Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Microsoft Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky Out Following Windows 8 and Surface Launches

greenmeanie said:
You mean the sales forced on you when buying a new laptop or computer?
Click to expand...

No, the impressive upgrade figures that they released last week.

Speedy2 said:
I guess you didn't know that ALL Windows client licenses sold from now on count as Windows 8. Even when all major companies are still buying Windows 7 for years to come. They call it Windows 8 with a downgrade so that they can still count them as Windows 8 licenses.
Click to expand...

Totally irrelevant.

Microsoft only released the figures for online Windows 8 Upgrades which happened in a specific way (i.e. through the Microsoft Store).

Based on those alone it outsold Windows 7 in the equivalent period.

That does not count things like Volume Licensing or hardware sales.
 
boss.king said:
Do you say that as someone who's never used it before? Because the desktop is still right there, just as good as it was in Windows 7.
Click to expand...

I agree. I love Windows 8 now. Once I got used to the new interface, I can get to apps just as fast if not faster than Windows 7. I find using the start screen to be more fun than the start menu. I like it and think Microsoft did a great job on the OS.

Obviously there's going to be mixed reviews just like anything, but for me, it works great.
 
charlesdayton said:
Windows 8 is this year's Vista. At least it may do well on Tablet sales. But on the desktop/laptop people are hating it.
Click to expand...

Not true, the notebooks in particular are spectacular, the addition of the touch interface significantly enhances productivity. We were going to refresh a number of desktops (new imacs) and notebooks (new mackbook airs) this year and we have decided to switch back entirely to Windows 8 machines (with touch interfaces). The only Apple product that we will buy is one Mac Mini to run legacy software.

Be careful of sweeping statements that you make ("Windows 8 is this year's Vista"). At least in a business environment Win 8 offers a more productive work environment than does OSX.

Our ipads will be sold and as our phones come up for renewal we will start switching phones, we are not going to use an inconsistent user interface...

nikhsub1 said:
100% on point. I will go so far as to say that it is almost unusable as desktop software.
Click to expand...

The learning curve is about 2 hours to be productive and 2 days to be proficient.

Face it Apple got caught with their pants down 🙁
 
Last edited:
JGRE said:
Sales? They are simply forcing people to buy a PC with W8 preinstalled. HP doesn't even support W7 anymore, this is force feeding people W8
Click to expand...

Read the post above yours. Most of the reported sales have been through upgrades.

And forcing people to upgrade? Well...when the MS guy comes to your house and holds the gun to your head, you BUY THEIR DAMN COMPUTER! Just makes sense, you know. Ain't worth risking your life over.

...and then you go to the HP website, and look for Windows 7 PCs. They're still selling 14 laptop models with 7 on them.
 
Deadman64 said:
Apple fanboyism is out in full force on this thread.
Click to expand...

It's embarrassing. It's even worse when supposed intelligent people can't use basic functions in Windows 8 properly, judging by people's complaints. Some people here are more incompetent with a Windows PC than my 86 year old Gran...
 
Aidan5806 said:
In legal matters both are used and are interchangeable........so whats your point.
Click to expand...

My point is that companies seldom appoint a CEO who doesn't know enough to spell the company name correctly. I thought that we had already established that.

And if you can find a single example of Apple ever using a comma and a small "i" in any legal context, I'll say you are correct. But until then,

----------
LagunaSol said:
One can easily see why Ballmer is untouchable. Since he became CEO in 2000, MSFT stock has been on a tear.

Image

Oh, wait...
Click to expand...

Stock prices don't always tell the whole story.

picture.php
 
Last edited:
boss.king said:
Do you say that as someone who's never used it before? Because the desktop is still right there, just as good as it was in Windows 7.
Click to expand...


I agree Windows 8 is full of features and once you forget how to use Win7, version 8 is full of features that will appeal.

At first I totally disliked it, but after a few days it gets better and better.

It runs much faster than its older siblings.
 
k995 said:
Then you have never used it.

Its just as good a GUI as windows 7 and for a lot/most of users better. (and yes for some worse but thats always the case with any release)

use it before commenting on it.
Click to expand...
Obviously you have reading comprehension fail or you just fail to read my other post(s). I have used it, been using it for almost a year... Maybe it's because I support corporate environments which most here don't understand - for them windows 8 is unusable.
davie18 said:
I bet the people who are up voting the comments saying windows 8 is unusable haven't even tried it. I'd like to hear reasons as to why anyone considers it almost unusable, because it seems like one of the best OSs for desktop ever made to me...
Click to expand...
Bet you are wrong, see above.
 
Speedy2 said:
The whole Windows / Office ecosystem is based on lock-in. There's hardly a way around it for most people. If there were other software that could run Windows programs and work with Office documents flawlessly, the whole operation would collapse within a few years.

On the other hand, none of Apple's blockbuster products locks you into anything (well, almost). Apple wants to sell hardware and they don't care to whom. Macs can officially run Windows, iPhones and iPods have great support for Windows, the iTunes store is available as well. Apple has also been a supporter of several major open source initiatives like WebKit or CUPS.
Click to expand...

I think you're looking at things through rose colored glasses.

Office uses an open and standardized XML format:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML

There are hundreds of applications which support OOXML: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_that_supports_Office_Open_XML

Granted I'm sure support in most software is only partial, but Office documents are more open than any file format provided by Apple iWorks. Come to think of it, when was the last time Apple openly documented a file format? It's quite rare for Apple to do so.

