By Salvatore “Sam” Mattera

The rise of tablets and smartphones has shaken up the once dominant “Wintel” PC paradigm. In an attempt to re-establish its supremacy, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) designed Windows 8 to be a hybrid operating system, useful on a variety of platforms.

But Windows 8 adoption has been poor — consumers seem baffled by the changes. Meanwhile, Windows tablets are selling poorly, and Windows Phone remains in fourth place. Can Microsoft turn things around, or should the company cut and run?

Windows 8 has failed

Microsoft released Windows 8 last October. The new version of Windows was the biggest redesign of the operating system since Windows 95. Unfortunately, consumers seem baffled by the changes, and Microsoft’s hardware partners have been public in their disappointment.

It’s hard to quantify consumer dissatisfaction with Windows 8, but a quick perusal of the comments section of nearly any article dedicated to the operating system reveals widespread dissatisfaction.