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What are the four things for Microsoft can do to take Windows to the next generation ?
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| 05/26/2014
Posted on 05/26/2014 5:02:39 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Mcrosoft's Surface Pro 3 event earlier this week showed the company at its strength. For the first time in many years, it's got most of its ducks lined up; hardware and software finally in unison. Yet, the company still finds itself in a losing battle against Apple in the tablet world and fighting ever declining PC sales.
Despite Microsoft being in perhaps its best position yet, its event this week showed that the way it is going about selling the Surface is still problematic. Its still failing at the tablet war and the Surface Pro 3 might not be the hit it thinks it has with the people that matter the most.
The company has a lot of work to do. There are five key areas it needs to work on to begin dominating the market, because as it stands, consumers still dont desire its tablets like the company desperately needs them to nor do they understand who exactly theyre for.
Heres the four things that I think the company needs to do in order to take Windows to the next level.
1. Remove the desktop
This is the one that I believe Microsoft needs to act on most urgently. The company needs to move toward a world where the desktop does not exist on tablets. Perhaps its there but disabled unless the user enables it, or perhaps its removed altogether, but the desktop is adding a huge layer of complexity thats entirely unneeded on this type of form factor.
The desktop makes Microsofts tablets cumbersome and confusing to use. Anyone whos used one can testify to being thrown in and out of it regularly. Its not necessary for most users and I bet Microsofts data reflects this for the most part, but right now its likely that the company believes because its store doesnt contain enough tablet apps to lure users across from the desktop.
I would hazard a guess that the entire reason the desktop mode is even still there is because Microsoft has failed to ship a touch-first version of Office (but ironically shipped one for iPad) and needs to pretend like its necessary to have desktop mode in the meantime, while its flagship apps still need it.
Vox published an interesting piece earlier this week which speaks to this point;
Anyone who needs the power of a PC can and should just buy a PC. The point of buying a tablet is that its cheaper, smaller, lighter, simpler, and more power-efficient than a traditional PC. Those advantages are only possible because tablets dont try to be all things to all people.
The iPad got popular because it wasnt a MacBook and didnt come with any of the hassles of using a full machine.
Instead of focusing on Windows tablets that do everything, Microsoft should remove the desktop by default and distance itself from it on these portables; its a bad experience for these users and would be better hidden or removed, with the ability to reinstall it if users want, which brings us to the second point.
2. Make Windows for tablets free
Tablet PCs should always get the latest version of Windows, for free. No questions asked. All other platforms have made a point of doing this and Microsoft needs to follow suit.
Its something that likely terrifies the company, as much of its income comes from this money, but in order to convince potential buyers to jump across, it needs to give them some assurance that they wont have to pay $99 at the end of the year to upgrade to Windows 9.
The way that it should do this, is to make the Modern UI version of Windows completely free. Sort of like the odd Bing-sponsored version of Windows 8.1 (which could be a trial before a wider rollout), but with the desktop completely ripped out. Users that want the desktop back should be able to purchase the functionality and have it installed onto their devices as a low-cost upgrade.
My bet is that most tablet buyers dont want or desire to have the desktop on their tablets and would never have any desire to see it there. This option gives the large group of old-school Windows users the ability to get the mode back if they desire for a small fee, but hides the complexity from your average user.
3. Release touch-first Office, bundle it
The problem is, for Microsoft, this isnt possible at all right now. It cant give away a free version of Windows without the desktop because it still needs to be there for its dated Office suite to function. Rumor has it that the Gemini Office suite that should ship later this year will be a touch-first version, so perhaps Microsoft will start moving further away from the desktop after this.
Whats important, when Microsoft eventually releases a touch-first Office suite, is that it is provided for free with all tablets. It cant be an added extra anymore, nor can it be a subscription service. The company provides Office for free with Windows RT and this needs to be extended to everything that doesnt have a keyboard built in.
Microsofts competitors are giving away their Office suites for essentially nothing; Google Drive and Apples Pages/Numbers/Keynote offering are free services that are good enough alternatives for many users to not bother buying Microsofts suite anymore.
Instead, the company could offset any losses from this by using the enterprise channel to monetize and support this new way of selling. By bundling Office with every tablet sold the company would be getting Office into the hands of every consumer with no extra effort required; those same consumers are likely to continue driving adoption of Office in the enterprise, since its the suite theyre most accustomed to.
