Analyst: Whatever success Microsoft has with Windows 8 will be short-lived

15 years ago

“In Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, the Once-ler manufactures Thneeds, a does-everything garment that ‘all people need.’ But a quick glance at the bizarre creation makes it obvious that no one actually needs such a thing,” David Goldstein writes for CNNMoney. “Could Windows 8 be Microsoft’s Thneed?”

“Windows 8 will allow users to perform all PC functions through a touch-based interface similar to the design on Windows Phone devices. Legacy Windows applications with a traditional user interface will work on Windows 8, but Microsoft is encouraging developers to write applications that will integrate its new tile-based UI,” Goldstein reports. “It sounds nice, it looks beautiful, and on the surface it appears to be a way for Microsoft to keep Windows relevant.”

“But analysts say there is a major hole in Microsoft’s Windows-on-any-device approach: Microsoft is misguided in its continued belief that consumers want every device they’re using to function like a PC,” Goldstein reports. “‘Where Microsoft fails is in its continued desire to replicate a full PC experience on everything. It’s an archaic concept. You don’t need that anymore,’ said Zeus Kerravala, analyst at Yankee Group. ‘Microsoft doesn’t understand how people work, live and play today. Whatever success Microsoft has with Windows 8 will be short-lived.'”

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Goldstein reports, “In other words, Microsoft has correctly recognized the trend but incorrectly identified the root cause. Yes, consumers are switching away from PCs to a tablet form factor. But it’s not just the tablet’s look-and-feel that people are after.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back on June 1st: Taking into account that demos are, of course, designed to make products look good no matter what, our initial impression is that Microsoft, in trying to cram everything into Windows 8 in an attempt to be all things to all devices, will end up with an OS that’s a jack of all trades and a master of none (which, after all, ought to be Microsoft’s company motto).

By the time this hybrid spawn of Windows Phone ’07 + Windows 7ista actually ships, one can only dream where Apple’s iOS and Mac OS X will be! For Microsoft, it’ll be more like a nightmare. Perhaps Microsoft will someday put some scare into Google’s Android/Chrome OS, but only time – and a lot of it when measured in tech time – will tell. We simply do not see the world clamoring for the UI of an iPod also-ran now ported to an iPhone wannabe that nobody’s buying to be blown up onto a PC display.

From what we’ve seen so far, Windows 8 strikes us as an unsavory combination of Windows Weight plus Windows Wait.

Not to mention that probably no one on earth knows how much or what kinds of residual legacy spaghetti code roils underneath it all (shudder). Is Microsoft giving up on backwards compatibility? If so, people might as well get the Mac they always wanted. If not, then Microsoft’s unwilling to do what it takes to really attempt to keep up with the likes of Apple or even Apple’s followers. No matter what, if Microsoft’s going to ask Windows sufferers to “learn a whole new computer” (and that’s exactly how they’ll look at it, regardless of how Microsoft pitches it), millions will simply say, “Time to get a Mac to match my iPod, iPhone, and iPad!”

As if they needed it: More good news for Apple.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Edward Weber” for the heads up.]