With a new platform-neutral Microsoft, why go Windows?

With a new platform-neutral Microsoft, why go Windows?

Summary: The days of counting on Microsoft to deliver first and best on Windows are gone. Will Windows 10 bring them back next year?

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Not so long ago, Microsoft execs told customers they could count on the company to deliver first and best on Windows.

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But in the new, platform-neutral Microsoft — where new apps and services increasingly appear on iOS and Android before Windows or Windows phones — why should users bet on Windows?

It's a good question and one I've struggled to answer lately when asked, as I am being. Repeatedly.

I don't think I'm the only one wondering what to say. I'd challenge CEO Satya Nadella to make a case for Windows at the moment — beyond his statement to a small group of selected press last week that Windows, Office 365 and Azure are Microsoft's core products and everything else Microsoft is selling is supplemental.

Just last week, Applications and Services Group Chief Experience Officer Julie Larson-Green told those at that same press gathering that Microsoft will be bringing Cortana, its personal digital assistant, to iOS and Android. Last year, Microsoft officials hinted that making Cortana cross-platform was a discussion topic inside the company. But Larson-Green's statement makes it appear as if the decision has been made and it's only a matter of time until Cortana isn't just for us Windows users.

Microsoft's new Sway app is coming to iOS before Windows or Windows Phone. The Revolve contact-calendar mash-up app the company showed off in very early preview form will debut on iPhone. Office on iPad and Office on Android beat to market the touch-first Office suite, known by some as Gemini, by months (or in iPad's case, more than a year).

It's almost as if Microsoft — which has a history of overcorrecting when it makes a wrong turn (see making Windows Phone a consumer platform without enterprise support for years, for just one example) — is so intent on proving it's not the Windows company any more that it's leaving Windows users out to dry.

Time is working against the company with regard to Windows. The company is continuing to strive to bring its various Windows flavors together and has taken some key steps toward doing so. There is a tech preview available of Windows 10, but the consumer preview, as well as a preview build of the coming Windows 10 flavor for phones and smaller tablets, isn't expected until early next year. Windows 10 will bring together the evolving common core (OneCore), a single Windows Store for PCs, tablets and phones, and a more common user interface and developer stack.

Until early next year, when those new preview builds and, after that, new devices built to take advantage of the new Windows 10 features, are available or visible, Windows and Windows Phone users are left to feel like second-class citizens. From what sources are saying, there are no new flagship Windows phones coming the rest of this year. There aren't even any new Office builds to play with, as the coming touch-first Office release isn't slated to arrive until Windows 10 does, which right now is around the summer of 2015.

While early 2015 isn't really that far away, waiting is the hardest part. As a long-time Windows user, the prospect of switching platforms simply because they are the dominant mobile ones, and not necessarily the ones I know and am accustomed to, isn't a savory prospect. However, if there aren't any shiny new Windows 10/Windows phone 10 toys by the first part of next year, it may be a realistic prospect.

For now, Microsoft is still both a productivity and platforms company. Whether "platforms" will include Windows and Windows phone, and not just iOS and Android, going forward, depends a lot on what happens in the next few months.

Topics: Mobility, Android, CXO, iOS, Microsoft, Windows, Windows Phone, Windows 10

About

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for 30 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

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109 comments
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  • Don't confuse Windows Phone with Windows (or with Windows Desktop even)!

    Microsoft aren't platform neutral when it comes to Windows.

    There's your case answered for you.
    bradavon
    • Yep

      that's the missing picture. Microsoft still highly favours Windows for desktop computing.
      Mac_PC_FenceSitter
      • Actually, it is because DEVELOPERS ...

        ... "highly [favour] Windows for desktop computing."

        There was a time when just about every application found on Windows was also found on Macintosh. Not any more ...

        Except for Adobe, Intuit, and Microsoft, there are very few vendors today who port their wares to both platforms. Meanwhile almost every application which is currently ported to UNIX/Linux (including nearly every open-source title) is ported to Windows.
        M Wagner
    • Exhibit A

      Dude, you are engaging in wishful thinking. Nadella's pattern of deprioritizing / abandoning MS' platforms are clear. What matters is the trajectory of the company, when figuring out its future, not is current state.
      P. Douglas
  • Make no mistake, Windows 10 is super important

    Windows 7 was never geared toward the mobile first world. Windows 8 never got any real traction. If Windows 10 has the same dominance of Windows 7, yet Windows 10 plays nice with Mobile, the need for cross platform apps diminishes since the mainstream will have what they need.
    Sean Foley
    • Cross platform apps will still be needed, especially with IOT coming up

      The problem is not Windows. Windows is good, even with the confusing Win 8.1 UI on the desktop. Windows is plain horrible on touch, but the bigger issue is actually .NET. .NET runs only on Intel and not on anything else.