Right now, Microsofts tablet strategy looks stunted and a little silly with its claims that Windows tablets are superior because they have Office. A desktop version of Office that doesnt do touch well at all is not a selling point, but when the company releases a touch-first version, it really will be a huge advantage, so its a good opportunity to push it hard by making it free for everyone who buys a tablet.
4. Shift the focus away from good at everything
The problem that Microsoft so nicely presented for everyone at its Surface Pro 3 event this week is that it wants its devices to be good at everything. It hasnt really decided if its tablets are laptop killers or tablet killers, so its just kind of both.
Unfortunately, these Windows 8.1 tablet convertibles arent particularly great at being either of these at any given time. Theyre pretty good at being a tablet, but not great (mostly due to the lack of apps and the half-assed commitment to Modern UI being where you should be all the time). Theyre pretty good at being a laptop, but not great at it.
Apple has spent years crafting the PC into the best form it could find and it turned out that the perfect laptop was a MacBook Air. This is evidenced by almost all PC manufacturers eventually coming to the point where they just cloned it with their own slight deviation on the design.
Instead of focusing on being good at both a tablet, a laptop and a PC, I think Microsoft should have pursued the angle that its a best-in-class tablet thats also a great creation device. Instead of pushing the fact that its tablets have a mouse(!) and can pretend to be a laptop, push the fact that they offer great tablets for touch and that just so happen to have keyboards for when you need to get down to serious business.
Yes, these tablets can do everything your PC can do, but no it cant do it better. Instead of focusing on the fact that it can be a PC, instead the company should focus on stating that these devices can do everything a tablet like the iPad can do, plus it can help you be productive.
As Ive said already in this post, Microsofts focusing its Surface line desperately on the its a tablet and a laptop angle but instead it should be pushing along the lines of its a tablet thats better than your PC.
The iPad is still not a good content creation device, but the Surface Pro is. Microsoft needs to ship the new version of Office and kill the desktop in the same move.
Then, Microsoft will have finally be fully committed to its new interface to be able send the right messaging; Windows tablets are not a cumbersome PC that you need to manage like a laptop, but instead are tablets that can do more than youre used to being able to do.
Users want less in tablets; Apple showed that people desire the iPad even though its a stunted version of the MacBook that can only do one task at a time, but thats why it appealed at first. The fact that the iPad cant do everything is the unique selling point for Apple, whereas Microsoft wants you to do everything on your tablet but hasnt quite separated itself from the old, PC way of doing things with a pointer yet.
A long road ahead
Even though weve had a glimpse of the new Office, its doubtful that any of these drastic changes could begin until Microsoft ships Windows 9. By then, I would expect that Microsoft will have killed the desktop on tablets, but Im not sure itll include Office for free, instead likely opting to offer it as a subscription service through Office365.
Theres a lot of potential for Windows tablets ahead, but Microsoft needs to play its cards better than it is now. Instead of going after the dying PC market, it should allure people to its devices by pitching them as a replacement for your laptop that isnt a laptop. Instead, its a tablet that can do everything, without the baggage of being a PC.
Right now, Microsoft is convinced that the tablet is essentially a laptop in a different form factor, but its wrong. If it cant bring itself to stop pushing this agenda, its tablet strategy might just be doomed. If it can, however, kill the desktop and all the complexity that comes with being a full PC and focus on just the tablet part, it might just win over consumers.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: microsoft; windows
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To: SeekAndFind
5. Stop trying to look like Apple.
2
posted on
05/26/2014 5:07:42 PM PDT
by
Hoodat
(Democrats - Opposing Equal Protection since 1828)
To: SeekAndFind
Stop it from crashing ...for starters.
3
posted on
05/26/2014 5:08:02 PM PDT
by
Eddie01
(Liberals lie about everything all the time.)
To: SeekAndFind
4
posted on
05/26/2014 5:08:29 PM PDT
by
Robert A Cook PE
(I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
To: SeekAndFind
Advise the free market beneficiary CEO to stop sponsoring communism.
5
posted on
05/26/2014 5:10:56 PM PDT
by
Eddie01
(Liberals lie about everything all the time.)
To: SeekAndFind
The tablet and phone operating systems (Windows Phone OS and Windows RT) should LONG LONG ago have become ONE unified OS. They keep saying they’ll do it but it’s YEARS late.
I don’t hate the idea of MS having apps, but there should just be MS APPS! Exact same app on phone, tablet and if you choose to fire it up on your desktop ok!
Just doing this, and only this, will fix almost everything wrong with their market placement.
