Haha makes you wonder where that knowledge from those experts came from...

I followed the win8 release from day one, I’m always exited when a new generation of OS knocks on the door.
Therefore I also watched a dozen of those expert (hater) videos on the Ytube aswell.
A good example would be: A guy from youtube with a high pitch voice and nerdy glasses "that is great with computers" showing of hardware and overclocking (explaining why the CPU cooler is way better than the one that is currently holding top rank- and then getting a BSOD when showing of the so called better one on the same settings. Makes sense to me that a guy like this is not capable of understanding how to navigate through the NEW START
He was one of those who made Win8 look bad, many like him took family members and sat them in front of a windows8 beta system and did not explain a word to them about it.
Of course they were unable to use it.
I understand that he wanted to show, that without any tutorial or explanation/Help many will not be able to use it... But on the other side they shouldn´t  have used people that barely use a computer.
Why because these poor guys have a system setup with shortcuts for their own needs and don’t even know how to install a program or register themselves on a page in the WWW ( ok that might be a little over the top ) 
So its a combination of both that contributed to this crooked tag of EPIC FAIL
And i don’t blame only these Tubers for it i also blame MS for it. Simply because they did NOT took the time to make a tutorial for the second beta -for a OS that had dramatic changes.
Even while it was announced by several folks as flaw that a tutorial is missing.

I also watched a video of a guy ( superadmin ) using win8 the first time ( the Dude was on START trying to find the desktop... needless to say it was a 5 minute video )
My first thoughts were: how did he get a job like that.

Like i said before bad propaganda + the missing tutorials in betas from MS made it such a claimed disaster in the first place.
I’m sure if there had been a tutorial during installation explaining the very basics + a advanced tutorial that you could click after the installation was finished things would be different now and more folks would use it.

All i can say is I’m very glad that i bought it right away, it was one of the cheapest solid Windows releases i have ever bought- saved money received the WMC for free and Hyper-V + its running flawless and i love it. Even a bit more than windows7 simply because i like the new start menu and it fits my personal needs a bit better than Windows7 and i think it has a fresh new way of doing things.

It's really good there's some people who actually like 8 .

It'd be quite sad if all that hype and effort was for nowt.  Poor little MS....diddums.

Thankfully it wasn't a total loss....

...oh, and Stardock likes 8 quite a bit too...

I'm going to preface this with a note that I really don't like Windows 8.

And while my own personal experience has been poor with Windows 8 (basically fighting through the new UI to get things going how I or those I'm helping want it), I have to say that article and the claim is pushing things a little.

I mean, the very article itself mentions a pile of other legit reasons why the numbers are down:

"Increased demand for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have also played a role in this decline"

"PC demand for business users has declined as well. According to Chou, companies now buy computers every four or five years as opposed to every three years."

Those sound like some serious detriments to PC purchasing right there... it's hard to turn around from that and say "But yeah, Windows 8 totally slowed the market."

"Not buying PCs this year" and "Buying new non-PC technology" are some pretty serious sounding contributors to me that would deserve more focus than the LOL M$ sucks! vibe I read in that article. And I'm normally keen for M$ finger pointing...

Actually I believe Windows 8 has failed. People are telling Microsoft that with there wallets  Has nothing to do with being lazy. Has to do with the fact that MS took away key parts of Windows and replaced them with an annoying Metro UI. 

Win 8 seems to be a total bust with the exception of Starkers and a couple of other people who find it appealing.

As Kaisoku posted just above you, there are plenty of more legitimate reasons for the decline in PC purchasing than suggesting Windows 8 is the reason.

That article is filled with more bias than the views of the users on this forum, of course nothing else is to be expected from a source such as FOX NEWS (aka 'the comedy network' as we Canadians refer to it!  hehe).

You and others who dislike Windows 8 because of the UI are obviously entitled to your opinion and can choose to not like/use it all you want, as long as the detractors of Windows 8 also understand that the advancements of the new OS under the hood (and no I won't link articles to those advancements since I've already done so in 3 different threads with no real responses) do make it a worthwhile upgrade for others.

I don't buy a new OS because of the look/feel of it.  I buy a new OS because it genuinely has 'advanced' in x, y or z area.  The UI of an OS is really the least important thing to me (and I suspect there are others out there like me).   Since the first Windows versions on through 3.11, 95, 98SE, XP Pro, Vista Business, Win7 Pro and now 8 I have never customized even one aspect of the UI of the newer OS.  I have been a command-prompt guy since before Windows and remain so.  For tasks I happen to perform within the UI I have simply adjusted my way of doing so from OS to OS.

But feel free to carry on........Windows 8 has failed......M$ sucks ass.......down with windows......down I say.....    Hey I know.....we should all move over to Linux, where the UI is the most user-friendly, most visually appealing and so intuitive.  Hell....maybe if we all started running Linux, PC sales would rebound gloriously and we could all laugh at M$ even more!  

