After it became obvious to the Powers that Be at Microsoft that Windows 8 was bombing spectacularly, they went back to the drawing board, and said, "what do we need to add to windows to make it a commercial success?".
I believe Microsoft did a good job of that discussion, because what I heard today in the Build 2013 discussion on the new APIs and capabilities in Windows 8.1 they have thought about what kinds of tasks people might want to accomplish using Windows, for business, and at home, and what kinds of capabilities Microsoft could make available that are better than what other people are offering, and more importantly, they're making a bold "double down" on their investment in what can only be described as a mixed bag of successes and failures. Or the worst version of Windows, ever.
With Windows 8.0 a public failure, and Windows 8.1 the plan to move past that, and with an incremental updates in Visual Studio 2013 to help people build apps for the app store, can Microsoft really turn around Windows 8's abysmal adoption figures and make something people will want to build on top of? What? 100,000 apps in the Windows 8 app store? I wouldn't be publishing those numbers, that's closer to the Blackberry App store catalog size than it is to Android or Apple App Store sizes.
What do they have in Windows 8.1 that I think matters? First, a new set of "Point Of Sale" APIs (They're calling it Point of Service), that look pretty slick. Secondly, they've got an AirPlay clone baked into Windows 8.1, and a multi-monitor system including a "Projector" API that lets you make an application that has a presenter view and a public customer facing view. Previously WinRT apps had one and only one window, on one and only one monitor. Which sucked. So WinRT is growing. And some of the RT APIs can be accessed from the desktop, including notifications. All of this sounds good. But it's not enough. The Bing platform is cool too. Also, not enough.
What do they not have in Windows 8.1? That's an even longer list:
I don't think he wants to leave on a low note. Surface RT is a failure. Windows 8.0 is a failure.
The keynote did discuss a bit of start-menu/desktop integration. A background image from Windows desktop is also now, if you like, the background image in the new "this time it's nice, no really we mean it" Start screen in Windows 8.1. Wallpaper? Is that the best we could do? The fact is that jumping from one screen (your desktop) to another is against the grain, and against the entire history of Windows that has been baked into Windows since Windows first appeared on most people's PCs, in the Windows 3.1 era. In the pre-start-button era of Windows 3.1, a Program Manager and a File Manager provided you with a way to launch programs. Windows 95 brought the original version of the start-menu, the one that has hardly changed since that date. A change was overdue. But Microsoft clearly did not understand their customers, and went where the customers were not willing to follow. Windows 8.1 still represents a leap that most users will not willingly make.
Quo Vadis Microsoft? Where the hell are you going? And are you sure your customers will follow you?
P.S. The Channel 9 Video Host People are so awkward that I feel sorry for them. Does anybody else think that they would be better off just letting the geeks and Microsoft staff just talk directly to the customers, and skip the whole Channel 9 Host "Personality" and "Color Man" bits?
I believe Microsoft did a good job of that discussion, because what I heard today in the Build 2013 discussion on the new APIs and capabilities in Windows 8.1 they have thought about what kinds of tasks people might want to accomplish using Windows, for business, and at home, and what kinds of capabilities Microsoft could make available that are better than what other people are offering, and more importantly, they're making a bold "double down" on their investment in what can only be described as a mixed bag of successes and failures. Or the worst version of Windows, ever.
With Windows 8.0 a public failure, and Windows 8.1 the plan to move past that, and with an incremental updates in Visual Studio 2013 to help people build apps for the app store, can Microsoft really turn around Windows 8's abysmal adoption figures and make something people will want to build on top of? What? 100,000 apps in the Windows 8 app store? I wouldn't be publishing those numbers, that's closer to the Blackberry App store catalog size than it is to Android or Apple App Store sizes.
What do they have in Windows 8.1 that I think matters? First, a new set of "Point Of Sale" APIs (They're calling it Point of Service), that look pretty slick. Secondly, they've got an AirPlay clone baked into Windows 8.1, and a multi-monitor system including a "Projector" API that lets you make an application that has a presenter view and a public customer facing view. Previously WinRT apps had one and only one window, on one and only one monitor. Which sucked. So WinRT is growing. And some of the RT APIs can be accessed from the desktop, including notifications. All of this sounds good. But it's not enough. The Bing platform is cool too. Also, not enough.
What do they not have in Windows 8.1? That's an even longer list:
- NO complete and cohesive strategy to unify the disparate worlds of Windows Desktop and Windows RT/Store. Imagine I am a software vendor with an existing Windows product. How am I to feel about the split-personality disorder that is Windows 8 desktop (powerful business applications that run the world) and the Windows 8 store (Touch Screen Games for Toddlers).
- NO support for other programming languages or tools within the Windows RT/Store world. It's Visual Studio or nothing, C#, JavaScript, C++, or nothing. I want to build Windows RT apps using Delphi. Yes I could use Oxygene, but I want to use Delphi. Embarcadero wants me to be able to do that. But it would take a Microsoft effort to extend a hand to Embarcadero and get this going. Until Microsoft cares about developers building stuff outside Visual Studio, I remain sceptical about the long-term health of the Windows Store and the Windows RT ecosystem.
- NO changes to Windows RT that would make it compelling enough that I would want to buy a Windows RT device like the Surface RT, which Microsoft recently placed on an educational "Fire Sale" pricing, which tells me they've got a warehouse full of 'em and can't get them to sell. They're also basically giving them away to Build attendees. Maybe they should sell them to anybody who wants one, along with a 1 year WinRT Store developer account, at $99 each. Hey, that just might work. Are you listening Microsoft? Developers Developers Developers.
- NO changes to Windows 8.1 that will make people who were previously negative about Windows 8.0 want to run out and buy a Windows 8.0 device like the Surface pro.
I don't think he wants to leave on a low note. Surface RT is a failure. Windows 8.0 is a failure.
The keynote did discuss a bit of start-menu/desktop integration. A background image from Windows desktop is also now, if you like, the background image in the new "this time it's nice, no really we mean it" Start screen in Windows 8.1. Wallpaper? Is that the best we could do? The fact is that jumping from one screen (your desktop) to another is against the grain, and against the entire history of Windows that has been baked into Windows since Windows first appeared on most people's PCs, in the Windows 3.1 era. In the pre-start-button era of Windows 3.1, a Program Manager and a File Manager provided you with a way to launch programs. Windows 95 brought the original version of the start-menu, the one that has hardly changed since that date. A change was overdue. But Microsoft clearly did not understand their customers, and went where the customers were not willing to follow. Windows 8.1 still represents a leap that most users will not willingly make.
Quo Vadis Microsoft? Where the hell are you going? And are you sure your customers will follow you?
P.S. The Channel 9 Video Host People are so awkward that I feel sorry for them. Does anybody else think that they would be better off just letting the geeks and Microsoft staff just talk directly to the customers, and skip the whole Channel 9 Host "Personality" and "Color Man" bits?