Programming Windows: Frankenstein (Premium)

On February 29, 2012, Steven Sinofsky stepped onto a small stage at the Hotel Miramar and introduced the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. This was a make-or-break moment for Sinofsky and his controversial new operating system. And despite growing internal misgivings about the direction Windows 8 was taking at Microsoft, he seemed to pull it off.

Well, mostly.

“Wow, we are really excited to be here, and you know I’m supposed to say super-excited to be here, since that’s our Microsoft thing,” he started off, reusing the joke he opened Build 2011 with. This time, it landed with silence from the confused audience. He then referenced getting a picture from the operations center that was gearing up for all the Windows 8 Consumer Preview downloads … and didn’t show it to the assembled members of the press. Yep, another awkward Sinofsky presentation was underway.

The narrative hadn’t changed. Sinofsky and his team had begun the Windows 8 project before shipping Windows 7, he noted, but that wasn’t at all unusual. He was clearly trying to reinforce the notion that Windows 8 wasn’t being rushed to market, that its many, many changes when compared to previous Windows versions had, in fact, been in the works for years and had thus passed some form of collective muster. But it’s important to note that Sinofsky had had no more time to build Windows 8 than he had for Windows 7, a minor upgrade. Or as Sinofsky described it, “the most successful release of Windows, the most successful OS of all time.”

For the umpteenth time, we were told that Windows 8 was “nothing less than a bold reimagination [sic] of Windows, from the chipset through the experience.” It was a “no-compromises” release that would combine “the best of the PC with the best of mobility.” This positioning was designed to undercut Apple, which had released the iPad in 2010, creating a third product category between the smartphone and the PC. Doing so made sense to Apple, which earned the vast majority of its revenues from selling hardware. But it was an anathema to Microsoft, which saw the iPad as yet another device that, if successful enough, would further deemphasize Windows and the PC in the minds of consumers.

“In our day-to-day lives with all of these devices, we face too many choices where we have to choose between things, this or that, we’re choosing between consumption or productivity,” he said. “We’re choosing between more battery life or more functionality. We’re choosing between form factors: a tablet or a laptop. Even something very simple, we have to choose: do you want a touch interface or a keyboard and mouse?”

The premise here was enticing. With Windows 8, users who stuck with the PC could do it all. They could enjoy iPad-like consumption activities---reading, browsing the web, reading email, enjoying movies, and so on---using the same PC they used for work. And that PC could be anything from a traditional ...