Times have changed.
The advent of the mobile internet has shifted the paradigm of the home user. Apple's release of the iPhone followed by the iPad set a new standard for personal computing and the industry has seen a sea change sweep over the space with PC sales declining year over year and Tablet sales skyrocketing (Android had something to do with that as well). What was Microsoft to do? Their entire business model is dying.
Enter Windows 8.
I typically wait a bit behind the technology curve and let the earliest adopters, the innovators, work through the difficulties. Windows 8 was released late last year and I acquired my first Windows 8 Pro tablet in early June of this year. My selection was the Lenovo Tablet 2 pictured below.
Having used this for a couple of months now I can say I very much like Windows 8 Pro in tablet form. Excellent really, and a deeper experience than I get with iOS. Microsoft really is leading in design in the OS category ... in some ways. The big issue that has arisen for me actually has nothing to do with my tablet. It is the question of using Windows 8 on a desktop. No way. Not a chance. Wouldn't like it at all. I do have 3 instances of Windows 7 running in my home and I can't imagine trading out that for Windows 8 on those machines.
Thus the flaw in Microsoft's strategy. They have poorly managed this move to tablets, almost as a knee jerk reaction to the iPad, with seemingly little thought given to desktop PC users. The author of this article is on the same page as I and expresses the issue quite well.
A quick snippet from the article:
...PCs and laptops have bigger screens [than tablets and smart phones] and have used keyboards, mice and trackpads as input devices for most of their existence. It appears that Microsoft’s logic for Windows 8 has been that if touch is good for smartphones and tablets, it must be good for PCs and laptops, too. However, in our current research with PC and laptop users, we are sensing that this type of thinking, at least for traditional desktop PC and laptop users, is flawed.
The real question remaining is what the floor is for the decline in PC sales. If the decline levels out before hitting bottom as tablet users fill their needs then a strong PC market will remain and will want an OS for their needs, not the needs of a tablet or a smart phone. Windows 8 does not fulfill that need right now. So Microsoft will be left with Windows 7 for desktop PCs, Windows Server, and Windows 8 for tablets and smart phones. That breaks the strategic thinking put forth by Microsoft as they attempt to leapfrog Apple by creating one OS for multiple platforms.
Problems, problems, problems.
Happy reading,
J.W. Gant
**UPDATE**
Here is one writer's take on the upcoming Windows 8.1. "Stay far, far away". He wants his desktop back.
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