In the Post PC era, traditional Microsoft notebook vendors are revolting due to poor Windows 8 sales. The most vocal vendor to date has been Samsung in regards to Windows 8 on phones and tablets, but Windows 8 for PCs are well below expectations as well. It's been noted that ChromeBooks from Acer and other vendors are eating into Windows 8 sales. And because of this new trend, traditional first-tier notebook brand vendors including Lenovo have reportedly been raising their shipment proportions of models without an operating system to attract consumers.
Due to Windows 8 having failed to boost consumer demand as expected and notebook prices are seeing difficulties to drop further, some first-tier notebook vendors have decided to increase their supplies for models without an OS to push their shipment performances, reports DigiTimes.
Shipments of notebook models without the Windows operating system have always existed, but the volume was limited due to Microsoft's strong influence in the past.
Lenovo is expected to mainly ship the notebook models to China, where software piracy is still rampant, but the sources believe that the China vendor's strategy may draw its competitors to follow suit and increase their shipments of notebooks without an OS.
Seeing Windows 8 has an unsatisfactory performance, Microsoft is aggressively developing its upcoming Windows Blue, which reportedly will be ready in August.
Patently Apple covered the Microsoft event unveiling Windows 8 with their new Metro UI which no longer carries that branding. While impressive for tablets, the new user interface for PCs was always in question by most in the press. Our cover graphic for that report openly questioned: Windows 8, Winner or Loser?
Although the new touchscreen display centric user interface will make more sense over time for Ultrabook Convertibles arriving this summer, the new interface is considered a turnoff by most consumers wanting a tradition desktop for work. The Metro-Styled UI should have been an option for traditional desktop PCs and notebooks and not forced upon consumers. That was a big gamble for Microsoft and it's obviously one that consumers have said is a failure by not upgrading to the new hardware. The leap to a radical user interface has been too much for most. To make it worse, most of today's notebooks using the new user interface don't come equipped with a touchscreen which makes navigation of this new user interface anything but fun or intuitive.
The message derived from today's news from notebook vendors appears to be that they want Microsoft to quickly rethink their Metro-Styled UI as the default user interface … or else. With Google's Chromebook gaining popularity, the pressure is on for Microsoft to react sooner rather than later.
