Deutsche Wella: Personal computer sales fall to record low, Windows 8 partly to blame

[lads]

It speaks for itself.

Deutsche Wella: Personal computer sales fall to record low, Windows 8 partly to blame

Global shipments of personal computers have fallen to a record low in the first quarter, according to two research firms. Experts have partially attributed the slump to Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system.

Personal computer sales fell a record 13.9 percent in the first quarter, the largest decline since research firm International Data Corp (IDC) started tracking the sales in 1994. The research group said the decline was twice as large as expected.

[kurt18947]

Also partly because there's no compelling reason to upgrade functioning hardware? One of the problems with a monoculture is that there's no 'hybrid vigor', nothing new or compelling.

[LillyDragon]

^ Exactly. Are there many reasons for most people with modern computers to upgrade these days? You can still do a lot of computing on just half a gig of RAM and a single core CPU, from office work to web browsing and basic photomanipulation, or pixel art; there's no need to buy a new machine every year. Then there's the fact that a lot of people are doing these things from tablet PCs and smart phones as well.

It's going to be a while before I'd need to upgrade for something more myself, and even then, I'll probably just build my next desktop, instead of adding extra RAM to a brand new refurbished machine. Are sales of computer hardware also factored in the research? Anybody who cares about playing high end games or 3D applications will probably keep upgrading their base rig as needed, or build a new one from scratch.

So yeah, I think it's a lot, lot more than just Windows 8, but I can imagine a lot of people still want to avoid Metro like the plague. I know I'm happy with Win7 and don't want to relearn my way around Windows all over again, like I did with Vista. I know two people who use Win8 on their laptops, and it's only because that's what came preloaded with the machine; otherwise they were afraid of the OS as well.

I'm just glad performance isn't at the heart of issues with Win8, at least; Vista was a nightmare for me to tweak into a remotely usable state, and driver support for my video hardware was pathetic, so I had to dual-boot with XP and Ubuntu just to get the most out of my machine.

[SeijiSensei]

Here's a longer and more detailed story from the New York Times.

Windows 8 is partly to blame, but the fall in PC sales has more to do with the change in consumer preferences for mobile devices over traditional PCs.

In particular:

That shift has big implications for the balance of power in the tech business. Last week, Gartner estimated that by 2017, the dominant operating system for all computing devices, including smartphones, computers and tablets, would be Google’s Android, with software from Microsoft and Apple far behind.

So, what's next? Watches? Glasses? Or will people stay with slabs of glass and plastic?

[lads]

Are there many reasons for most people with modern computers to upgrade these days?

No. But this was true 10 years ago. Winblows 8 is perhaps M$ saying goodbye to desktop and laptop computers, which might be inevitable after all.

[kurt18947]

No. But this was true 10 years ago. Winblows 8 is perhaps M$ saying goodbye to desktop and laptop computers, which might be inevitable after all.

Given Microsoft's lack of success outside the Windows/Office sphere, they better ride the desktop/laptop horse 'til it drops.

[Jonor]

Wider take-up of more visually demanding apps such as still/movie editing and music editing, now that the computing power
to do these things is finally here, is going to keep the PC with a big monitor with us, even if the initial boom is over and unit sales are falling.

[ciscostudent561]

their new tablet isnt so bad... but this was a long time coming...