Posted 13 March 2012 - 08:11 PM
As I see it, with Windows 8, Microsoft is making a choice about the audience it wants to cater to. The new simple design of Windows 8 is just that - simple. It is made for two kinds of people: those with tablets who want an interface that's easy to use for touch devices, and those who are not very good with computers. As it stands, with tablets coming in to their own, the first audience is a no-brainer.
As for the second audience, that is where the trouble comes in. Who right now is using computers? Most computer users aren't particularly tech-savvy. I think of my mom. I was responsible for setting up her new laptop, and what did I do? I created 4 or 5 big icons on the desktop for the main things she would want to use her computer for. She likes it. I would hate it, since I use my computer for more things. But a lot of Microsoft's audience right now are people like my mom, who just want to have simple options in front of them when they start their computers.
Microsoft, I think, does not want to split their brand. In a perfect (for me) world, they would create three versions of Windows: Windows Tablet 8, Windows Professional 8, and Windows Home 8. The first is easy enough to figure out. The second would be for those of us who use their computers for more advanced stuff. The third could also be called Windows Easy 8 (but of course would never be), and would have a simplistic interface, possibly have basic Office-like software built in (perhaps sans Excel and the more pro tools), and be for people who want to turn on their computer, do some web browsing, email, and photo editing, and be done.
The world is not perfect, and thus Microsoft is unlikely to take my suggestion. As it is right now, Microsoft is building Windows 8 for the "least common denominator" - average Joe computer user who doesn't know much about computers and wants easy options right in front of him. Windows 7 was released several years ago, and presumably Windows 8 will have a successor several years after it is released. At that point, one or both of two things will happen. Either (1), nobody will like the new interface of Windows 8, and MS will return to the classic interface of the likes of Win 7 and XP, or (2), there will be enough of a rise in those who know a flash drive from a floppy drive that MS will feel comfortable making an OS that caters more to that kind of audience.
For now, Microsoft is a for-profit company that just wants to make money. Right now, they think that can best be accomplished by releasing an OS that will be easy to use for everyone, including us. (We might just find it a little too easy) Microsoft will always seek to make money. If we don't like that they accomplish that with a simplistic OS, we can just hope that they will think it easier to make money by releasing a Windows 9 that caters more to an audience with more computer smarts.
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