back to article Windows 8: Not even Microsoft thinks businesses will use it

Like Thelma and Louise, executives at Microsoft's Windows division have no doubts about which direction they want to point the car. It's pedal to the floor, and over the cliff as fast as they can drive. Last week the latest Windows 8 public preview confirmed what many had expected and feared: there will be no compromise on the …

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  1. mark1978
    WTF?

    WTF is "The Channel" which is always mentioned on this site but never explained?

    1. That Steve Guy
      Paris Hilton

      WTF is "The Channel"?

      I think it seperates Britain from France.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What has WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) got to do with "the Channel"?

      1. Thorne

        "What has WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) got to do with "the Channel"?"

        The World Taekwondo Federation need to channel their Kamehameha attacks. It's all perfectly logical if you think about it.

    3. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      RE: WTF is the channel?

      In a nutshell, the channel is the chain of companies linking vendors to end-users. From distributors with warehouses to resellers bundling extra services for business customers or to retailers flogging kit.

      C.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: RE: WTF is the channel?

        Thanks for that - I was also confused, but too scared to ask.

        There's an assumption made that we all understand what the channel is, now I do, I understand that it's the stretch of water that separates us from France.

        I have no wish to be in it and am thankful I'm not.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: RE: WTF is the channel?

        @diodesign: Pah! If they need it explaining they shouldn't be reading it.

      3. Brezhnev's Shadow
        Joke

        Re: RE: WTF is the channel?

        The Channel is obv where the Clay People live.

        Try here at 7:10 to check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-12ZtRkMsms

      4. chebucto
        Paris Hilton

        Re: RE: WTF is the channel?

        More to the point, what distinguishes channelregister.co.uk from theregister.co.uk ? Why is this particular article on Channel Register rather than The Register? Surely most of the non-Science/Odds&Sods articles on The Register have to do with 'the chain of companies linking vendors to end-users' in some way.

        Trying to distinguish computer news from 'channel' news seems as foolish an errand as trying to distinguish the internet from 'the cloud'.

        1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

          Re: Re: RE: WTF is the channel?

          It's on The Channel because that's our dedicated sister site for channel news - in the same way hardware and consumer tech deserves its own site, Reg Hardware.

          C.

    4. Blitterbug
      Happy

      WTF am the 'channel'

      I was wondering about this myself. It seems the Reg is going all 'businessey', and having gone to the trouble and expense of setting up a new semi-site under the Reg umbrella, and coining a new bit of biz-jargon, are cleverly pretending it's been there all along and that we should all jolly well know what the hell it is...

      1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

        Re: WTF am the 'channel'

        The Channel used to be called Channel Register, and it's been around for a while. :-)

        C.

        1. Blitterbug
          Happy

          Re: WTF am the 'channel'

          Channel Register... Hmm - honestly didn'y know that. I guess it just never carried stories I deemed 'clickable' ...?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When does thing launch again?

    ...and does anyone know how much puts run these days?

    1. Jerome 0

      Re: When does thing launch again?

      More to the point, has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

      1. Matthew 25
        Headmaster

        Re: When does thing launch again?

        "has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?"

        Speak English!

        1. dssf

          Re: When does thing launch again?

          Well, the question does fit with what I've been hearing about "The Thing" in South Korea... Apparently, "The Thing" adverts are being run on displays in coffee shops and train stations around the country, or at least in the Seoul area, hehehe. I understand they are running ad nauseam.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: When does thing launch again?

            User: Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

            Cleverbot: No, no one has really even far to go want look more like that, but I know what you are saying. Why would even want go as far more like that?

            : /

        2. Anonymous Coward
          WTF?

          Re: When does thing launch again?

          wtf are you talking about? Speak English.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Frank

            http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/has-anyone-really-been-far-even-as-decided-to-use-even-go-want-to-do-look-more-like

            In short, it started out as an utterly incoherent response to a post about a new video game and due to its ridiculousness has since become copypasta (i.e. CTRL-V for teh lulz)

      2. ed2020
        WTF?

        Re: When does thing launch again?

        Eh? In English please?

      3. Graham Dawson Silver badge
        Holmes

        Re: When does thing launch again?

        You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve been further even more decided to use even go need to do look more as anyone can. Can you really be far even as decided half as much to use go wish for that? My guess is that when one really been far even as decided once to use even go want, it is then that he has really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like. It’s just common sense.

        1. hplasm
          Pint

          Re: When does thing launch again? @Graham

          Have one of these- even go want to do, like!

        2. Euripides Pants

          Re: When does thing launch again?

          Looks like a few people have been eating off the floor again....

        3. Levente Szileszky
          Thumb Up

          Re: When does thing launch again?

          Great, I just spit my late evening kebab across the keyboard... :D

        4. Anonymous IV

          Re: When does thing launch again?

          You are amanfrommars and I claim my £5!

        5. Turtle

          @ Graham Dawson: When does thing launch again?

          "Re: When does thing launch again?

