Last month we wrote about OEMs dumping Windows and Microsoft's booster Ina Fried adds another new example, which is ASUS. The ongoing attempt to use vapourware won't work anymore (Blue is hogwash).

"The ongoing attempt to use vapourware won’t work anymore (Blue is hogwash)."Vista 8 is a total disaster and Microsoft's results are getting harder to game [1, 2, 3], with some people who urge Microsoft to fire Ballmer. As Pogson puts it, Microsoft is "Trying To Work For A Living" now that preinstalls of Windows are weak (Android is preinstalled more times). Here are some numbers of Microsoft's own (rebadged) hardware sales: "Microsoft's shares took a beating following its gloomy fiscal 2013 earnings report earlier this month, in which it wrote down nearly a billion dollars on its unloved Surface RT fondleslabs. But the software giant isn't out of the woods yet, because new details have emerged that have the full Surface picture looking even worse than was previously thought.

"In Redmond's annual 10-K report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), published on Tuesday, the software giant reported actual Surface revenue figures for the first time – and they're not good."

Also note that "Microsoft managed to mow through an $898m marketing budget in just eight calendar months – and consumers still didn't take the bait."

An article from famed computer expert Jean-Louis Gassée says: "Last week’s Monday Note focused on Microsoft’s conversion from a divisional to a functional organization. It resulted in interesting discussions in the comments section as well as in e-mail exchanges and conversations around a couple of Valley watering holes. Some thought Microsoft’s statements had the sincerity of a death-bed conversion, others pointed to the challenges in remaking a cricket team into a football squad, most expressed doubts about Microsoft’s ability to successfully adapt to a world where the PC no longer reigns supreme."

Either way, even Microsoft-friendly sites take notes of growing impatience at Nokia, which despite being a Microsoft pawn has openly complained about Microsoft's failure. Interesting times. Can Dell still rescue/salvage itself? ⬆