microsoft

Showing 329 posts tagged microsoft

The Microsoft number we all want to know: Windows 8 sales

Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet on Microsoft’s earnings today:

The Windows division posted revenues of $5.7 billion for the quarter. After adjusting for the $1.1 billion of revenue related to the Windows Upgrade Offer, the Windows division’s revenue was flat. Windows client net income for the third fiscal quarter of 2013 was $3.46 billion, up from $2.98 billion for the same quarter a year ago.

Some Microsoft watchers seem downright enthusiastic that the numbers were flat. After all, the earlier PC shipment estimates indicated they could have been much worse!

That’s ridiculous.

The (revenue) numbers were flat year-to-year even though Microsoft put a major new version of Windows on the market. In what universe is that good or even decent news? 

I had a sense this is exactly what we’d see today. There are some other variables, like pre-existing OEM deals and enterprise volume licensing, that are masking what is pretty obvious: Windows 8 is a total nightmare. I doubt even the shiniest gloss will cover that up next quarter.

As for the glaring omission — you know, actual sales numbers, Foley:

I’m curious when and if Microsoft provides a new update on number of Window 8 licenses sold. Maybe that will happen at Computex or TechEd North America — both happening the first week of June this year? In any case, today’s silence on this front is … interesting.

Indeed.

Well, At Least It's Not Billions

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes for ZDNet on the world’s greatest shitshow:

Many PC OEMs are dissatisfied with what Microsoft has done with Windows 8 and the way the company has handled the negative response to the operating system. Privately, one OEM source told me that Microsoft is “destroying” the PC industry, while another claimed that Windows 8 has “handed over millions of customers to Apple.”

I also like Kingsley-Hughes’ use of the term “U-turn” with regard to Windows 8.1. Seems appropriate. Slightly less snarky than, Windows 8: Compromise Edition.

Microsoft's Windows 8 Plan B(lue)

Mary Jo Foley for ZDNet:

Reports from a couple of different forums from this past weekend raised the possibility that Microsoft might be moving toward allowing users to skip booting into the Metro-Style Start menu and instead start their PCs in desktop mode. (Winbeta.org noted the thread about this on April 14.)

One of my sources confirmed this is now looking like the plan and added that Microsoft is also considering bringing back the Start button as an option with Windows Blue.

No compromise.

The PC Industry Is Digging Its Own Grave

Roger Kay for Forbes:

With Windows 8, Microsoft entirely screwed the pooch. A badly conceived OS, designed to compete with Apple’s iOS and yet remain a traditional PC, did neither. It only confused and repelled users. Windows 7, a decent replacement for Windows XP, finally, could have sustained the industry easily for a decade.

The dilemma facing the industry is familiar to anyone who knows the children’s “cookie jar” story: if you drop half the cookies, you can take your hand out of the jar with some cookies and then go back for another modest handful. Instead, we have the stupid industry, sitting there on the stool with its hand in the cookie jar, fistful of cookies unable to pass the rim, red-faced, crying, and looking like a fool.

No compromise, indeed.

It should be noted that Kay has a rather odd conflict: his firm, Endpoint, used to consult for Microsoft. But in the past year, Microsoft terminated the relationship. Why? In Kay’s own words:

Because they don’t like independent analysts, who have to tell it like it is even when the picture isn’t pretty. They want “message force multipliers,” tame hacks who will help their public relations efforts. Tell them what they don’t want to hear, and you’re shown the door.

No compromise, indeed.

"The Year Of Windows"

John Paczkowski writing for AllThingsD in September of last year:

“One year from now, between Windows phones, Windows tablets and Windows PCs, we’ll see close to … 400 million new devices running those new operating systems,” Ballmer said during the unveiling of Nokia’s new Lumia smartphones this morning. “Those devices running Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 represent the single largest opportunity for software developers today. Four hundred million per year? That is unrivaled. I’ll bet you right now, the next app developer to hit it really big will do so on Windows.”

As Horace Dediu quipped on Twitter yesterday, “Only 320 million to go.”

The Next Xbox Will Take Over Your TV

Tom Warren for The Verge:

The functionality will work by taking a cable box signal and passing it through to the Xbox via HDMI, allowing Microsoft’s console to overlay a UI and features on top of an existing TV channel or set-top box. We’re told that this is a key part of the next-generation Xbox and that it will go a step further than Google’s TV implementation thanks to Microsoft’s partnerships with content providers. Extended support for various cable services will be rolled out gradually, but the basic functionality will be available at launch.

While Google TV obviously went nowhere, I view this as a smart play by Microsoft. The content partnerships are key. Let’s hope they can get all of them in place.

On the other hand:

Coupled with this TV functionality, Microsoft’s next-generation Kinect sensor will also play a role in the company’s TV focus. The Verge has learned that the next Kinect will detect multiple people simultaneously, including the ability to detect eye movement to pause content when a viewer turns their head away from a TV. 

I really don’t understand this functionality. It sounds like a stupid novelty in the new Samsung Galaxy phone, and I think it’s worse here. Given how many people now “watch” TV with a second screen, is it going to pause every three seconds?

Not No Compromise

I know I already snarked this up. But it really is incredible that not only is Microsoft’s worst nightmare coming true, it’s all playing out in a way that’s exactly the opposite of how they thought it would.

Then-Windows-chief Steven Sinofsky, talking about Windows 8 just seven months ago:

Our goal was a no compromise design.

And:

We chose to take the approach of building a design without compromise.

And:

You don’t have to compromise!

And:

Our design goal was clear: no compromises.

Fast forward to today. Ian Sherr reporting for The Wall Street Journal on the latest PC numbers:

Indeed, IDC said that Windows 8 hasn’t only failed to spur more PC demand but has actually exacerbated the slowdown—confusing consumers with features that don’t excel in a tablet mode and compromise the traditional PC experience.

I mean, the dichotomy is almost poetic. Especially to those of us who knew that this is exactly what would happen.

PC-Ya Later

Ian Sherr for WSJ citing the latest numbers from IDC:

Worldwide shipments of personal computers fell 13.9% in the first quarter, according to market researcher IDC, in the biggest decline since the firm began issuing quarterly numbers in 1994.

And:

Indeed, IDC said that Windows 8 hasn’t only failed to spur more PC demand but has actually exacerbated the slowdown—confusing consumers with features that don’t excel in a tablet mode and compromise the traditional PC experience.

Wait. “Compromise”? What happened to “no compromise”?

Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc on the Windows Blog almost exactly one year ago:

All editions of Windows 8 offer a no-compromise experience.

I’m confused.

Actually, no, I’m not.

Which Company Is "Scroogled"?

Michael Liedtke for the AP:

Microsoft has tried to thwart Google by investing heavily in online services, to little avail. Since Google went public in August 2004, Microsoft’s online division has accumulated more than $17.5 billion in operating losses. The losses include an accounting charge of more than $6 billion for Microsoft’s acquisition of aQuantive, an online advertising service that didn’t pan out.

And:

Google’s market value has soared from nearly $25 billion at the time of its initial public offering to $255 billion. Microsoft’s market value has fallen by about 20 percent during the same period, declining from nearly $300 billion at the time of Google’s IPO to $239 billion today. Apple Inc., a rival of both Google and Microsoft, is the only technology company worth more than Google, with a market value hovering around $400 billion.

In other words, Microsoft’s online division has lost almost as much money as all of Google was worth at the time of its IPO. That is truly remarkable.