changes to the look of the software
that powers most personal computers.
But those moves may have been too
aggressive for some customers, the
company now concedes.
Microsoft revealed Thursday that it
had sold 100 million licenses for its
flagship software since it was released
six months ago. That was roughly the
same number of licenses it sold for
the well-received, previous version of
the system, Windows 7, in about the
same time period.
Yet Windows 8 has struck a sour note
with parts of the computer-buying
public. With Windows 8, Microsoft
replaced the operating system's
traditional appearance with an
interface that looks like a screen of
tiles. The change left some customers
cold, and though they could switch
between the old and the new look, it
apparently was not clear enough to
some of them how to do it.
In an interview, Tami Reller, chief
marketing officer and chief financial
officer of Microsoft's Windows
division, said an update to the
software, code-named Windows Blue,
was coming later this year. It will
include modifications that make the
software easier to figure out,
especially on computers without touch
screens.
"The learning curve is real and needs
to be addressed," Reller said.
There was another problem. The tile
look was meant for people using
touch-screen computers, and there
are not many of those devices running
Windows yet available. Researchers at
market analyst IDC estimate that
Microsoft sold only about 900,000 of
its Surface tablets during the first
quarter of the year, about 1.8 percent
of the overall market. Other Windows
tablet makers like Acer accounted for
additional sales.
By comparison, Apple, with iPad sales
of 19.5 million, accounted for 39.6
percent.
Much to the disappointment of PC
makers like Dell and Hewlett-Packard,
Windows 8 has not helped fend off
competition from devices like the
iPad. Global shipments of PCs fell
13.9 percent to 76.3 million units
during the first quarter of the year
when compared with the same period
a year ago - the worst showing in two
decades, according to IDC. Tablet
shipments grew 142.4 percent to
49.2 million units in that same period,
IDC estimates.
(Also see: Windows 8 blamed for
worst PC quarterly sales on record)
Windows 8 was supposed to bridge
tablets and traditional personal
computers with software made for
touch screens that had the option to
switch to the desktop interface
whenever someone wanted to create
a PowerPoint slide or work on an Excel
spreadsheet using a keyboard and
mouse.
Microsoft envisioned a bounty of new
Windows 8 touch-screen devices,
including laptops with displays that
also respond to finger gestures.
But that has not panned out. The
majority of personal computers on
store shelves have been more old-
fashioned keyboard-based systems.
"If you're not going to provide the
proper environment for people to
understand how to use the system,
you risk losing a lot of people who
used the system for a decade," said
David Daoud, an analyst at IDC.
Reller said Microsoft would reveal
more about the Windows 8 changes in
the coming weeks, but she declined to
confirm they would include an option
to bypass the new tile interface at
startup, as recent reports on
technology news sites have said.
Reller added that Microsoft had
already trained its retail partners to
remind customers that the old desktop
interface still exists in Windows 8.
"We started talking about the desktop
as an app," she said. "But in reality,
for PC buyers, the desktop is
important."
Microsoft's own research on Windows
8 usage patterns showed customer
satisfaction with the system was on
par with that of Windows 7, if the
users being analyzed have tablets or
other systems with touch screens,
Reller said. People with conventional
PCs are not as happy.
"We need to help them learn faster,"
she said.
Joshua Blood, an audio engineer in
Hudson, Mass., put Windows 8 on one
of his existing computers, but took it
off after a few days, deciding that the
software only made sense if he had a
touch-screen machine. "I can do
absolutely everything I need to do in
Windows 7, and it's a nice-looking
OS," Blood said. While the 100 million
licenses for Windows 8 sounds
impressive, that figure does not
indicate how many people are actually
using the new operating system. That
is because a significant portion of
Microsoft's Windows sales occur
through multiyear contracts with
business customers, who are allowed
to pick which version of the operating
system they run on their computers.
So while business customers who
signed such deals since Windows 8
came out are counted among the
licenses sold, many may have
downgraded to Windows 7. Al Gillen,
an IDC analyst, estimates that about
40 percent of Microsoft's Windows
sales are to customers with such
downgrade rights.
Gillen said such a pattern among
business customers, who tend to
adopt new software cautiously, was
common when new versions of
Windows are released.
© 2013, The New York Times News
Service
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