By Gregg Keizer
Microsoft's new OS hurts industry as PC shipments contract 14%
Computerworld - Microsoft's Windows 8 took another knock Wednesday as research firm IDC laid much of the blame for the first quarter's historically-horrible PC numbers at the feet of the beleaguered operating system.
Yesterday, IDC and rival Gartner released their estimates for 2013's first-quarter PC shipments. The former painted a gloomy picture of the industry, saying that the 14% decline, year over year, was the largest ever in its nearly two decades of tracking.
Gartner pegged the global downturn at 11%.
While the drop was expected -- IDC, for example, had forecast an 8% contraction year over year -- yesterday's figures had one analyst searching for words. "It's brutal," said Bob O'Donnell of IDC. "These are disastrous numbers. Huge."
O'Donnell was one of the IDC analysts who blamed Windows 8 for the unprecedented fall-off in consumer PC purchases during the quarter. "Not only has Windows 8 not helped, but it's actually hurt PC shipments," he said in an interview.
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