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NPD Group Analysts Say Windows 8 Sales Sluggish

Posted by timothy on from the whiffling-through-the-tulgey-wood dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "While Microsoft claims it's sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the month since launch—a more rapid pace than Windows 7—new data from research firm The NPD Group suggests that isn't helping sales of actual Windows devices, which, in its estimation, are down 21 percent from last year. Desktops dropped 9 percent year-over-year, while notebooks fell 24 percent. 'After just four weeks on the market, it's still early to place blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market,' Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at The NPD Group, wrote in a Nov. 29 statement attached to the data. 'We still have the whole holiday selling season ahead of us, but clearly Windows 8 did not prove to be the impetus for a sales turnaround some had hoped for.'" That seems to match the public grumbling of Acer and Asus about early sales. And though these figures exclude Surface sales, the newly announced prices on for new Windows 8 Pro-equipped Surface tablets might not endear them to anyone. Have you (or has your business?) moved to Windows 8?

7 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. Say What You Like About Win8 by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Funny

    It solves one of the worst and most persistent security issues with the Internet.

    With the introduction of IE 10 on Windows 8, Microsoft relieves users from the threat of browser-based attacks, by making the system unusable for web-browsing.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
    1. Re:Say What You Like About Win8 by Billly+Gates · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't give a damn how fast IE's render engine can spit out a page - when the whole affair is decked in usability handicaps. I am reminded of the Vonnegut story, Harrison Bergeron .

      When you eliminate the 3 pop-ups and the blocking warning (1 click each) that interfere with you actually loading the element or even whole URL that you actually wanted.

      There's no way this is a good experience. "Are You Sure" dialogue boxes are good for deleting files. Their use in IE10/Win8 feels like someone from preventing you from making a left turn in your automobile. "Are you sure you want to turn left?"

      Yes, but that's now 3 blocks behind me!

      When it comes down to it, this is just another damning indictment of Microsoft's Windows 8 travesty. Windows is now a barrier to the effective delivery of applications - that one formerly bought Windows to deliver.

      I couldn't disagree with you more Jeremiah. With IE 10 I can download Chrome and Firefox faster than EVER!!

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
  2. Re:As usual with even-numbered Windows releases... by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 4, Funny

    Overheard from our infrastructure manager: "Well, we skipped Vista..."

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  3. Your overconfidence is astounding by smittyoneeach · · Score: 5, Funny

    While IE10 has indeed be made Windows 8 completely unsuitable for user web-browsing, the architectural choice of moving IE10 into the Windows 8 kernel has left a security hole of goatse.cx proportions.
    Windows 8: where all Al Gore's Internet can root for success!

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  4. Re:It isn't Windows 8 I find to be the barrier... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm Joe Schmoe and I don't like all of these comments about what I think, what I like, and what I will do.

  5. Re:It isn't Windows 8 I find to be the barrier... by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, just stop. Whatever they're paying you, it's not worth your dignity.

  6. Re:It isn't Windows 8 I find to be the barrier... by sl149q · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is it true that you cannot have multiple Windows open in Windows 8?

    That would seem to be a deal breaker for a lot of people.

    http://www.useit.com/alertbox/windows-8.html

    "Lack of Multiple Windows = Memory Overload for Complex Tasks

    One of the worst aspects of Windows 8 for power users is that the product's very name has become a misnomer. "Windows" no longer supports multiple windows on the screen. Win8 does have an option to temporarily show a second area in a small part of the screen, but none of our test users were able to make this work. Also, the main UI restricts users to a single window, so the product ought to be renamed "Microsoft Window."