“From Microsoft and their partners point of view, they are really hoping that history literally repeats itself. Just as Windows was used to bypass Apple in the past, they are ‘praying’ that Windows 8, with its ability to deliver a similar OS and touch UI experience across multiple devices can revive their fortunes and make them relevant again,” Tim Bajarin writes for TechPinions.
“But this is a very tall order this time around. Apple’s lead with iOS and OS X, along with their stellar offering of products that use these operating systems is very large. And while Microsoft’s OS seems to be a solid offering, unlike Apple who owns the hardware, software and services aspect of their eco-system, Microsoft has to hope that their software developers, hardware partners and potential service providers can gel and execute in a way that allows them to actually gain ground on Apple. And, they can’t afford to have any missteps,” Bajarin writes. “While Windows on Intel X86 chips seems solid, their move to put Windows on ARM is only in its early stages and its success on this new processor platforms, which includes the need to have software written specifically for these chips, is not assured.”
Bajarin writes, “Also keep in mind that, while Microsoft and partners are scrambling to play catch up, they have no idea what else Apple has up their sleeves in the way of new hardware, software enhancements and services. If Apple continues to innovate and stay at least two years ahead of the competition, Microsoft and friends may always be playing catch up for the foreseeable future… But now that the Windows crowd finally has an OS, UI and a strategy that is actually designed to compete with Apple, Microsoft and their partners can now look towards what they hope is a promising future and like in the past, are telling Apple that the game is back on.”
Much more in the full article here.
Good luck with that!
The game is on to make Windows not look like a rounding error in mobile. There is no game to take over the tablet space from the iPad the hopes of that are long gone.
One of the major reasons that made people stuck with Microsoft was the legacy software and hardware that they had invested in.
If Windows on ARM requires customers to buy new software and peripherals, them there is less of a reason to stick with Windows. Switching to something else may now seem a lot more appealing.
This is true. Legacy was a huge strength that has been turned on its head against them.
This is another great article about what happened:
http://minimalmac.com/post/17758177061/microsofts-biggest-miss
Microsoft’s biggest miss is not the lack of a smartphone, or tablet, or Office apps for iOS and Android.
Like the curtain finally falling from the Wizard of Oz to find just a small, frail, man pretending to be far more powerful and relevant than he really was. Microsoft’s biggest miss was allowing the world to finally see the truth behind the big lie — they were not needed to get real work done. Or anything done, really.
And that will be what ultimately kills them.
Outstanding.
Is it really a good decision on Microsoft’s part to play along Apple game? Easy to use UI was never their game. They used to rely on corporate IT to implement their systems. If Microsoft wants to be Apple again, it’s just giving end users wider bridge to convert to Apple, a much better brand.
Microsoft has no choice in the matter. Just like with windows 95. Microsoft realized that the Graphical User Interface was superior, and either moved in that direction or risk being passed.
In the case of iOS, they have been passed, and market is realizing it more and more each and every day. The rate at which iPad’s and iPhones are being adopted in the enterprise has to be a complete shock to Microsoft. Remember Bozo’s words when the iPhone came out…. Whose going to spend $400 on a smart phone?? Microsoft really really believed this and I believe completely stunned with the rapid rate at which innovation and market share has been gobbled up by Apple.
I’m guessing this might turn out to be alot like the internet where Microsoft has yet to establish it’s customary dominance.
Yet to establish dominance? I assume you mean they think they will dominate it based on their past. Just like the Boston Celtics thought they would keep winning NBA championships forever.
yeah, we’re five years late, but we’ve finally copied everything you’ve done as a company.. Now, it’s game on! lol..
Really? So show me the Microsoft manufactured hardware that matches the various forms of iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, MacBook, MacBook Air, iMac, desktop Macs, the Mac Mini…
Please, show us anything, other than an OS, that MS designs and builds themselves.
Retail stores. Sort of…
i think you missed the fact that my comment was dripping with sarcasm
hence, the *lol*
Microsoft tried to build new stuff on top of old to allow legacy support, but they could never remove the old because it was ingrained. Apple added Classic support within OS X and then just removed it when they no longer needed it. They allowed apps to run using rosetta, and then removed it. The situations aren’t identical, but broadly speaking you can see which strategy worked better.
