Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Acknowledges That Windows, the Common Carrier, is Falling Behind

A swirl



Summary: Microsoft desperately tries to lower the price of Windows because OEMs walk away; Microsoft's co-founder "not happy" with Microsoft, no longer thinks it is a worthwhile investment

Windows 8, or Vista 8 as we commonly call it, is doing much worse than Vista, on which it is based. It continues to fail pretty badly. Even a pro-Micorsoft news site had asked, "Is Windows 8 In Trouble?"



This question was brought up in light of news about price drops (after price hikes), which means that OEMs are walking away. As Pogson put it:

M$ are at the edge of a cliff. They raised prices to milk the usual cash-flow from the truly locked-in and now even they aren’t buying it. There is either going to be a dramatic fall in prices or a dramatic fall in share of the market. Even at $0, I think the price/performance of that other OS is poor so expect prices M$ charges OEMs to fall to $10-$20 over the next year. This will affect “7″ as well because they can’t sell “7″ at too much higher a price than “8″.


It is being reported that Microsoft's Vista 8 tablets fail to sell (Samsung even cancels such products) and Android is a notable cause for it:

There are reports coming in that Microsoft's Surface tablets, which the company has made a very big effort to promote, are not selling well. Pacific Crest analyst Brendan Barnicle is quoted in Forbes predicting sales of only 600,000 Surface units in the quarter, which is down from an original forecast of 1.4 million units. For the full year this year, his sales forecast drops to 3 million, from 4 million. He also predicts that the shortfall will impact Microsoft's bottom line.

Microsoft must move quickly to create a brighter future for Surface devices if it wants to be a player in the tablet race, otherwise the company's tablet prospects could resemble Microsoft's phone prospects over the past few years. Ironically, the key for making Surface a success may be embracing open source platforms, and Android in particular.


No, not really. Microsoft has been busy trying to use patent extortion against Android as means of making up for the loss of income incurred by the emergence of Android as de facto mobile platform.

Here is a recent Ballmer interview where he spoke about Vista 8:

Q: Then question number 2 is, I guess: How will you manage things more carefully? Put another way: How will a Win8 ecosystem differ from the Win95?

Ballmer: First of all, applications written to the new Win8 APIs have to be written in a much better-behaved manner. And we’ve prescribed how OEMs add their value into the experience. I think both of those things go a long way to ensuring that no matter what the business model or the price point of the device, they are higher quality. We’re taking more steps to be careful and limited in what people can do on our processors....
Artificial limitations. Let this remind people why Microsoft is so harmful to so many. Notice how Bill Gates expresses disappointment at Microsoft's efforts in such devices; he no longer thinks that Microsoft is a good investment and IBM has in fact just leaped past Microsoft (again) in terms of market value. Here is part of the sobering reality:

Steve Ballmer has never claimed to be a visionary like Steve Jobs, or a brilliant engineer, like Yahoo! (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer. Steve Ballmer is a marketing man, top to bottom. He's just not a successful one.

The decision to split Windows 8 into two operating systems in an attempt to replicate the Windows Home/NT division was a train wreck. The decision to price the Surface RT to compete with the iPad was a train wreck.


The greater competition is actually Android. It's not a "Mac versus PC" world.

The articles about Gates speaking against Microsoft really say it all. The company is a lost cause. All those articles about Gates are damaging and revealing; no wonder many executives left the company.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

The State of EPO Staff's Health in Rijswijk or The Hague
We're going to cover the EPO some more later in the month
NVIDIA Corp Lost 36% of Its "Value" Since Cheeto Inauguration, But "Gen Hey Hi" (GenAI) is Totally Not a Bubble
Selling loads of unneeded hardware based on hysterical hype; like selling shovels during a Gold Rush
 
Techrights Will Spend the Next Few Years Writing a Lot About Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
It's a growing problem
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia, Windows by Default No More?
GNU/Linux is now on the shelf
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux 'Articles' From Linux-Hostile LLMs
It is almost always negative things and nobody can be held responsible for it except the charlatans prompting the LLMs
Links 05/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) "Sale Looks Highly Imminent" (US), Stock Market Drowning in Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Moving Plants, No to Smartwatches, RAID Hygiene
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 04, 2025
Techrights Has Dealt With More Potent SLAPPs Than Violent Microsofters Begging to Hide What They Did to Women
I became accustomed to SLAPPs
Links 04/04/2025: Fury in South Korea, Flight MH370 Remains Mystery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Anger and Raspberry Pi CM4
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2025: LLM Slop Bubble Bursting and Korea Music Copyright Association Bans Slop 'Music'
Links for the day
Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day