Fox News is reporting Microsoft is about to pull the trigger on Windows 8.
Next week, Microsoft will finally pull the covers off on a new OS. And despite what Microsoft wants you to believe, the next version of Windows might be more icing on the same old cake.
Michael Silver, a vice president at research firm Gartner who studies personal computers, exclusively told FoxNews.com that many companies have what he calls “migration fatigue” and will skip Windows 8 entirely.
“We … expect most companies to skip it,” Silver told FoxNews.com. “To the extent that the market expects companies to adopt Windows 8 in large numbers, it may be disappointed.”
No kidding, because from what I’ve seen of Windows 8, it’s another freaking shell on top of a shell on top of DOS.
“The market is obviously waiting for Microsoft to have an OS that can run on a tablet that can compete with the iPad,” Silver told FoxNews.com. “So far, most of the Android tablets have been less than successful. Windows 8 will be another measure of whether there is a tablet market or just an iPad market,” he said.
Obviously waiting? Since when? The market, or at least users, haven’t been waiting on Micro$loth to do anything since the Vista debacle.
Roger Kay, the principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies, said Microsoft has quite a bit of intellectual property and patents for touchscreen interfaces. The company has mostly failed to deliver a capable touch interface, however. Silver agreed, saying earlier handhelds and the Windows Media CenterUI were not major successes. He thinks this third attempt could finally pan out.
That’s because their attempts have sucked, been buggy and frankly, while people love touch phones and tablets, no one really wants fingerprints all over their screen. Plus anyone who’s ever used a touch-screen desktop demo at Best Buy has quickly figured out large touch screens get — screwy — after a while.
Rob Enderle, the principal analyst with Enderle Group, said the big draw with Windows 8 will be the Metro interface, and that Windows 8 will run on the ARM processors used for tablets. Still, the jury is undecided on whether Microsoft can actually convince people to switch from what they know to a less familiar touch interface.
If they don’t, Windows 8 could be another epic failure, as many label the Windows Vista OS.
That’s because Microsoft still hasn’t figured out that people don’t want the user interface to change every time they turn around. One of the smartest things Apple ever did was make sure that UI standards had to be uniform across every application that runs on their computers. Every open dialog box looks like every other open dialog box on MacOS. If Microsoft would spend as much time and effort on quality control and usability as they do trying to make things look pretty people wouldn’t be constantly grousing about their products. Note to the Microsoft product development team: There are a wealth of free and lower-cost alternatives to nearly every product you have, to include the operating system. If you guys don’t start taking a look around Microsoft will eventually go the way of Amiga.
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