“Apple Inc., maker of the iconic iPad, was absent — as usual — from the Computex computer show this week, but despite that the company’s influence was everywhere,” Lorraine Luk, Aries Poon and Juro Osawa report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Showcasing this year at the show, one of the industry biggest annual trade gatherings, were tablets and personal computers powered by Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) next-generation Windows 8 operating system,” Luk, Poon and Osawa report. “Windows 8 is due for release later this year and considered in many ways the PC industry’s response to Apple, which upended the traditional market with its mold-breaking tablet iPad and software iOS.”
Luk, Poon and Osawa report, “While the Windows 8 software, optimized for touch-screen use, generated a fair amount of buzz, many analysts remain skeptical that the new operating system will help Microsoft and PC makers get ahead in rapidly evolving markets such as the one for tablets. ‘In the long term, the Microsoft camp has potential to grow, but in the short term, there is still so much momentum around Apple from consumers,’ said IDC analyst Bryan Ma.”
MacDailyNews Take: Let’s define “a fair amount of buzz” before we go on:
• Dvorak: Windows 8 an unmitigated disaster; unusable and annoying; it makes your teeth itch – June 3, 2012
• The Guardian: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is confusing as hell; an appalling user experience – March 5, 2012
• More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011
“Over the past few years Apple’s smartphones and tablets have changed the way people communicate, obtain information, work and play. Consumer dollars that could have been spent on upgrading PCs went instead on new, ever-smarter mobile gadgets. In the booming market of mobile computing, Apple has so far remained the trend-setter,” Luk, Poon and Osawa report. “Apart from the iPad, Apple has laid down a new challenge to its rivals with MacBook Air, a line of ultra-thin, ultra lightweight laptop computers that use flash memory chips instead of hard drives enabling them to power up almost instantly.”
Luk, Poon and Osawa report, “With improved interface, touch functions and a range of applications, ‘it appears Windows 8 brings the user experience on par with (Apple’s) iOS ecosystems,’ said Barclays Capital analyst Kirk Yang in a report after attending Computex.”
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, Kirk couldn’t analyze the differences between his ass and his elbow. We don’t know whether to iCal that comment or spread it on the garden.
Luk, Poon and Osawa report, “Still, some analysts said it remained unclear whether Windows 8 could pose an immediate threat to Apple… Some of the new Windows 8 devices offer interesting designs, said IDC’s Mr. Ma, but a key question is whether there will be enough good applications or ‘apps’ able to run on them to make them attractive… The key to the iPad’s success has been ‘its offering of a complete hardware-plus-content ecosystem,’ said Rhoda Alexander, director for monitors and tablets research at IHS. ‘Such an ecosystem took Apple years to put together, starting with the iPod plus iTunes Music Store more than nine years ago, and it’s proving to be a challenge for the company’s competitors to replicate it.'”
Read more in the full article here.
Good luck that. You’re going to need it.
The key to the iPad’s success has been ‘its offering of a complete hardware-plus-content ecosystem,’ said Rhoda Alexander
No, the key to the iPad’s success is Simplicity. That’s exactly the opposite of Microsoft’s W8 approach. It will fail spectacularly.
BWAHAHAHAHA!
‘it appears Windows 8 brings the user experience on par with (Apple’s) iOS ecosystems,’ said Barclays Capital analyst Kirk Yang
It ‘appears’ you are a TechTard Mr. Yang.
Windows 8 is going to actually ruin Microsoft’s already limping reputation. Expect major retribution against the Metro GUI. Prepare now.
Why, oh why, are there so very many pretenders to the Throne of Foolishness?
Luk, Poon and Osawa…Lesbian law firm? I know very childish!
Yeah, with a new coat of paint the Lada will run just like an M3.
But an Indian Tata is still cheaper!
The most important and popular software ever written for Windows 8 will be a shareware program that disables Metro completely.
I have to use Windows at work, and I’m worried about losing the start menu. That will make Windows tougher to use. Sometimes it takes a while for the current start menu to render, how long will it take when it has to redraw the whole screen for the new Metro screen?
The boys in Redmond are known for their UI expertise! You have nothing to worry about i tell ya 😉
Won’t Microsoft eventually offer some switch that will enable the classic Start Menu by choice? It would make sense and would be easy enough to do if enough users complained about Metro.
yeah, with SP 2, which will cost you half again as much as the original package. I am betting on @Russ’ prediction above..
Microsoft is recapitulating IBM’s history. It dominated the industry and got in trouble for abusing its monopoly. Now it is trying to be friends with its peers so it won’t get in trouble again, but that takes their business focus off their customers.
What happens next? Microsoft is a crazy quilt of acquisitions, conflicting corporate cultures, and death-defying office politics. Microsoft could gradually blather itself into incoherence and nonexistence, or, more likely, someone will take charge and redefine their business.
Microsoft can’t beat Apple. Microsoft is terminally uncool, with all the appeal of a smelly armpit, a broken screen door, and a toothless hound under the porch. The Microsoft Experience is like getting underwear for Christmas.
No one is immortal, not even Apple, but Apple has the strategy, methods, and structure to go longer than most. The parents of the founders of Apple’s successor are still in diapers.
Metro interface = fail
Period.
Long-time Windoze users are gonna be *very* angry about it.
Expect there to be a huge backlash against MS over Windows L8.
Only a few techie types are going gaga over Windows 8. The majority who are steeped into Microsoft culture will be confused and those in corporate circles will openly revolt. Microsoft is taking a big bet which will either make or break the company.
So, when they say, “… the company’s competitors to replicate it.” They really mean that the competitors will become innovative again! We just are not hearing the REAL meaning behind their words.
I don’t know why they think Windows 8 will save the PC industry. Windows 7 is a pretty good OS and there must be some good PC hardware out there to complement it. I’m sure Windows 7 can do 99% of what Windows 8 offers. People aren’t buying Windows computers in high numbers because they don’t need them as much. Windows 8 can’t be that much of an improvement over Windows 7 that consumers will just run out and buy Windows 8 specific devices just because they’re available. Thinking that Windows 8 will be the savior of the PC industry is just wishful thinking.
I think the best they can hope for is learning enough from the Windows 8 disaster to make descent Windows 9.
Yeah, W9 will descend alright. Straight into the Marinanas Trench. The descent down will be swift and sure.
Ha ha, spell check fail… or was it?
I think that consumers who will be looking to buy a PC after Windows 8 comes out and compare it to a Mac will buy the Mac because it will be more like the Windows UI that they were using. And no wonder, Microsoft copied the Mac in the first place. Businesses will stick to their old versions of Windows because the training costs will be horrific and Windows 8 will offer little advantages over their old version.
Ir is ironic that when Microsoft tries to innovate instead of copying Apple it will have boxed themselves into a black hole of epic proportions from which it cannot recover. They will have failed in phones (which has already happened) and will have broken their old UI so badly that they will bleed market share. They will not be able to go back to the old UI and will not be able to go forward with the new UI.
Checkmate!
New slogan:
‘It doesn’t have to be the best, always.
One can settle for Windows 8 – and still get some stuff done.’
See that’s modest and social. Ehehehe.
🙂
good luck
Windows 8 on ARM might find it’s legs but the desktop version is a botched up mess compared to Windows 7 and I cannot see why any sentient being would buy it.