Intel's CEO doesn't think Windows 10 will boost PC Sales

[Geek-9pm]

We are going through another transition, Windows 10 upgrades…We’re seeing some quarter-to-quarter pushing, but we continue to take a view of our long-term forecast…

Read the Story.

[DaveLembke]

No matter what OS, PC sales are kind of flat. And I wouldnt expect an OS to boost PC sales. I feel that the market is sort of saturated with systems that people have owned for 5 or 10 years and continue to work. Many people trying out Windows 8 who had a choice in the matter to continue to use their already existing Core 2 Duo with Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, or buy a new Core i3, i5 or i7 with Windows 8 likely didnt care for 8 and decided to stick with their old computer.

I support clients on the side and I have seen many people stretching the life of their desktop and laptop computers because they dont want Windows 8. I point out to them that you can still buy a new computer and get Windows 7, but that the local stores dont sell them and they need to special order them.

Those who I support who have bought new systems and bought them with Windows 8 for the most part hate the OS and ask me how they can get features back that they were accustomed to for years with prior windows versions and the easiest solution although not free is for them to spend the money to buy Windows 7 to install to it.

People who know that I have been playing with Windows 10 have asked me is it better than 8 or 8.1, and I have to say yes it is, BUT its not Windows 7 or XP. I feel that Windows 10 will be more widely accepted given its better GUI, but Microsoft tarnished the Windows name with 8 and 8.1 causing many to be cautious.

When it comes to people getting by with old computers that I support on the side, I have one gentlemen that is very happy with his old Pentium III 1Ghz Dell running Lubuntu on a 20GB HDD. He just surfs the web and does e-mail and doesnt do any gaming beyond simple games like solitaire. I have 3 other people that are still running Pentium 4 systems that are fine with Windows XP Home and Pro SP3, and the only thing I had to do for those systems was install a newer video card and max out the RAM because they like to watch Hulu and Netflix. Many others are still on Core 2 Duo systems and Pentium E5400 type dual -core systems. 2 people have Core 2 Quad systems, and for the AMD customers that I have one older woman has an old AMD K6-2 350Mhz running Windows 98 SE and she doesnt use the internet, she just uses an old version of Microsoft Works and Lotus 123 to keep record keeping on some groups that she belongs to with Lions club, and everyone else is on the internet with Sempron and Athlons single core Athlon XP era to 3 year old Phenom 6 core systems.

Everytime I see a client I ask them how its going and if their system needs and upgrades or if they feel it needs to be replaced and more than 90% of the time they are happy with what they have. The other 10% is usually the parents coming to me stating that their old computer wont run the game that their kid wants to run on it such as recently a request if I can help them get Witcher 3 to run on their home computer. When I was given the home computer model since they didnt know what it had for hardware it showed that it only had a Core 2 Duo 2.2Ghz and Witcher 3 requires these minimum specs:

    Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz.
    AMD CPU Phenom II X4 940.
    Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 660.
    AMD GPU Radeon HD 7870.
    RAM 6GB.
    OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
    DirectX 11.
    HDD Space 40 GB.

I think the only thing really driving anyone needing a new computer these days is if the software they want to run wont run on what they already have; as well as those who trade in or upgrade their computers to stay top of the line with hardware, but many who want to be top of the line build their own systems so the PC manufacturers other than the part manufacturers dont see much sales to gamers.

I am going to accept the free Windows 10 upgrade on 1 or 2 of my systems, although I still like Windows XP and 7 the most.

[Geek-9pm]

I am going to accept the free Windows 10 upgrade on 1 or 2 of my systems, although I still like Windows XP and 7 the most.

Me too!

Microsoft may have missed an opportunity to please the old customers and upgrade the OS. Maybe they could have made a real good mini VM that would ride on the Windows 7 or 8 kernel. The updates would only be for the low-level stuff. The GUI would still be a virtual XP.  Frequent updates to the GUI shell should not be needed.

I believe many XP users would have paid a modest fee for a system that was made that way.  Or has somebody already done that? If so, MS missed an opportunity.

Run Windows XP in a VM

[DaveLembke]

I've only seen these, but they don't give all functionality/features back.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/make-windows-8-8-1-look-like-windows-7-xp/

I haven't tried any of these to state whether they are good or junk.

[BC_Programmer]

Personally I don't understand the fascination with XP. It's like being nostalgic for the Program Manager.

[strollin]

I support clients on the side and I have seen many people stretching the life of their desktop and laptop computers because they dont want Windows 8. I point out to them that you can still buy a new computer and get Windows 7, but that the local stores dont sell them and they need to special order them.

Instead of telling them to buy machines with Win 7, why aren't you showing them that Win 8.1 is a perfectly good OS?