The command prompt is usually half of the screen so even changing the wallpaper seemed pointless.  Also in windows versions pre Win8 I found myself using the desktop as little more than a dumping ground for misc files.   So I really like an OS that allows for performing UI tasks without the desktop (ie. running the apps like mail etc.)......not tempted as much to just dump crap there (on the desktop).....hehe

EDIT:

The complete truth is, I just can't be bothered to change the UI in any OS.  I can't explain it other than I have never felt the need/desire to 'make a system my own'.   I have various systems I use on a day-to-day basis and I just use them for what I need them for.  I guess I just don't make a personal connection with my computer system.  To me it is just a tool running another tool (the OS) with which to get certain tasks done.  I don't really know how else to explain why I never even bothered to change that cloudy sky and field default wallpaper (bliss I think?) for XP to something else for the years when I was using XP.

   It's funny that you say that Roloccolor because there have been times I've actually been looking for files only to realize the command-prompt window which I usually keep on the left was covering them up!  hehe

http://news.yahoo.com/quarterly-personal-computer-sales-decline-steepest-record-202342978--finance.html

Some quotes....

"Apple Inc was not immune from the decline, as some sales of its own Macs appeared to be displaced by iPads. Its U.S. PC sales fell 7.5 percent in the quarter, but it held on to its spot as No. 3 U.S. PC manufacturer, behind HP and Dell."

"Both firms [IDC and Gartner] blamed the sales drop on fading sales of netbooks, the small laptops that have been rendered obsolete by tablets, and more consumer spending going toward smartphones."

"Microsoft's new Windows 8 actually deterred potential PC buyers, IDC said, as users felt they could not afford touch-screen models required to make the most of Windows 8, even though the system runs equally well on standard PCs and laptops.  'People think they have to have touch, and they go look at the price points for these touch machines, and they are above where they want to be and they say, "I guess I'll wait," said Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at IDC."

Conclusions:

• Tablet/smartphone market is the main reason for PC sales decline
• W8 is certainly not helping sales, but that's a far cry from being the cause of PC sales declines
• Ignorance about W8 is abundant and adversely affecting sales (ex: people think they have to have a touch screen in order to use W8, which is utterly wrong)

Terry, Terry, Terry, what am I going to do with you?  All this "epic fail" talk, and "people telling Microsoft that with their wallets", yet no mention of the many contributing factors as to why Win 8 hasn't done so well from a market perspective. 

One vital point that must be mentioned is the piss poor state of the economy in those countries hardest hit by the GFC... with the US being high on that list if not at the top.  Fact is, the US economy still hasn't recovered and unemployment is high, so is it really a case of people [in any country] rebuking MS over Win 8 and voting with their wallets, or is it a case of having nothing in their wallets to consider purchasing Windows of any flavour? For mine, the latter has the greater air of truth about it... and does not prove Windows 8 to be an epic fail.

Another vital point is the ongoing craze for mobile/portable devices, and how two companies have the mobile market pretty much sewn up with their IOS and Android operating systems. So, if people have money to spend on computing consumables, they are more likely to go with products that have been tried and true.   Now while Microsoft has entered this market and made some inroads with Windows 8 devices, it is a late comer and is competing against proven performers, therefore sales are not going to be ideal at such an early juncture.  However, this does not prove Windows 8 is an epic fail.  It merely suggests a market shift and that other platforms have the greater market share due to pre-existing popularity.

Now this is what really peeves me, that Metro is the reason Win 8 supposedly sux.... why so many people say they hate it.  Frankly, anybody who flat out condemns Win 8 purely on the basis of Metro hasn't bothered to investigate or navigate the OS properly.  With a bit of common sense and a bit of effort, Win 8 can be set up to do everything Win 7 and previous OSes could do.... and that's without having to keep going back into the Metro UI.... AND without having to resort to installing 3rd party start buttons/menus. 

Yes, I have Start8 installed, but I rarely use it nowadays because I have Win 8 set up to suit my needs, with shortcuts and icons for my most used programs, with Winstep's Worshelf containing all the places I need to go within the OS.  I rarely see the Metro UI, and if/when I do it's because I call it up because I want to access the store and/or an app.

So, all this drivel, baloney and bullshit about Metro being the reason to hate Win 8, it's pathetic and whiney assed nonsense, just a piss weak excuse for some to mouth off because they have eff all else to whine about.

In general I agree with you, but the US unemployment rate has supposedly improved.

Of course, it makes no mention of how many people stopped bothering trying to find work since they couldn't.  It's a little stilted, but then, it always has been.

Still, it certainly undoubtedly shifted peoples buying patterns.  I imagine a lot of people are less willing to just pile on the debt that was a cornerstone of the previous economy.