Sometimes I get to thinking that there are a lot of relatively young arrogant tech writers, which spend a lot of time floating agenda based premises in order to try to show some company that they need to get these writers permission before they try to succeed with anything.
But then I am not a conspiracy theorist. But I can see how people jump to that conclusion. There are no less than 10 articles today with basically the same headline that Microsoft and Windows 8 is a flop because it did not stop the erosion of PC sales and PC and Laptop sales are slowing as mobile devices like phones and tablets, convertibles or hybrids, take over the space. Usually, the article goes on to quote all the supporting data to show that PCs are not selling as well and that people are moving from PCs. The intimation is this is all Microsoft’s fault and that Windows 8 therefore is a flop because it has not reinvigorated the PC. They could just as easily blame Microsoft for not singlehandedly fixed healthcare and the economy at the same time. But the basic premise is false in the first place.
There is an old journalistic technique, I use journalist loosely here, that says you can hammer someone to show them you’re the boss by setting up a failing premise and then tying the failure to an unrelated but conveniently associate-able event.
This is the case with Microsoft and Windows 8. The premise that Windows 8 was made to somehow have PCs stave off Mobile devices is ludicrous in the extreme. Windows 8 was built to bring a new, faster, and smaller footprint system that strongly incorporated touch to gain share in this emerging market from iPads, iPhones and other android devices. It by happenstance provides and improved, faster and more efficient system for PCs as well, but you won’t hear that from the pundits.
The migration from PCs to mobile devices has been in process for a while. What has limited the trend is that mobile devices still did not offer the features, functions and required benefits that laptops and PCs had. But, in concert with Moore’s Law, they have reached that point. One of the last hurdles was ubiquity of access and usability. I had a PC, iPhone and iPad, and for the life of me I was not able to edit spreadsheets, documents and PowerPoint very easily and have the available easily on each device. I have good friends with Macs and they have reported the same issue. For me, Windows 8 has been the first system that really has done this.
These same pundits will tell you how Win 8 is not Win 7 or Win XP. Of course it’s not. For years some of the same pundits have been begging MS to move from that legacy restricted platform to a new system. Now that that is happening, and I guess because Microsoft did not kiss their rings and get their blessings beforehand, their big complaint is it’s not the legacy system.
While some critics will tell you that the adoption rate is horrible, and no one likes it. They have tens of millions of users of the new OS in a few months and most of the people I know that are learning it and using it are very happy with it. Even some of the initial pundits who trashed it have now come back and said, well I said it sucked at this but… now that I know how to use it I like it better.
So why do many of these publications have a hard case for Microsoft? Why are they trying to hurt Microsoft? Well it likely goes back a long time. Microsoft has not played the same game as Apple and Google and some others and spent a lot of money to “support” these publications in all their many event based money making schemes. Yes Microsoft does sponsor events but over the past years they have likely found that it doesn’t really bring as good a return.
Also this media, like all the rest of the media, has its own form of liberal bias. It shows in the treatment of closed systems and open systems, in cool systems vs. utilitarian, in companies with liberal agendas and those with more conservative roots. I often think Microsoft is now the tech GOP, Apple is the tech DNC and Google wants to be seen as a tech Libertarian in public, but behind the scenes wants to be a harsh capitalist.
If you read the number of articles I do each day on Windows you find a lot of people hammering how Win 8 is a flop, sux, is buggy, slow, won’t work on a PC, and doesn’t have a start button and much more. You will also read about all these features that Windows 8 does not have. But if you read the few, unbiased articles you will see the exact opposite. Also if you buy it, take a week to learn the interface and the key commands, you will find that it is a very good next generation OS.
Finally the last thing I find fascinating, is I read an article today about Facebook’s Home system, released today. The reviewer says its a good first attempt and that while its missing some things Facebook will be diligently updating and adding features quickly so it’s a good idea in process. Yet when it came to Windows 8, it was weak, missing all these so called necessary functions, and Microsoft was going to have to update it often and it was such a poor showing from Microsoft to release such an inferior product and push users to have to rely on updates to gain what anyone would see as the minimum required functionality.
I have reviewed Windows 8 on the MS Surface RT (panned by the pundits), Windows 8 Phone (panned by the pundits) and my PC, Laptop and Workstation (again panned by the pundits). And I have found every single one of them superior to the Windows that went before, feature rich, efficient, stable, and functional and a pleasure to use. I also have found it is the first truly integrated platform that works across all my devices in the same way so I can create or edit a document, spreadsheet or PowerPoint doc on any one of the devices and access it seamlessly from any one any time if I use the built in SkyDrive storage. I have one device that is ultimately the most portable (Windows 8 Phone), one that is highly productive with 12 to 14 hours of constant battery life (MS Surface RT,) and one that gives me the horsepower for animations, 3D graphics, System Development, photography, music whatever (Workstation or PC.) The testament is that I have not used my laptop since 1 week after I have Windows 8 on my Surface RT. While overall I like the new systems there are some things that could be better… Wait a minute… Hold the phone… I guess I need to change my whole opinion and…
In pundit speak, say Windows 8 sux! (For those that don’t always follow that was tongue in cheek!)
Essays
Quoth the Raven, the WEB – You’re Secure
How does the internet look in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven’s eyes?
Thomas@loker.com January 17, 2023
