Samsung has taken a further shot at Microsoft over its Windows 8 operating system, whilst also taking aim at its Surface tablet, which has struggled since launching last year.
Talking to The Korea Times, Jun Dong-soo, president of Samsung's memory-chip division, had some harsh words for Microsoft's flagship operating system, belittling the firm's claims of innovation through the new OS.
"I think the Windows 8 system is no better than the previous Windows Vista platform," said Dong-soo.
It's interesting that the Samsung man chose to date back to Vista, rather than the current predecessor Windows 7 – further sticking in the boot with the claim that Microsoft's latest OS offers little innovation over a product that launched six years ago.
Following his assault on Windows 8, Dong-soo apparently wasn't quite finished, moving on to Microsoft's Surface tablet, which has experienced a less-than-ideal release since launching last year.
Picking on the device, Dong-soo said: "MS's rollout of its Windows Surface tablet is seeing lacklustre demand."
Whilst harsh, the comments aren't entirely unfounded given the issues that have plagued the device since its launch. The Surface RT has seem limited demand since its launch last year, whilst one Microsoft executive from New Zealand even took to Twitter to sell his own device.
Meanwhile, the launch of the Surface Pro generated stronger demand amongst consumers, but Microsoft has struggled to meet demand as the firm's online store has repeatedly sold out of the device as limited stock issues persist. However, such high consumer demand for the Surface Pro will a comforting sign for Microsoft, even if limited stock issues hinder its availability.
Samsung's relationship with Microsoft has become increasingly distant, with reports from this year's CeBit conference suggesting that the firm will axe its Windows RT devices in Europe as a result of poor demand.

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