My sister recently bought a new laptop with Win 8.1 and I showed her a few things and installed Classic Shell for her.  She doesn't miss her Win 7 laptop at all.

Those who I support who have bought new systems and bought them with Windows 8 for the most part hate the OS and ask me how they can get features back that they were accustomed to for years with prior windows versions and the easiest solution although not free is for them to spend the money to buy Windows 7 to install to it.

What features are missing?  The Start menu?  There are many replacements for the Start menu out there for those that can't function without one.

People who know that I have been playing with Windows 10 have asked me is it better than 8 or 8.1, and I have to say yes it is, BUT its not Windows 7 or XP. I feel that Windows 10 will be more widely accepted given its better GUI, but Microsoft tarnished the Windows name with 8 and 8.1 causing many to be cautious.

I think Win 10 will be more widely accepted than Win 8.1 but don't really understand why.  I have been using it since the first technical preview and consider it to be just OK, nothing to wow me into upgrading any of my machines, Win 7 or Win 8.1.  I probably won't upgrade any of my machines to Win 10 but would certainly consider Win 10 for any new builds or purchases.  Hopefully, the free upgrade MS will be offering will be available as an ISO that I could do a clean install on a new machine.  If it's simply an in-place upgrade via the Store then I'm not really interested.

[Geek-9pm]

Not a nostalgic need for something old.
It is  about economics or entertainment.
Some believe you help people by making things difficult. So those kind of experts are the ones who tell you to do unusual visual effects and people will love it.

My preference is for what is easy for me.

Playing with Windows 10 TR, it seems MS has made some adjustments to make the presentation move comfortable. Now I can find the control panel in ten seconds instead of 60 seconds.

I like the classic  shell.  Maybe MS should buy it.

[patio]

When's the last time he was right about anything ? ?

Just sayin...

[strollin]

...   Playing with Windows 10 TR, it seems MS has made some adjustments to make the presentation move comfortable. Now I can find the control panel in ten seconds instead of 60 seconds. ...

Huh?  Why would it take longer than 2 seconds to find the Control Panel in Win 8.1 or Win 10?  How long does it take for you to right-click on the Start button?

[Geek-9pm]

Huh?  Why would it take longer than 2 seconds to find the Control Panel in Win 8.1 or Win 10?  How long does it take for you to right-click on the Start button?

Barbecue I could not find it.   

[strollin]

Barbecue I could not find it. 

Don't understand the Barbecue reference but if you right-click on the Start button in either Win 8.1 or Win 10 you get this menu:



[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

[Geek-9pm]

Now you tell me.
I always left  click the start menu. The way Gates made it to be.
If I wanted to learn new click moves, I would have bought an Apple Mac. 

[BC_Programmer]

Now you tell me.
I always left  click the start menu. The way Gates made it to be.
If I wanted to learn new click moves, I would have bought an Apple Mac. 

I think the issue is that you want to make it harder. Consider your problem- you want to find the Control Panel. The issue, in terms of getting it done quickly, is that you feel you should be looking for it, and that it should be somewhere easy for you to find.

But realistically, we can just tell the OS to find it for us. That is what Start->Search is for, after all.

For example, when I want to start Control Panel, It is on the Apps screen. I didn't even know it was there until just now, because I open by:

1. Pressing the Windows Key
2. Typing 'Control'
3. Pressing Enter

It takes less than a second for me. Really I do this for every application, I just change what I am searching for. I've done this since Vista, because it is simply demonstrably faster and more fluent.

I'm actually not even entirely clear what the Start Menu in Windows 10 actually improves that makes so many Windows 8 haters flip-flop. The "Apps" screen that replaces the "All Programs" foldout is actually even worse than what Windows 7 or Vista provides, as it's something of a condensed view of the standard, full-screen "Apps" display. I was always under the impression that those who felt the Start Menu was critical were those who used the All Programs Menu, but now I have no idea.

Anybody Remember starting Programs with XP or earlier when you didn't have a desktop shortcut and you couldn't remember the company that made it? You want to start Mr. JellyWorld, but you don't remember that it's made by "Paula Bean Inc." so you have to drill down through all these different program folders and look through all of them, quite annoying!

[strollin]

@BC_programmer - Asking people to type things in order to find something on their computer is way too complicated!   

On my Win 8.1 computer, I don't even need to type "control", by the time I've typed "co", it's already located it. 

I don't like the search function in Win 10 because it also does a web search.  If I want to find the control panel in Win 10 and actually type "control", it doesn't find the control panel but instead finds "Settings".  If I type "control panel", it will find control panel on the web, not on my machine.  You won't find the Control Panel on a Win 10 computer using the search function.  I believe this is because MS wants to eliminate the Control Panel and replace it with Settings.