It seems like everywhere you turn in the tech industry, there is someone with something negative to say about Microsoft. Here we have a titan of industry, surrounded by other companies that have taken concepts they made popular, and improved those product to the point that Microsoft is the one losing market share. Microsoft loses ground daily in the mobile, in the PC world, even the perpetual powerhouse Office loses ground customer daily to services like Google Docs. The enemies are at the gates, and Microsoft is left with a single strategy in order to remain a relevant player in the long term. In the most awkward, sci-fi laden sense of the phrase, Microsoft needs to reboot the world.
Reboot the PC industry
Microsoft has seen the future, and needs to prepare for it. Windows, as we see it today, is not going to survive in the future. Supporting a decades old workflow for accomplishing tasks and APIs that developers have been abusing for years is an unsustainable business model. Simple modifications and subtle visual improvements are not enough. Windows, as it exists in Windows 7, has to die. It doesn’t have to die all at once, and it doesn’t have to topple empires as it dies, but Microsoft needs to start planning ahead, and that’s exactly what they have done with Windows 8. The beating drum of upcoming 75 ultrabooks symbolizes the changes that are coming, and the next generation of devices is going to not only embrace, but take advantage of this brave new world that is Windows 8 (and Windows RT, if you want to nitpick).
On the inside, this reboot is going to be met with more resistance than anything Microsoft has ever done. Users are already unhappy about the lack of the decades old start button in the bottom left of the desktop. The new experience will be jarring, uncomfortable, and worst of all it will be different. Most users don’t know that they want things to change, and they resist it right until they stop resisting it. Microsoft isn’t alone in this, just look at all of the negative feedback Ubuntu recently got for their Unity upgrade. Sometimes, change needs to be pushed onto a user. The only problem for Microsoft here becomes when a user asks “if I am being forced into a whole new experience anyway, why should I stick with Windows? Right now, that’s a question Microsoft hasn’t answered.
It’s not just the users. The unveil of Windows RT painted a bleak picture for developers — one with locked bootloaders, no support for plugins of any kind, and no native way to port x86 and x64 apps to the ARM interface. A Windows RT device will be inexpensive, and it will be Metro UI focused. Developers now need to optimize for the RT experience, as well as the traditional desktop experience. They need to write apps that compete with the iPad, as well as apps that compete with OS X. Even relatively new Microsoft technologies like Silverlight won’t see a home on Windows RT, as evidenced by the lack of Windows Media Player. Microsoft has handed developers an entirely new set of tools to write applications with, creating an entirely new set of challenges in supporting as many customers as possible. It won’t be an easy hand off for some, and developers need to support the platform if it is going to succeed. This is going to be Microsoft’s most challenging area, working with developers to give users a compelling reason to pick up a Windows device the next time around.
Reboot the smartphone world… again
If you were to make a list of Microsoft’s greatest failures as a company, the last few years in the mobile space rank pretty high up there. Microsoft responded to the iPhone with the Kin, which failed miserably and saw the company lose critical ground as Android surged. By the time Microsoft was finally ready to release Windows Phone 7, it became clear that the previous generation Windows Mobile devices needed to be abandoned. The news that Windows 6.5 devices were not being pushed to Windows 7 caused a significant backlash, which only continued the loss of market share in the smartphone world. Now, with devices like the Lumia 900 finally starting to create a positive buzz for Windows Phone, the Redmond giant is ready to reboot their mobile ecosystem again.
The rumors circulating that existing Windows Phone devices would not be receiving the next major update, codenamed Apollo, is a crippling blow for any chance in Microsoft gaining market share right now. The notion that the phone you just bought is already obsolete is not something anyone wants to hear, especially in a world where the competition rolls out updates to their phones like clockwork. Any customer aware of the situation would be furious, and rightly so. Unfortunately, Microsoft needs to reboot their world, and that includes the mobile world, so some handsets will be left behind.
My suspicion is that Windows Phone Apollo is going to be much more Windows RT than Microsoft is currently letting on. I think that Microsoft plans to create a truly integrated experience between the phone, the computer, and the television. To do that, Microsoft needs all of the Apollo phones to be on the same page when Windows 8 rolls out. Things like NFC for data transfer between phone and computer, or a significant power boost so Apollo devices can handle Metro Apps, would all be a part of the equation. Legacy devices that can only do some of the things in Apollo would cause support issues, and make the experience less complete for some. The reboot needs to be all or nothing, and Microsoft is choosing all.
Final Thoughts
Microsoft can’t continue to support a world where Windows XP devices are still the standard and hope to compete with the user experiences being created by Apple and Google. They have tried that, and they have failed. A total reboot — complete with direction and purpose — is what is needed. Toes will be stepped on, feelings will be hurt, but in the end it will be better for everyone. Microsoft can escape the artifacts of their past, from Clippy to the BSoD, and move forward to a more positive image and a product that users will be much happier with at the end of the day.
