Five ways to save Windows 8
Summary: Windows 8, like Vista before it, is on its way to the trash heap of PC history unless Microsoft makes some big changes as soon as possible.
Can the Windows 8 operating system be saved? In all seriousness, Microsoft should be asking itself this question.
(Image: Screenshot by Steven J Vaughan-Nichols/ZDNet)
The numbers don't lie. Windows 8's market acceptance is continuing to fall behind Microsoft's last desktop operating system failure, Vista. Asus, which had been a big Windows 8 booster, is now reporting poor sales and Samsung has decided not to bother with launching a Windows 8 tablet in the lucrative German market.
Simply chopping prices drastically for Windows 8 and Office 2013 for mini-tablets isn't going to cut it. Neither Windows 8 nor its close relatives, Windows RT and Windows Phone 8, even appear on NetApplication's mobile and tablet usage reports for February 2013. Nor, do I think discount prices on Windows 8 for PCs would help much. There are also lots of cheap Windows 8 PCs and they're not selling well.
So what can Microsoft do to give Windows 8 a shot? Here are my proposals.
1. Dump Metro
The Windows 8 main interface is officially called "Microsoft Design Language" — but whatever its name, it is a failure on the desktop. Hard-core Windows fans will insist that it's not that hard to learn. My response is why should anyone have to learn something new to do the same old things? Metro, like other half-baked "innovative" interfaces, such as Linux's GNOME 3.x, is a solution in search of a problem.
Repeat after me Microsoft user interface designers: "The desktop is not the same thing as a tablet or a smartphone." Metro may work on the latter two, but it has no place on the former.
2. Bring back the Windows 7 Aero interface
Unlike Vista or Windows 8, people loved Windows 7. Why? While Aero was different from the XP interface, it was still familiar enough for users to be comfortable with, and, at the same time, it incorporated improvements. The Windows 8's Windows Explorer desktop just doesn't cut it.
While it doesn't have the radical changes of Metro, it's different enough to be annoying and, like Metro, it doesn't really add any improvements to the user experience. Why do you think programs like Stardock's Star8, which gives users a Start menu again, are so popular? I'll give you a hint: It's not because they love the old interface, it's because people are more comfortable with the Aero style desktop.
3. One desktop
So long as we're at it, let's make this new-model Windows 8 Aero desktop the one-and-only interface. I mean, seriously, why do we need two interfaces for one operating system? Is there some reason why we need to have the Internet Explorer (IE) 10 navigation bar on the Metro interface and on top in the desktop model?
It's not just the looks, though. Different applications work differently. For example, IE 10 comes with Adobe Flash built in. So you'd think you'd be able to see the same sites with IE no matter where you started it, wouldn't you? Wrong!
It turns out that IE 10, if you started IE 10 from Metro, will only show Flash if its site is on Microsoft's Compatibility View (CV) list. The same Flash-enabled web pages, however, will show up just fine if you started IE 10 from the desktop mode! Does Microsoft want to confuse the heck out of its users or what?
To quote IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell, "There were certain decisions that Microsoft made that were in retrospect flawed. Notably not allowing people to boot into desktop mode and taking away the start button. Those two things have come up consistently."
It's not like this is surprising news. Back when Windows 8 was brand new, interface guru Jakob Nielsen said that having two desktop available on one device was "a prescription for usability problems". That was not only because users have to remember where to go for which features, but because switching between two interfaces was more trouble than it was worth.
Exactly! To sum up, give us one interface and give it to us now!
4. Fix Windows' marketing
Repeat after me: Windows 8 is not Windows RT. Surface Pro is not Surface RT. Techie people already know that. You know who doesn't know that? Ordinary people. If I had a dime for every time I heard from my non-geeky friends about how Windows RT or Surface RT can't run their desktop apps, I'd be a rich man.
Windows RT, and Microsoft's hardware platform of choice for it, the Surface RT, is a limited subset of Windows. You can't run "normal" Windows applications on RT. You can only run some Metro apps on it. You can't use RT in Windows-centric businesses that rely on Active Directory.
RT, in short, is not really Windows. Give the operating system another name, paste another label on the Surface RT. Stop confusing your users!
5. Improve Windows 8 native apps
It's not like we expect Office 2013 for free on every Windows 8 PC, but have you really looked at Windows 8's native apps? There's Mail, which doesn't support Post Office Protocol (POP) or threaded messaging. The photo app doesn't include basic editing tools. And if Dropbox can automatically sync everything in a folder from my PC to the cloud and vice versa, why can't the SkyDrive app do the same thing?