      IOT and .NET is impossible. .NET on any ARM device (iOS and Android included) is just not feasible. You have to go back to C/C++/Pascal and Assembler to write low level code for devices. VC++ is still one of the best C++ compilers available out there, but an ARM port is still not available.
      GoForTheBest
      • .NET

        .NET doesn't only run on Intel. Windows Modern Apps are made in .NET and can run on ARM (Windows Phone and Windows RT) Also there is Mono for non Windows platforms.
        ahumeniy
        • Also

          Intel is trying to push into IoT pretty heavily. I'm tempted to get an Edison board, the only downside being that it's more expensive than an RPi (but cheaper than the more powerful BPi).
          Jacob VanWagoner
      • .NET is platform agnostic

        You should be able to run it on any machine (assuming that there is a port). Right now you can target an app for x86, x64 or ARM (or "any" - which means that the same app will run unchanged on any of those three). Xamarin has it running on non-Windows platforms (and Microsoft has an early version that runs on (I think) BSD Unix)).
        Flydog57
        • .NET Frameworks different for x86 and ARM

          This is from MSDN .../en-us/magazine/jj553518.aspx

          "The .NET Framework already runs on ARM processors, but it’s not the exact same .NET Framework as the version that runs on the desktop. Back when we started working on the first version of .NET, we realized that being able to write easily portable code across processors was key to our value proposition of increased developer productivity."

          Microsoft continues to make whatever flavor is easiest for each platform. Not because they don't have the talent but because they want to get to market quicker. Rushing to market worked for them in the past but today I believe the may be shooting themselves in the foot. Having different flavors of .NET creates a headache for developers because they need to maintain two flavors of their own code. One for ARM and the other for x86. They should have taken the time to do it correctly. Java is different. With Java, the exact same code will compile for each platform.
          Tim Jordan
  • Microsoft will have to become a services company...

    Or suffer a major downgrade in size.

    IBM showed it can be done. The only hardware business they do is in mainframes. Everything else is in services. Operating systems is extremely minor as it runs on nearly everything, thus it allows services to be available nearly everywhere.
    jessepollard
    • Microsoft has become a services company

      that transition is already well underway and seems to be rather successful so far.
      Mac_PC_FenceSitter
      • ... and with resounding success ... NOT!

        Absolutely! You can tell that by the fact that they now have to give Office iPad away for free! It is absolutely customary for companies to give away products and services for free when they have been successful, not when they have suffered poor sales.

        Welcome to MS' moron CEO!
        P. Douglas
        • eyeroll

          Yes, they clearly have to give it away for free.... since they immediately shot to the top of the app store in their original non-free configurations.

          Everyone does freemium now - from Dropbox to EverNote. The only thing surprising about Microsoft doing the same is that anyone is surprised by it.
          Mac_PC_FenceSitter
          • Where are the new subscriptions?

            What you said does not undermine my point. Companies don't give away products for free if they are selling well. They only do so when they are not selling well, in hopes that an altered, less ambitious business model will work.

            The bottom line here is if Office iPad is generating subscriptions. The only evidence I see here is that it is not. Also, just because a lot of companies do freemium, particularly in app stores, that doesn't mean it is the best business model. Software companies by and large make far more money on the desktop, and they typically use the free trial period business model.
            P. Douglas
        • Still not completely free...

          You can do basic editing functions, but to get full access you still need the Office 365 subscription. By the way, there are something like 5-6 millions subscribers and growing rapidly, so I would call that a resounding success.
          toph36
          • Office 365 a resounding success?

            Office 365 started June 2011. That means over the course of 3 years, it has managed to pick up 5-6 million subscribers. This means it picks up about 2 million subscribers a year.

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_365

            Given that there are over 1 billion Office users, it will take MS, 1,000,000,000 / 2,000,000 = 500 years, to convert everyone. Do you still think Office 365 is a resounding success?
            P. Douglas
          • Continuing ...

            By extension. It will take 50 years to convert 10% of users, and 5 years to convert only 1% of users. So again I ask, do you think this is a resounding success?
            P. Douglas
          • Not when you consider that a very large proportion if those one ...

            ... billion licenses are corporate licenses which HAVE TO BE per-seat. They are not going anywhere. It is the pilfered corporate licenses (taken home by their workers) that will be converted to Office 365 licenses for a fraction of the cost. License 5 copies of Office Pro for $100 per year or 5 per-seat licenses for $2,000 once.
            M Wagner
          • Not nearly as bad as Google Docs

            According to Google, Google Docs signs up 1800 customers a week. That is less than 100,000 users a year. It will take them 10 years just to sell to 1 million users.
            James_SB