The more I see of the Windows 8 platform, the more i like it. The other day I got the opportunity to see a build that is very close to the Consumer Preview expected at the end of the month and I was impressed with the changes that have been made since the release of the Developer Preview back in September last year.
But no matter how well refined and well rounded the operating system is, it could still become another Vista around Microsoft’s neck.
Here are five concerns that I still have related to Microsoft’s next version of Windows:
1. Touch could still turn out to be a fad
Microsoft has put a lot of time, effort and money into making Windows 8 a touch-based operating system. Sure, you can still drive it with a keyboard and mouse — thankfully — but key areas such as the Start Screen and built-in applications have been heavily remodelled, so that they’ll work with both pudgy fingers and a precise cursor.
It seems to me that Microsoft is betting that touch (and tablets) will be a big thing during the reign of Windows 8, but that the company is making his assumption based on one device — the iPad. That worries me. Tablets have been around in one shape or form for over a decade, but each new model withered and died on the vine.
The fact that there’s a market for the iPad doesn’t mean that there’s a broader market for tablets in general. Take the enormous success of the iPod. There was many a company that saw the success of the iPod and thought that would translate into a broader market for MP3 players in general. It wasn’t the case, and companies lost a lot of money pursuing a dead market.
And that’s just one cautionary tale.
Tablets aside for one moment, it’s hard to see PC OEMs seriously embracing touch on desktops and notebooks because of cost. At best it’s going to create a divide between cheaper keyboard/mouse systems and pricier touch-enabled systems, but the problem there is that OEMs are having a difficult time shifting high-end systems.
Microsoft has yet to answer what is to me the million-dollar question: What advantages does Windows 8 offer over Windows 7 on non-touch enabled systems?
2. ARM confusion
Microsoft has finally clarified some nagging questions I had about the Windows 8 on ARM (WOA) platform. Specifically, Microsoft has said “WOA PCs will be clearly labelled and branded so as to avoid customer confusion with Windows 8 on x86/64.” While that’s good news, I still wonder whether the presence of two such different versions of Windows on devices won’t cause problems.
With Windows 7 we finally (at least pretty much) managed to draw a line under the whole “Windows 32-bit vs. Windows 64-bit” debate that had been confusing consumers since Windows XP. The problem with the x86 vs. ARM debate is that there’s going to be a unification down the line and the two platforms will always have a gulf between them.
How exactly are consumers going to react to two different sets of marketing messages? I still don’t think that most consumers have a clear idea of the differences between the various flavors of Windows (and that’s a pretty simple thing really). I’m not sure whether folks who aren’t sure as to whether they was Windows Home Premium or Ultimate are well equipped to deal with x86 vs. ARM.
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