Summary: News about Vista 8 and the flagship Vista 8 hardware

It is no secret that Microsoft is having many problems these days. Vista 8, the common carrier, is not being adopted in commerce. This is a big deal. People also ditch it after paying for it:

The world is “clearing” “8″. Is there any better proof that M$’s house is crumbling? Clearing is what retailers do when they want to make room for other stock or they are tired of stuff filling shelves without selling. They will throw away most if not all of their profit in doing so. One of M$’s cash-cows is drying up.

Even Microsoft allies like Gartner have no faith in Vista 8 and Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols thinks that Microsoft loses its identity:

If, however, Microsoft makes Office available for those more popular tablets as well, Surface will never catch up. Microsoft must know that it's looking at the possibility of Surface joining the ranks of Zune.

So that's the billion-dollar question Microsoft is facing. Does it put all its eggs in the software basket, as it has done for the most part during all its existence, or does it continue to seek a foothold as a hardware vendor? If Office for iOS and Android does come along, it has decided to forgo its dreams of hardware riches.

As Hamlet might sum it all up: Thus sales do make cowards of us all; and enterprises of great pith and moment, with this regard their marketing turns awry, and lose the name of action.

This is a massive crisis. Windows has become irrelevant. At electronics stores, for instance, Android seems to be outselling Windows. I last saw that yesterday. Even Apple is growing at Microsoft's expense. ⬆