Michael Mace on the plummeting PC sales:
This is an existential shock for the PC companies. It’s like discovering that your house was built over a vast, crumbling sinkhole.
Great read. Just as much about Microsoft’s future as Dell’s. And he makes a good case for Dell seeing the signs of the PC industry decline (slightly) early and the bid to go private being a direct result of that. It’s easier to transform a ship into a submarine when it’s not already underwater.
marc:
It is now safe to turn off my UBS automated teller machine. That’s comforting.
Beats a blue screen of death…
Eva Dou and Spencer Ante of WSJ:
Microsoft Corp. has recently been offering price breaks on its Windows 8 and Office software to help spur the development of small, touch-enabled laptop computers, people familiar with the situation said.
And:
Jerry Shen, Asustek Computer Inc. chief executive officer, separately said on Tuesday that Microsoft is making efforts to stimulate demand after slower-than-expected uptake of Windows 8. Mr. Shen declined to detail Microsoft’s initiatives but said that the changes will help Asus push out more mainstream-priced touch-screen Windows 8 notebooks this year.
So Microsoft is undercutting its own business model in an attempt to spur Windows 8 uptake? Say it with me now: shit… show…
chartier:
PPPLLLEEEEAAASSSSEEEEEEE
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
START.SHOPPING.NOW
WHAT ELSE WERE YOU GOING TO DO TODAY? NOTHING, THAT’S WHAT
PPPPPLLLLLEEEEAAASSEEEEEEEEEEEEE
“Dell recommends Windows.” Consider that $2 billion check cashed.
Ben Worthen and Anupreeta Das for WSJ:
Partly at issue is their commercial relationship. Dell, the world’s third-largest maker of personal computers, is one of the biggest channels for Microsoft’s Windows operating software. The sides are discussing how Microsoft’s investment in Dell would alter that commercial arrangement. Under one scenario being discussed, Dell would agree to use Microsoft’s Windows software to power the vast majority of its devices, one of the people has said.
If you can’t get them to use your software because they want to, pay em. Always a winning strategy.
The shitshow continues… (And yes, I’m going to point out just how right I was each time one of these stories hits over the next year.)
Nick Wingfield for The New York Times:
It used to be that a new version of the Windows operating system was enough to get people excited about buying a new computer, giving sales a nice pop.
Not this time. Windows 8, the latest edition of Microsoft’s software, failed to pack shoppers into a Microsoft store in a mall here last week, at a time when parking lots in the area were overflowing. The trickle of shopping bags leaving the store with merchandise was nothing like the steady stream at a bustling Apple store upstairs.
Here’s what I don’t get about these stories though: they all point (either explicitly or implicitly) to a bad U.S. economy as being a major factor in shitty sales. And yet, the same economy doesn’t seem to be hurting Apple — even when it comes to Mac sales.
It’s almost as if no one wants to admit the obvious: the age of Windows is over. O. V. E. R.
The economy will come back. The sales of Windows-based PCs will not.
Microsoft is in a lot more trouble than they realize. When I asked my kids (6 & 8) what windows was, they were clueless. They knew what my Mac was, and they know and love ipads, iphones, and ipod touches. The long term trend of kids like mine is not good for MSFT. Are you hearing this from others with kids?
Asked by Anonymous
Yep. That’s something so simple and so obvious that is often overlooked — the future. And the best way to gauge that is to look at kids today. They use iPads and iPod touches and Android devices. Forget about Mac vs. PC, it’s all these new devices vs. PC — and the devices are winning.
Kids of my generation grew up with PCs. Those were the only computers we knew from an early age. Where are the kids today going to get that initial Windows PC exposure? Their computers are iPads. Their schools are filled with Macs — and those will probably be replaced by tablets in the not-too-distant future.
Microsoft’s only hope for this generation (and I believe they do know this) is to make sure those tablets are running Windows. But the trends of the past few years suggest that this will be a very steep uphill climb. As always, we’ll see.
Is it just me, or does Chrome OS *look* more and more like Windows as time goes on?
Well, the pre-Windows 8 Windows, anyway.
Actually, maybe that’s part of the plan: grab the Windows refugees and they jump from Windows 8. Not the worst plan in the world.
John Paczkowski:
If Microsoft’s decision to enter the PC hardware market with its own Surface tablet has caused Hewlett-Packard any anxiety, the PC-maker isn’t letting on.
And their other choice is what exactly?
They can complain publicly and risk pissing off Microsoft and then keeping using Windows anyway because they have no other choice.
Or they can say all the right things publicly (while complaining privately) and then keep using Windows because they have no other choice.