          You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve been further even more decided to use even go need to do look more as anyone can. Can you really be far even as decided half as much to use go wish for that? My guess is that when one really been far even as decided once to use even go want, it is then that he has really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like. It’s just common sense."

          Well that's easy for *you* to say.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Sceptic Tank Silver badge

      Re: When does thing launch again?

      The Jive Dudes created an account.

  3. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    Are there two teams out there who refuse to talk to each other?

    baffling "design decision." I will stick with Win 7 at home, unless I seriously want to tick off the missus (I really only boot to Linux).

  4. Robert E A Harvey

    irrelevant

    Given that some local authorities only migrated TO XP in the last 18 months or so, and that even the most forward thinking businesses are still qualifying W7, it may well be that Redmond expects big business to move to W7 after XP, and take 3 or 4 years about it, by which time the tablet wars will be won (or lost, supposing they even start. I reckon MS is too late to that party by a generation).

    The natural path for Corporates is XP -> W7 sometime in 2014, then W7 -> W11 some time in 2022.

    The success of W8 will not matter in the corporate market. They are not going to up sticks and go to Linux (much as I wish they would) because of W8. They will just stick with XP then W7.

    Microsoft is, I agree, looking like someone taking very careful aim at their own foot. But to shoot themselves in the other one they would have to prevent corporations migrating to W7 for the remainder of the decade, and past history suggests they won't do that.

    1. TangD
      Thumb Up

      Re: irrelevant

      Couldn't have put it any better if I tried. A bigger question is will any home users bite...? As an aside, the tail is starting to wag the dog a bit in this enterprise (60k people globally) and if our incoming/incumbent staff get used to it at home they'll be even more annoyed with the systems. BYO is already on the table...

    2. bailey86

      Re: irrelevant

      Bit strange though.

      Who really wants to migrate to Windows 7 if it's already been superseded? Bit like upgrading the servers to WIn2003 and not to Win2008. If you're going to go through the hassle of upgrading you want to get the latest version to put the next damn upgrade as far into the future as possible.

      It would make sense if Windows 7 was called Windows Desktop 7 and Windows 8 was called Windows Tablet 7 - AND - they had separate development roadmaps.

      1. Danny 14
        Stop

        Re: irrelevant

        not strange at all. XP and windows 7 have mature drivers, app fixes and patches. why would I want to migrate to the latest OS and play whack a mole with drivers, patches and weird issues for the next 6 months? In fact, why roll out a new OS unless there was a compelling reason? I.e. no more security updates, software that wont run in XP etc.

        Even our W7 machines are GPO'd to look as close to XP as possible. Saves on training the infidels.

      2. Robert E A Harvey

        @Bailey86

        At $MEGACORP the IT people have yet to get all our business applications and portals working in W7, they might run it out in 2013 or 2014. If they stop that and start again in W8, they lose 2 years, and then do they leave us still on XP while they throw that away and start again from scratch when W9 comes out?

        Of course, if windows were a stable, well-written platform with established and maintained APIs you could upgrade the OS without breaking the Apps. But it isn't, so you can't.

    3. Hardcastle the ancient
      Headmaster

      Re: irrelevant

      This may explain the good-bad-good-bad windows release cycle. MS managers know that letting the kiddies play with the UI and filing system in even-numbered releases won't bring the company down, and may stir up the market place and create new ways of locking-out the competition. They will then do a dull odd-numbered release to keep the business cash cow on side.

      Consumers have no chance to buy machines without the latest version of windows, so they are unwitting lab rats in some vast social experiment.

    4. dssf

      Re: irrelevant

      Or, maybe it is "Corporealate Punishment"? They are probably foisting this MetroGradeRetrograde onto the public because the shareholders/"stakeholders" expect some of those billions in ms' coffers to be spent doing something, ANYthing.

      So, the question "When Will Thing Launch" could be a sly or subconscious piece of wit. This UI will be a shock, horror, and gahhhh to users as much as The Thing was in the 80s. Might be a sly way to look at Hand and Uncle Fester, too, hahahaha

      In any case, I thoroughly enjoy non-standard/ESL "cutting" on English. It is kind of refreshing, and it makes me dissect what I've learned and "re-learn" some things, even if only as short-lived humor.

      See all the kewl segues that arose from a dropped article/particle? Reminiscence through economy, I say!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    not new coke

    I have seen several commentators mention 'new coke'.

    But the difference is that Coca Cola didn't have the option to put both old and new coke in the same can. They had to pick one or the other. And their decision and design process was done in secret, so although they had blind taste tests, they really hadn't tested how the public at large felt about the idea.

    Microsoft on the other hand has made no secret of its intentions, and they must surely have noticed a lot of negative feedback, and general confusion, even on their own 'answers' site.

    And it is all the more ludicrous because they could easily avoid this by putting in a simple switch to let users revert to the familiar Windows 'classic' model of desktop and start menu.

    If MS goes ahead with this, then expect SP1 within a few months (with a handy tool to give users a choice to turn metro off)... or Ballmer's head on a plate. Or both.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: not new coke

      But the biggest laugh is their belief that they're going to compete on tablets with Apple. I've no love for either company, probably disliking Apple even more, but faced with a choice of a Metro tablet, or an iPad, I'm afraid it'll be the real McCoy for me.