Then they can focus on making the desktop a better DESKTOP and separately focus on making their apps work on and integrate with everything INCLUDING OPTIONALLY THE DESKTOP.
How hard can it be after this many years?
I like Windows 8. I’m one of the few. But they need to push the desktop as “it can also run apps if you need it to.” Not “you all need to be running apps.”
If they focused on the first instead of the second, they’d murder Google and Apple in the blink of an eye.
6
posted on
05/26/2014 5:17:20 PM PDT
by
Advil000
To: SeekAndFind
Microsoft is the GM of software.
I carefully avoid both in my quest for things that work.
7
posted on
05/26/2014 5:18:38 PM PDT
by
Da Coyote
To: SeekAndFind
Windows XP was the greatest OS ever devised.
What Microsoft should have done was kept it, and made it available as an OS for those with little or no computer experience, and bundled a free version of the Office suite with it.
Instead, they rushed out Vista, which was pure crap.
To: SeekAndFind
In the heyday of IBM - say the 1960s customers paid millions for hardware (mainframe hardware generally) and the software was sort of thrown in for free.
Then came the 1980s and MS’s heyday and they realized that the hardware was relatively cheap and now the real money was to be made in software. And MS made truckloads. And IBM suffered.
Now fast-forward to the 2010’s and the business model has again shifted. Money is now being made in “apps”, in “eyeballs”, “clicks”, and in some cases by selling specialized hardware that fills a niche like phones, tablets, game consoles and the like. Or in some cases by selling an integrated HW/SW experience as in Apple.
Just like IBM before them MS is fighting a paradigm shift and a tweak of their UI or their pricing is not going to be enough to change this trend. Nobody wants to fork over big $$$ for either just an OS or for an office suite. And moreover, the culture in Redmond is apparently not good - because the Microsofties have read the writing on the wall.
To: SeekAndFind
Figure out how to disconnect a USB hard disk. Most thumb drives can be ejected most of the time, but I have rarely had that work on an actual USB hard drive. Sometimes by killing windows explorer I can get it to let go of the drive, but other times I just have to pull the cable and hope nothing crashes. Even if I have nothing else using the drive, Windows will grab hold of it and not let go.
10
posted on
05/26/2014 5:21:19 PM PDT
by
KarlInOhio
(Republican amnesty supporters don't care whether their own homes are called mansions or haciendas.)
To: SeekAndFind
Good article actually. I got to play with a Surface last week. My son was given one by his boss cause he hated it. I could see why after playing with it for a couple hours.
11
posted on
05/26/2014 5:23:50 PM PDT
by
tje
To: SeekAndFind
A good, well-reasoned analysis. In the end, I think M$ is going to have to decide whether it’s going to be a hardware company, a software company, or like Apple, a content-experience delivery company that happens to do both. Apple can give away software if it wants to, as an enabler to making money in one of the other two ways. M$ is still clinging to the old model which between linux and Android, will take them into the death spiral in the end.
12
posted on
05/26/2014 5:24:40 PM PDT
by
bigbob
(The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
To: Hoodat
Win 8.1 and Microsoft have some problems but ain’t one of them.
To: SeekAndFind
Offer a supported XP. I would gladly pay an annual fee to keep operating XP safely rather than continue to struggle with the 8.1 nightmare. I’d even remove 8.1 and put XP on my new computer.
To: SeekAndFind
2. Make Windows for tablets free 3. Release touch-first Office, bundle it
IOW, give away your product. No can do. Apple can do it - because it sells the hardware. Recommendations 2 and 3 can only be done by a hardware vendor. If so, MS will be operating on AAPLs business model rather than its own.
15
posted on
05/26/2014 5:54:19 PM PDT
by
conservatism_IS_compassion
("Liberalism” is a conspiracy against the public by wire-service journalism.)
To: SeekAndFind
16
posted on
05/26/2014 5:55:14 PM PDT
by
S.O.S121.500
(Had ENOUGH Yet ? ........................ Enforce the Bill of Rights ......... It's the LAW !!!)
To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
To: Eddie01
probably boots to the Blue Screen of Death
18
posted on
05/26/2014 6:02:21 PM PDT
by
GeronL
(Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
To: Proud2BeRight
You can still get computers running Win 7 which will run all your XP apps.
19
posted on
05/26/2014 6:07:43 PM PDT
by
angry elephant
(Endangered species in Seattle)
To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
The they rushed out Win 8, which made Vista seem almost useable.
20
posted on
05/26/2014 6:08:52 PM PDT
by
matt04
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