Microsoft does not force you to use Microsoft Office, you're free to use OpenOffice if you choose so, but as we've seen over the years, Office trumps the competition significantly. MS Office is simply the best available office suite.

Apple on the other hand locks users to Apple hardware. Why isn't OSX installable on a regular Windows PC without hacking it? Why does Apple require a Lighting cable to connect to the new iPhone? Why is iTunes even required to manage the iPhone?

Apple makes good hardware and software, but for it to work well, you really have to stick to the Apple eco-system - the ultimate case of vendor lock-in.
 
Last edited:
This post is about Steve Sinofsky. Apologies to those who'd prefer to discuss the Windows 8 UI.

The abrupt departure of Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows and Windows Live, is being called poor timing for the tech behemoth. It's also seen as a sign that longtime Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has no plans to step down anytime soon.

Sinofsky's exit, just weeks after the company rolled out the Windows 8 operating system, "doesn't necessarily reflect well on the company," said Kirk Materne, managing director at Evercore Partners.

"I think if you're Steve, having this happen right after creates a level of distraction that you don't want in the first place," he said. "It's never great when you've had this much turnover at the senior level of a company that is really trying to gain its footing in markets like tablet and mobile."

Shares of Microsoft slid 90 cents, or 3.2%, to $27.09 on Tuesday. Its stock has languished in the last decade — virtually unchanged — while shares of rival Apple Inc. have climbed more than 6,700%.

...

Sinofsky, a 23-year Microsoft veteran, was in charge of the Windows 8 and Surface efforts at the Redmond, Wash., company. He was a polarizing figure in the office with a tough management style and was rumored to be in line to succeed Ballmer, who has been chief executive since 2000.
Click to expand...

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-microsoft-windows-shakeup-20121114,0,3224061.story

The real story, just so we know.
 
IMHO Win 8 is ok, but it take a long time to find what you need.

And the office want to migrate to Win8 in the next 3 month...I guess I start to use a mac in the office.
 
arunim said:
Expected this.. Windows 8 is a fail for desktop, but very good innovation for tablet.
Click to expand...

How did you come to this conclusion? Sources?

(oh never mind, I didn't understand that you were just basing your assumption on some Apple-dedicated forums posts)
 
nikhsub1 said:
Obviously you have reading comprehension fail or you just fail to read my other post(s). I have used it, been using it for almost a year... Maybe it's because I support corporate environments which most here don't understand - for them windows 8 is unusable.
Click to expand...
Oh really?
And you have documented proof that Windows 8 Enterprise is "unusable" for corporations.
Please share your vast knowledge as a help desk tech with us so that those of us who make the real decisions about what we will be using aren't wasting out time.
I must inform our CIO that we needn't waste our time developing in house applications for Windows 8 since it's "unusable".
All of our UAT results were false. All of our employees lied about their experience. 🙄

Seriously... stop before you make a bigger *** out of yourself.
 
nikhsub1 said:
Obviously you have reading comprehension fail or you just fail to read my other post(s). I have used it, been using it for almost a year... Maybe it's because I support corporate environments which most here don't understand - for them windows 8 is unusable.
Click to expand...
Compleet and utter BS . Sorry I dont believe 1 bit of what you write.


For cooporations windows 8 have quite some improvements over the already very good windows 7 .


But you no doubt are going to whine about the start menu, as if thats all people use.
 
Ryan John said:
Windows 8 is a souped up Windows 7 with an optional interface for start functionality. Once people get used to the interface they won't look back. I hated it for the first 2 hours of use, after that I just keep getting these very satisfactory hits of features and integration I absolutely love.

To judge it I think you need to look back in 6 months time and see what people think, it's way too early to establish a "fail" as you put it.

If the criteria for a "fail" is early adopters having issues, then surely by the same token iOS 6 has failed? So come on be realistic any new product needs time to bed in and for consumers to digest.



I just inserted my USB stick 😛 and 25 minutes, what are you running it on a ZX81? Takes less than 2 minutes on my 3 year old PC.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't believe the spec of some of the machines I have to repair ;-)
 
johncrab said:
Business users killed Win8 before the official release by saying they had no interest in it. This is what happens when a company tries to create one IS experience to bridge desktops and tablets. There is a very valuable lesson here for Apple that they should make their products work together but not follow the path to destruction with a common OS that MS just took.

----------

HP tried the touch desktop years ago. Steve Jobs even joked about it in a presentation. "After the novelty wears off, the arms get tired." What in the world was MS thinking here?

MS needs to dump Ballmer and bring in a CEO who can push the company into the next real generation of computing with a total departure from the Win95 legacy of the registry with a new front end on it every few years. They also need to focus on what made their company and stop trying to me-too every product that comes along. They're no good at it and always years late.
Click to expand...

OMG, I swear you just stated everything that I've been thinking since Win8 preview came out...mostly, GET RID OF THE REG!!!
 
Curren~Sea said:
Most of us in IT know that it takes several years before a new MS OS becomes worthy of installing as the default build. The majority of companies that I consult for are still on Vista or even XP with only long-term plans to move to W7.

W8 is clearly not targeted to the corporate client. The learning curve is just too large for your every day office worker.

The most interesting trend I have seen over the last few years is how many ipads are now in the board room. Perhaps the Surface will make some inroads here.

As for the Sinofsky departure I would venture it was a mutual decision. It looks suspicious being so close to both the Surface and W8 release.

As for Ballmer, there is absolutely no justification for his long tenure with the company other than the MS culture is simply stuck.
Click to expand...

No offense mate, but who do you consult with that are using Vista?!?!?! 😕
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back