Most companies won't be early adopters of Windows 8

[onehandle]

(Reuters) - There was once a time when the launch of a new Windows operating system was a huge deal for the technology departments in many businesses. Not anymore. Microsoft Corp's release of Windows 8 on Friday is likely to be a non-event for most companies -- and some experts say many may never adopt it.

The system may appear to offer something for everyone: touch-screen functionality for tablet enthusiasts, a slick new interface for the younger set, and multiple versions to make it compatible with traditional desktop PC software.

Many businesses, though, say there is no compelling reason to adopt. Indeed, a large number have yet to make the transition to Windows 7 from Windows XP.

"Windows 8 is, frankly, more of a consumer platform than it is a business platform, so it's not something that makes any sense from a business perspective at this juncture," said Doug Johnson, head of risk management policy at the American Bankers Association, whose members are among the world's biggest technology buyers. "There is really no additional business functionality that Windows 8 gives you that I see."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/22/us-microsoft-windows8-business-idUSBRE89L03N20121022

Microsoft is trying to become Apple. They will fail and Bill Gates' college roommate will finally get the boot, but good.

[bluerum]

1. I'm not going near it. Holding out on win7 or xp as long as possible.

[RomneyLies]

2. I won't buy any machine with Windows 8 on it.

I damned sure won't build a box just to put that hunk of junk on it.

[randome]

3. There is no point to W8.

It's much harder to organize things the way you want.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. The fatal mistake is not allowing users to revert to the classic interface.

[randome]

6. Just as you are stuck with the accursed ribbon.

Just as you cannot organize the Start Menu to your liking. Just as you have no choice but to have meaningless icons in your menus (actually, you can remove them but it's a painful process.)

Just as the paradigm of having Documents and Public and Control Panel hierarchies that appear outside of your computer folder are forced on you!

Whatever happened to the 'personal' in Personal Computers?

Microsoft wants to force everyone to think the way they want us to think. I'm tired of it.

[HopeHoops]

5. XP, 98SE, and Win7 are the only three "stable" platforms from M$. Win8 is just a desperate grab.

I have no interest in it.

[leftyohiolib]

7. does it use less ram - cause windows seven ... wow

[KurtNYC]

8. I don't think they are trying to become Apple, rather they are trying to live in 1998

when MS was dominant and could as Mr Gates so aptly put it in an internal email revealed at their trial for anti-competitive practices:

"Put the customer on a treadmill and force feed them upgrades."

I am wondering if there will be an up-charge on new laptops to have them loaded with XP instead of Win8.

[OverBurn]

9. Windows 8 is awful, the Metro interface is beyond bad. I will not be using it.

I just bought a new ultrabook laptop while Win7 is still available. I still prefer XP, it does everything just fine. Win7 is prettier but doesn't really seem to improve the function of anything. I can't even use Win7 without installing free "Classic Shell" first.

[ChromeFoundry]

10. "Microsoft is trying to become Apple." - huh?

You cannot be serious. Apple is still trying to play catch up in market share to Microsoft and Google.
How many major corporations rolled out Mountain Lion to all of their users in the first week it was released? ...er, how many major corporations even use the Mac OS as their standard platform...

This release is an attempt to tie useability across desktop, tablet, hybrid and mobile platforms. Not much different than what Apple will be doing in the next major release.. borrow more UI elements from iOS.

BTW, when was the last time you used any Windows release, post XP, as a primary OS for more than 10 minutes? I don't think you are coming from a perspective to even speculate what business users will adopt as a primary OS.

[onehandle]

11. Market share is a canard. Microsoft dreams of 2012 Apple profits.

Apple KILLED the 'netbook.'

And I use Windows every day. I have three computers on my desk.

Address your thoughts about what business wants to the article. Not me.

[ChromeFoundry]

13. Market Share of OS X

August 2012, Apple's OS X (all versions combined) finally has more copies out there than Microsoft least popular OS - Vista.

Source: http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/03/apples_os_x_passes_windows_vista_in_worldwide_usage.html

While Apple has had great successes in the mobile, tablet and portal music gadgets market place. Their operating system does not offer the central management and robust distributed policies that have long been an instrumental driver for corporations to manage their assets and intellectual property. Apple offer almost no client management capabilities from their LDAP variant Open Directory, nor through Active Directory. Package installation and patch management are not built in and available at a adequate level for centralized distribution via phased or massive rollouts. Software Update Server can be used to deploy updates to Apple clients and feed Apple software...third party software distribution support and other platform software pushes are lacking. Oh, and there is no way to guarantee that all clients are up to date. Apple decided to stop producing enterprise-grade server hardware...good thing Windows, Linux and Unix are there to take up the slack in the data-centers.

That is what businesses want and need.

Three computers on your desk... wow, that's not very green. I run up to five operating systems on a single laptop that has 8 cores and 16 GB of RAM. This is a DELL laptop that runs Windows 7 64-bit and a multitude of virtual operating systems at the same time. It even runs a VM of OS X when I need it for testing. I could do the same with a flavor of Linux as my host OS... but Apple would force me to buy proprietary hardware that maxes out at 8 GB of memory and less CPU power.

BTW, the Netbook got killed because neither Microsoft or Apple wanted to produce an operating systems for it... That leaves Linux or FreeBSD - way too unfriendly for the average home user. So no, technically Apple didn't kill the netbook, end-users were forced to changing technologies... be it iOS, WP7x or Android.

I've always said, Apple knows how to market a product that makes followers believe they have a need to defend their higher cost. What Apple has done is repackage and hone existing technology in a nice snappy package. Microsoft has built a swiss army knife that has a tool for everything... including problems that are not even problems. Linux is too intellectual for most current Windows and Apple users - it like handing a "String Theory for Dummies" book to a 5th grader. Anyways, we digress... computing is an ebb and flow market where shit will wash up on shore and everyone will call it treasure one day and toss it back the next. One thing that will remain constant is that when Apple is in the lead, the others become more innovative and when one of the other is in the lead, Apple will be forced to become more innovative. Apple will fail to remain in the lead, eventually. Microsoft will fail again too. Google will continue to gain traction. When they don't, and only one choice remains is the day the innovation stops.

So yes, Microsoft dreams of Apples 2012 cash assets. And Apple dreams of making even more in 2013... what is your point, that makes Apple produce a better product? If that is the case, Mitt Romney has more money in the bank than Barack Obama... does that make him the better candidate or the one with less ethics?

[krawhitham]

12. Most companies are not early adopters of any new Windows version

They normally wait for sp1 to be released