the same OS on there that is going to be prone to security issues at some point. I'm not understanding how you can make XP completely secure, even with VPN to a virtualized solution. Educate me on this.

Hardware from 2004 won't last forever anyway. At some point, they are forced to upgrade, and then they would have the costs of converting to a thin client system PLUS having to buy new hardware. It seems to me it would be a short term solution, only to defer the actual problem to a later date.

 

I think what the company was planning on was to put some sort of Citrix-supplied miniOS on the PCs, thereby removing XP.

I do agree with you, I was just commenting on the system that Serco chose for this company.

 

Gotcha. I'm not terribly (or at all) familiar with how citrix works on thin clients.

If they are just replacing XP, that fixes the security concern. I thought maybe they were just using login clients.

 

I have been playing with windows 8, and once used to the shutdown procedure, without hacking to get desktop as previous operating systems- I find it quick and brilliant because you can get sufficient free programs for it.
I keep XP professional, and Windows 7 ultimate on same machine- I have shewn many friends how to dual boot , and left them with the ability to try both- Companies could do the same, by using dual boot systems to suit the company needs and software and putting on a seperate partition on all computers, so that the employees couuld perhaps try it for say a half/on hour evry day at end of days work- It is a lot simpler and once got to grips with would probably save money in time loading, shutting down (despite the three step action it shuts down **** quick. I find it will work on older pc/laptops, as long as they have reasonable graphics cards- so cost conscious in my estimation.
Sales worldwide might be slow at present, and it could well be the worldwide monetry situation holding things back- but good asXP and Windows 7 have been, I can see an eventual uptake of windows 8- especially with touchscreen, and detachable screens on the newer laptops.
I have found a lot of interest amongst people, maybe its just the thought of the cost to companies .

 

The major source of expenditure in an IT department in a company is on licences for software. Why would a company wish to double the cost of OS licensing for a piece of software which in computing terms is completely untested and may be unstable, especially since Microsoft has themselves advised companies to ignore this release. Plus, most companies have spent a lot of time since windows 7 came out testing it and getting it ready for use on the company systems, which would have to be repeated with Windows 8. Plus, Windows 8 Blue is due just round the corner in IT terms and might improve things a lot.