Good luck with that move to ARM, Balmy. In the same time period when MS sat atop x86–bloated and complacent–Apple’s had to migrate themselves and thousands of “legacy” dvlprs across multiple chip architectures, from Moto to IBM to Intel. No one is more nimble at it, esp when they don’t have hundreds of millions of biz desktops to drag along.
MS really has been destroyed by their own success. How do they sell WOA to biz, when the albatross of their decades of legacy won’t run on it? And how many times are they going to try putting classic Win desktop on a tablet (because that’s what their customers claim they want) before they realize it just won’t work.
Part of their myopia shows in their ridiculous insistence of naming all their OSes “Windows”, as if the brand name alone will sell it. If Apple had gone down this path, they would have tried to cram Leopard (with Finder) on an iPhone…on Intel no less.
And before Macheads rue the idea of OSX turning into iOS, they should rest assured that Apple has no intention of falling into the same trap. Just because OSX and iOS are running off of the same Unix code base doesn’t mean they’ll ultimately be the same, with the same UI/UX. Apple is showing with 10.8 ML that unifying concepts and UX trumps ‘one ring to rule them all’.
If Apple prevails against Android, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Google and Microsoft becoming much closer business partners. They both I’m sure see Apple as a common enemy, and one in which neither company has been able to sustain innovation at a rate that comes close to that of Apple.
Interesting times indeed
I think Google is the common enemy to Apple and Microsoft.
Today, yes, tomorrow, well…… When Apple hit’s the 1 trillion and beyond market cap, then the Teutonic plates of the IT industry will shift and unlikely relationships will be forged.
Dream on, MS!
I haven’t seen a video of a funeral for an iPad yet. Hello, Redmond?
Game on? OS X Linsanity! A chink in Microsoft’s armor?
More like a chink in Mao’s armour.
So Microsoft and their OEMs are going to make a bunch of tablets using Windows on intel.
What, in the last 11 years of failing at this, has changed?
A few finger gestures and no stylus is going to work this time?
Is it just a stop-gap until Windows works on off the shelf ARM?
Can you say Zune 2 and Zune 3?
I think the conversion has already happened, if the number of iPads and MacBooks I see around me are anything to go by. Wintel laptops are scarcer than iPads these days. Go fig. The end of wintel was nigh and now it’s just a passing bad memory.
The story never changes. Companies continue trying to guess what Apple will be up to next so they can make some money off that bet. Thus, Google rushes to patent specific voice commands for TVs suspecting Apple is on the cusp of doing that so it can squeeze a few bucks from Apple.
When are companies going to get off the “catching up” cycle and start inventing their own new technology to excite their customers into buying their products?
Apple has been very clear about their success. They focus on creating simple, great new products bringing together the best of the latest technology, and THIS drives sales. Not trying to “catch up” with something someone else has done.
Is Microsoft forgetting that their advantage came because the partnered with IBM, who at that time owned the most recognizable name for businesses for typewriters and other office machines?
If they can’t keep ahead of Apple, the will be left behind, as there is NO similar positioning of a company to help them with an inferior product.
Indeed. And then the IBM clones. Either a brilliant move by Bill or one of the luckiest freak moves of the 20th Century. (I tend to think the latter.)
This is now just competition – and Microsoft has never dominated when the game was competition.
Forgets pricig.
I suspect IT is going to skip Win8.
1) They usually alternate generation of Windows, to avoid the pain of updating, and more costly, training employees on the new software.
2) Win7 isn’t that old. It replaced XP, which was really old (in computer terms). Vista isn’t even mentioning.
3) Metro? x86 vs. ARM? Win 8 is going to have a lot of new technology. Better to let someone else be the guinea pig.
All true. Microsoft will experience abysmal adoption rates for Windows 8, will panic, and will run to the trunk for the next version.
In 2014 Microsoft will introduce Windows 9, consisting of Metro over Retro (a revived version of XP). Early adopters will be given their choice of prizes; a six-pack of New Coke or a Justin Bieber Greatest Hits CD.
This version too will fail to sell, as will a rebranding attempt as Windows 9 Classic—and by then even I.T. will notice the odor of decaying flesh leaking out of the bulletproof packaging.