...and that's why I believe Windows 8 fails
Someone (probably at Apple, at least they where first) must have thought "Why can't I make this iPhone bigger but not use it as a phone?" And voila, the iPad was born. Story probably not true, but the basic idea turned out to be a huge success.Google and Microsoft panicked. Google made the right decision and thougth "Well, we can also make our phone OS on a bigger display..." and very soon they had a competitive solution (tablet) on the market. Today Android tablets and iPad are almost equal players.
But Microsoft made a different, strange, decision: "Why can't we take a laptop/PC and make it smaller?" "Yeah! That's great let's do it!". But, I don't think it was such a great idea - it is not what you want from a tablet.
A tablet is the be thought of as a large smart phone - not a small PC.
What Microsoft should have done
Microsoft now started working on modifying Windows so it would be suitable on a tablet. But. This took time. And with time the market for another tablet player got smaller. And at the time of release for a new Windows I believe the market is gone for a third player.
Microsoft should instead have thought: "We can also make or phone OS (Windows Phone 7) on a bigger device". And they would have had a product on the market quickly. And also, maybe, they wouldn't have had to "kill" Silverlight (maybe it was inevetable anyway? Unimportant here) and "kill" all the existing developers for Windows Phone 7 out there. Instead they made them unsure of what was happening and made most of us annoyed by all this uncertainty. And now all developers have to relearn (Windows RT).
Apple made the right choice of separating their laptop/PC (MacBook/iMac) and iPhone/iPad OS. And all developers had the same old "iPhone" platform (almost at least) to work with.
Windows Phone 7 should have been renamed to Windows RT (good name huh? :-)) and being a phone/tablet OS. Windows 8 should have been an updated Windows 7 - and they should have made it the most brilliant PC OS out there, it had the potential!
What is left?
Probably Microsoft thought that tablets would kill the PC market. And maybe they are ahead of time - that might be the future. But not now (if ever)! The PC is usable, and we need it!
Windows 8 became, primarily, a tablet OS. With a minor updated Windows 7 behind the new start screen.
But since the tablet market for Windows now is basically gone, the market that is left is the PC market. And most Windows 8 installations will probably be on PC. The market for PC is still here. But what do we have? A tablet OS!
Come on. You just have to relearn!
Windows 8 on PC feels awkward. I know, I'm using it. And I'm not alone of feeling this. I have talked to colleagues, family members and friends. Most feel the same. The start menu is in the way for my every day work (I just want to start apps - not watch the weather and top news). The charms feels unintuitive (on PC) and finding stuff is harder since I have to relearn.
And, believe me, I'm fine with relearning. When Office 2007 came I thought "Damn, now I have to relearn. But this is really to the better! I want to relearn, because this feels right! This will make me more productive in Office".
With Windows 8 I don't feel that. I don't feel that is so much better. I don't even really get the point of the charms and start menu. I don't feel I'm more productive. But that's my opinion.
And the biggest fail and confusing thing is the switching between Metro mode and classic mode. What is what? And why do I get tossed around? (That's mostly my wifes opinions :-) And the Windows RT apps on a PC monitor? Please, no. On a PC I want to resize windows, I want multiple windows, I want more details, and so on. And what is really the difference between RT and 8? I know. But do customers know? Do they even care?
Fail? Really?
Well, probably not a complete fail. Customers are curious and they want the latest. And the new Windows really looks nice, and it works great. So Windows 8 will be sold. On PC. But how will it be received? Only future will tell. But my opinion? The new Vista, but another kind of fail - the "wrong idea fail". And that's even worse.
Why are you so upset about this, why do you care?
Because I'm a Microsoft fan. I love Microsoft technologies, tools and frameworks. And I'm a .NET developer too - and I love that!
So I'm upset because I'm disappointed. They could have made the right decisions but made the wrong ones.
I might be wrong about all this. And in fact, maybe, I hope I am. But unfortunately I don't think I am...
