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Major UK Retailers Mislabel Windows RT As Windows 8

Posted by timothy on from the seriously-what's-the-difference dept.

Barence writes "Major British retailers such as Argos and Tesco are mis-selling Windows RT devices as Windows 8 PCs, PC Pro has discovered. The confusion over Microsoft's ARM-based version of Windows could lead to consumers buying the wrong machines, and the wrong software to go with them. Argos, for example, recommends Norton Mobile Security as an add-on for its mis-labelled Windows 8 machine, despite that product only working on Android and iOS."

4 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Whats the difference? by Waveguide04 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They both suck. I loaded Win 8 in a VM yesterday and it is still the nightmare it was during the preview. Soon it will be be one icon that says "Do something (but most likely not what I want)" :)

    1. Re:Whats the difference? by FunPika · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Windows RT doesn't even have the desktop mode and locks you into a walled garden of Windows Store apps.

      --
      After years of not using a signature, I am going to make one to say the following: Fuck Beta
  2. For Example... by denmarkw00t · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Argos, for example, recommends Norton Mobile Security as an add-on for its mis-labelled Windows 8 machine, despite that product only working on Android and iOS

    The mislabeling of the Windows machine has nothing to do with this "example" of how the mislabeling is a problem. If it only runs on Android and iOS, the RT/8 label makes no difference as the software doesn't run on anything that says "Windows" in the name.

    I'd love to jump on the bandwagon of merchant-bashing since they don't know an RT from their asshole, but that's a tough sell when the article lambasting them makes examples that don't benefit their case at all, but instead make the argument that whoever wrote this can't grasp the idea of simple examples any more than UK retailers can grasp that RT and 8 are different operating systems/

    1. Re:For Example... by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe Microsoft shouldn't have called it 'Windows', then people wouldn't have expected it to run Windows software.

      Do you really think they wouldn't have the same problem if it said 'Windows RT' instead of 'Windows 8'? How many non-tech users do you know who have any idea that a computer running 'Windows' might not run Windows programs?