Posted by Greg Mills

Always hopeful that they can do something right, Microsoft is launching Windows 8 within days. MSNBC, (the MS stands for Microsoft rather than the dreaded disease multiple scololsis), has recently posted a breathlessly hopeful story on the new PC OS. (Keep in mind, the author was told to write a story about a major product sold by the owner of his company.)

"One of the most obsessed over features of Windows is its boot time, according to Windows chief Stflagellatingeven Sinofsky. As such, he says in a blog post, Windows 8 will boot so fast it will make the relatively spry Windows 7 seem Vista sluggish". When I read the headline on that story I had a mental image that can be seen under my picture.... WIndows 8 being booted really fast. See: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/09/7688472-windows-8-boots-...

To me, using Microsoft Vista as a mental springboard for selling anything seems a bit self flagellating. The Titanic, sprint, the black plague, cancer and Microsoft Vista all bring very dark thoughts to the surface for most of us. It seems the aggressive salesmanship of Microsoft and the high prices they demand for their operating software has resulted in entire Windows operating system updates being largely ignored by business. The PC upgrade path is steep. In time, equipment, IT horsepower and money. See: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/09/corp-america-to-microsoft-well...

Fox News reports that: Michael Silver, a vice president at research firm Gartner who studies personal computers, exclusively told FoxNews.com that many companies have what he calls “migration fatigue” and will skip Windows 8 entirely. "We ... expect most companies to skip it," Silver told FoxNews.com. "To the extent that the market expects companies to adopt Windows 8 in large numbers, it may be disappointed."

Corporate America just went through a massive upgrade to Windows 7, which most consider a raging success for consumers and business: Gartner estimates that 80 percent of companies skipped Vista and went to Windows 7. Some remain on Windows XP, slow to move due to costs or legacy software. Now, because of the immense cost, they'll skip Win 8 as well, he said.

Another interesting note, the author of the MSNBC article notes as a matter of fact that most people reboot a lot. "The need for fast boot times is crucial, because so many people still regularly boot and restart their machines. According to the Building Windows 8 blog post, 57 percent of desktop PC users and 45 percent of laptop users still shut down their machines instead of putting them to sleep." (That is because Windows PC crash so much you get used to rebooting all the time)

I never will forget the look of amazement when a PC expert I met asked me why Macs are so darn good. I told him that, "I hadn't rebooted my MacBook for 5.... (he was expecting me to say hours or at the most days).... weeks".

"You have got to be kidding he retorted!"

"The only time I reboot is sometimes when new software is added or an undate requires rebooting", I explained. I told him that the only time my MacBook crashed was when I was running Microsoft applications. (That is true) He changed the subject at that point.

Fixing sluggish PCs is a real money maker, with the poor economy, switching to Macs puts a lot of IT people out of work. That is Greg's Bite on Windows 8.