    2. Someone Else Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: not new coke

      Oh, please...please make it the latter....

      1. TheRealRoland
        Coat

        Re: not new coke

        Oh, please...please make it the (p)latter....

        There, fixed it for you :-)

    3. henrydddd

      Re: not new coke

      "Time to bet on an "Enterprise Edition" sometime early next year, perhaps?"

      Who knows. Maybe Windows 9 Alpha will roll out next month.

      1. thondwe
        FAIL

        Re: not new coke

        All a good theory enterprises to skip windows 8, but windows 2012 server also has the metro interface. Touch screen server consoles anyone?

    4. Lance 3

      Re: not new coke

      If you look at the reception that WP7 has had and the sales that have followed, it is quite clear that Microsoft is NOT listening. MS also thinks that what you use on the desktop dictates what is bought on a tablet/phone. This is not the case, so forcing Metro on your customers and expecting that they will buy a tablet with Windows 8 is just foolish. Apple is not using the same UI for the desktop and tablet.

      1. Greg J Preece

        Re: not new coke

        "Apple is not using the same UI for the desktop and tablet."

        Give 'em time. The LaunchPad menu that came in with Lion was utterly pointless fullscreen crap ripped straight from a mobile operating system. Sound familiar?

  6. homercycles
    Happy

    Good thing for Linux

    Whilst many will probably just buy a Mac and empty their wallets in the process, this could be a good thing for Linux in the Enterprise. It might finally give them a chance to realise that much of their stuff is now in the cloud anyway, and the free Office offering is probably good enough for most. Bye bye, Windows. You won't be missed. Don't let the door hit you on the way out :-)

    1. Eddy Ito

      Re: Good thing for Linux

      I wish it were true but if half of all enterprise users are in fact running XP there is little hope they will suddenly jump ship for Linux instead of just waiting it out until 2014 to see if MS comes to its senses. And I suspect if folks starting to switch to Linux as April 2014 draws near it would be an event which would likely smack some sense into MS. It will depend on how swiftly MS acts that which will determine what sort of foothold Linux might achieve.

    2. honkhonk34

      Re: Good thing for Linux

      I feel your post is somewhat narrow minded in it's approach.

      Many small businesses are running XP, running home made or small dev-made scripts and/or applications which support their businesses (that could be hosting, productivity, production or administrative, for example). Changing the core platform is the smallest part of the upgrade for companies that size - adapting, rewriting or even commissioning new scripts, applications and processes to either match the old or take advantage of the new core platform is the largest part of the cost.

      Linux is not a golden bullet to the problem of changing away from a heavily entrenched platform and the transformational costs incurred exist for XP to ANY other platform.

      The harsh reality is that XP is so entrenched because business owners and operators clearly believe it is more cost effective to retain than to replace. to say "it won't be missed" is simply untrue on that basis.

      I'm not arguing which is better in terms of running costs, reliability or any other factor because I would be agreeing with you over most of them, but you clearly haven't tried costing a SME IT upgrade during a recession. It's not something most owners/shareholders are at all interested in if the current system is delivering on it's core duties vaguely competently.

      1. sisk

        Re: Good thing for Linux

        I second honkhonk34's sentiment.

        I got roped into being the computer repair go-to guy for a local jewelry shop that still has a Win98 server in the back. They have an XP incompatible database program on there that can't be exported to anything except a proprietary format by a company that went under sometime before Windows 2000 came out running on it. They can't update unless they're willing to loose 30 years worth of sales records. I'd be willing to bet that with XP ruling the computer world for as long as it did a lot of businesses are in the same boat.

        1. richard 7

          Re: Good thing for Linux

          The Linux crowd need to realise that it just isnt that simple.

          Ok, so my office app issues are easilly solved by using Openoffice or whatever this incarnation is called BUT (and this is a big but) We went over from openoffice to office 2011 because openoffice wouldnt open some of the documents sent to us by customers and suppliers. So I'll start that ball game again.

          No MPLAB ide on Linux and no suitable replacement

          No Delphi (yes I know) on Linux and no suitable replacement given we develop for windows

          No version of our bootloaders for Linux, and I cant rewrite them because of the above

          Bar the odd fart and hiccup Windows *just works* Linux isnt even close. its better than it was but I dont want to have to know how to mess with compiliers etc just to use an application. Again, its better than it was but I've still looked at Linux apps, said f??k this and gone and paid for a Windows app thats working inside 30 seconds.

          Till we get there it not home ready and not really close to enterprise ready. Although some businesses do = admin people and nothing else, many dont.

          For the record I'm not a Windows Fanboi, both of our servers here are Linux Boxen as are all of then in our overseas offices, Linux just doesnt have a place on the dektop .... yet.

          On topic, I can see this being the case but I'm not sure its a smart move. I dont think people will jump to Apple in droves I suspect they simply wont move on. That said a fair few of the people it upsets will be decision makers.

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