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60M Windows 8 licenses have now been sold, Microsoft (MSFT) announces. That's up from the 40M...
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Tuesday, January 8, 4:50 PM ET60M Windows 8 licenses have now been sold, Microsoft (MSFT) announces. That's up from the 40M the software giant had sold as of late November. Microsoft notes this figure includes "both upgrades and sales to OEMs for new devices" - the latter could include licenses being held as inventory by OEMs. Figures from Net Applications, NPD, and others have tempered hopes that Win. 8's revival would stoke a rebound in PC demand.
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This news story has 13 comments:
But since you brought the subject up so politely, the post has been edited.
NPD is talking new computer sales with windows 8 and windows 8 retail. MSFT is talking direct sales via the $39.99 upgrade promotion.
Even people with Linux get the upgrade promotion price.
If I am write 50m*$40 = $2billion. Not bad.
http://seekingalpha.co...
A safe bet is maybe 25 million Windows 8 PCs in daily use as of today. Based on the conservative figure of the 1.2 billion licensed windows installs. Unlicensed is probably about 1.5-1.8 billion installs.
MSFT may not hit their 400 million goal for 2013, but I bet they can do 150-200 million Windows 8 installs, even if things stay soft.
1. Win 8 should ask you if this is a desktop PC, so it can turn off the START page and give you a start button. All this does is alienate people, and cause them to install 3rd party software like pokki.com;
2. A gesture and 3 button clicks to shut down? Really!! Come on!!
3. Surface RT that is $100 more than an iPAD; Surface Pro that actually runs Windows software at $1,000. I thought the goal was to compete with Apple, not help them with over-priced products. I can buy the Acer W700 at a much better price!
Smart moves:
1. Integrate PC, tablet, & phone;
2. Use Xbox & Kinect to integrate the living room experience.
The major bad move is to keep Steve Balmer. Great salesman, but not an innovator. He has technology he just doesn't know what to do with.
regarding the system shut down, you can do simply one press of the hard switch as an alternative.
pricing is a matter of marketing strategy, i can see many manufacturers are coming more tabs in the markets with more competive prices.
I would put money that Steven Sinofsky was fired for not sharing technology directions early in the development cycle. I bet Balmer saw Windows 8 late in the game...possibly too late to make major adjustments.
Reports are that Sinofsky kept the surface out of Balmer's hands until very close to release. So it's hard to tell if Balmer even had a chance to innovate in the Windows 8/Surface cycles.
Your points are well taken. On #1: It seems that the lack of the start menu is what most people are crying the loudest about. I personally don't want it back, but we all have our opinions.
My take:
#1 - Personal preference based on limited use, I'd bet. I am glad that I can use both traditional apps and new UI apps side by side. I am doing so right now. I use the traditional apps more on the desktop than tablet, and use the new ones on the tablet more. But it's nice to be able to do both at anytime on either one.
#2 - Already refuted above. Frankly, I never turn my PC completely off, and I bet MSFT had data that is often the case.
#3 - For $100 more than the lowest possible current iPad you get a keyboard/cover and Office (adding these to the iPad make it more expensive). As to the Pro, it's way cheaper than the MacBook Air, which is a better comparison. In addition, as you point out, there are plenty of choices you can pick from.