According to the data from Research Firm NPD,
"sales of Windows PCs dropped 13% year-over-year (compared to last Year) for the period between October and the first week December (compared to Same period last Year)."
This is not surprising, as it was widely being suspected.
But since, the period under scanner is the exact time Windows 8 devices arrived on the market, it's a worth believing news that the new operating system, Windows 8, isn't catching on.
Why such a grim response to Windows 8:
According to Mashable, the fact that Windows 8 works best with New or latest hardware, made it an unworthy product for the world, who most of the times uses new software on old hardware And there they don't get what is claimed by Windows 8. The new OS is tailor-made for touch screens, and touch-screen PCs -- the multi-finger kind that Windows 8 was designed to work with -- have only been available since Oct. 26. obviously there are no such devices which fit this feature, hence Microsoft went so far as to build its own tablet to showcase the platform.
In Mashable's estimation, since Microsoft worked meticulously to craft the OS to work with touch, the cloud and social networks -- the very needs of today's connected consumers and businesses; the Operating System may not have been picked by consumers now (ahead of its competition).
Another reasons for Windows 8's poor showing, according to Mashable, is "Less than adequate User manual or user Guide" on how to use Windows 8. Since, Windows 8 is a powerful operating system, the lack of adequate guidance on how to use it, is unnerving to new users.
The built-in tutorial is very brief, amounting to a few instructions on how to perform some basic actions with a mouse or finger. (This is not new to Windows OSs, Microsoft is making big changes to layout, since Windows 7, making the finding of simplest of features difficult). To learn how to use Windows 8 Operating System effectively, you do need
Windows 8 For Dummies
OR
Teach Yourself VISUALLY Windows 8 (Teach Yourself VISUALLY (Tech))
.
Finally, the most important reason, which Mashable puts forward and which I believe in as well. The reason is Windows 8 lacks App Ecosystem to back it. If Microsoft is still under the belief that the world needs just a few utility apps (to enhance productivity tasks such as document creation, task management and email), it's under a wrong belief. Tablets, PCs and smartphones have made people App rich; hence people now are more impatient and desultory than ever. The limited selection is holding back some of the OS's potentially groundbreaking features -- such as the hard-wired Share button -- since they're only as powerful as the apps on board the device. Microsoft is under the mistaken belief as it is still targeting its OS for productivity: Use the Windows 8 OS as tablet and a PC. That apart, with one getting a $200 tablet now, people are more likely to keep a laptop and PC. This makes Hybrid, laptop-tablet, a misfit (trends also point that Hybrid devices are less favored). If one thing which will pull Microsoft Surface Tablet behind, it will be the lack of apps (it even doesn't run old Windows Apps). Microsoft Office, the ultimate productivity app suite for many, comes free with the Surface (or any Windows RT device), but that is too little a consolation to buy it.Xbox 360 may be a great platform, but Gamers constitute only a small part of PC users. That apart, Microsft's move to make apps for iOS and Android, may be benefiting XBox360, but will not benefit the Windows 8 OS.
Apart from the above reasons, there are some other reasons as well.
One is the iPad.
To say, Apple did every thing right with the very first iPad, will not be wrong.
Apple launched iPad, when tablets were non-existent. But still, instead of creating an all new OS for it, Apple first rolled out its tablet with the OS which worked almost exactly like the iPhone's, so there was no learning curve. To this day when ipad4 is launched, Apple iPad doesn't need a user Guide at all (it neither comes with one). All one needs to know to start using an ipad is switch it one (which required one button press) and after that the entire layout is so 'intuitive' that the user finds his/her way forward.
Microsoft did everything wrong on this front. The user experience of a Windows 8 device such as the Lenovo Yoga or Dell XPS 12 as a tablet; compared to an ipad, are reported to be difficult.
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