Microsoft does seem to be working on improving Windows 8's native apps. And we might see some of them as soon as this month.
While that would be nice, it won't be enough. Microsoft must fundamentally change and improve Windows 8's look and feel — or watch Windows 8's market share continue to lag.
I have no love for Windows, but there actually is a lot to like in Windows 8. Microsoft's promises of better security may be hollow as ever, but Windows 8 is faster and more stable than Windows 7.
Two out of those three should have made Windows 8 the next "go to" Windows upgrade. If Microsoft swallows its pride and gives users a single, old-style interface that they can actually enjoy and use, Windows 8 may yet prove a winner.
If they don't? Well, they'd better plan on making Windows 7 easily available again — until they can get Windows Blue out the door, because they're not going to be selling a lot of Windows 8.
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Talkback
I agree.
6th way to save windows 8
Go on. Tell us again on how you hate Microsoft, The Surface and Office.
I personally made a late purchase
I support MS, I certainly haven't purchased a Linux of Mac product in the last 20 - 30 years. But I heard that Win 8 was going to be a mess. I decided to get one of the last Win 7's and wait until things worked themselves out a bit. Maybe Win 9 will get my attention.
It is interesting, until reading this article I was under the impression that a Win laptop, a Surface Pro and Surface RT could run the same software. Maybe it is because of all the marketing about Office. Seems like some deceptive marketing is going on as well.
I have say to you, don't shoot the messenger. This thing seems like a dog. Both Apple and Google have developed separate OS's for laptop and mobile devices for a reason. Why does MS think it can unify both? It isn't the first time they tried. Remember Win CE - they thought that making portable devices (called PDA's at the time, rather than tablets) look exactly like the Windows desktop would cause extra sales. That didn't work out either - even though for the last 15 years they have made variants of Win CE. I think that is the answer - folks want and need different OS's and different Windowing systems on the desktop than they do on mobile devices.
Surface Pro and RT both
Apple and Google didn't try to merge apps although Google does in a way because they don't have 90% of the business work using their platform. I'm a software administrator for a payroll application and they are utilizing mobile apps because to GPS tracking. Managers are more and more mobile then ever before and MS is making so they can take their work with them.
I purchased a Windows 8 laptop on Black Friday and I love it.
You Have It Backwards
No, you have it backwards
I think you're right that MS is trying to de-emphasize the desktop. But it will be a long, long time before it goes away, if ever.
Office RT is a desktop app
I have an Asus TF600 in front of me with Win RT and Office runs and looks almost exactly like it does on my x86 laptop.
That's part of the problem
The whole mess that is the Windows Family of Products is why MS is falling flat on it's face, mixed messages, poor marketing and a refusal to allow people to have it their way without having to install additional software from other sources (IE start menu replacements)
Microsoft Flopped on this one, big time.
Windows desktop does not exist in RT
hobsons choice
We live with Future technology as it is.
When Mountain Lion came out I tried it for several months and found that it was not useful. Yes it synced your Ipad with the computer wirelessly. So everything you did got transferred but other then that it was hardly worth my time. I used Windows 8 too and I did not see anything useful. Having a traditional desktop and the start menu is confusing as hell. IE still sucks hard compared to Google Chrome. You have to be a programmer to share anything across to the computer via Bluetooth., the mail app is obnoxious. I could go on but you get the point. The future is only worth while if it makes our lives easier.
"or have a nice interface you can fiddle with and change"
That is utter nonsense.
If you have to install an addon to make it work the way you want
So I'm glad to see you don't have any add-ons, such as...
Or browsers such as Firefox and Chrome.
It's great to be a 100% MS turnkey customer, isn't it?
6.1 way
6.1.2 think for your self.
.
Problem is...
YOU may be up on stuff that makes this page moot, but I GUARANTEE you, that most of us are not. Sure, we make our own DECISIONS, but it's a good thing, when you know where to go for first-level evaluations that can help you guide your decision process.
If you think of zdnet readers as sheep, of course, then you will continue to think of us as sheep anyway...
But as it happens, I'm just glad to see them agreeing with me that W8 is for the birds.
Just my opinion
6.1
Yep...
Personally, I don't know if MS has to dump Metro, but it should probably be optional until people have had a chance to decide whether they like it. MS' ability to dictate to users has greatly diminished (good thing), and it would be wise for management to recognize that.