When new CEO Satya Nadella was new at the job he articulated Microsoft’s mission much more clearly than he does now. Instead of talking about intelligent cloud and intelligent edge he just said he wanted people to “love Windows”. https://www.crn.com/news/applications-os/300075482/microsoft-ceo-nadella-we-want-people-to-love-windows-10-not-just-use-it.htm
I work in IT so my work is Windows. Windows clients, Windows server, the cloud and Office 365. I use Windows because it allows me to access the tools I need to do my work. I don’t use UWP apps at all and I use a variety of other tools including PowerShell. This puts me clearly in the Microsoft ecosystem.
I actually liked this idea of “loving Windows”. The idea that Windows was more than work and more than productivity, for me, was a good thing. I had a Windowsphone, a Windows PC, my old Xbox 360 was my movies and TV box and, when the family plan arrived, Groove would take over from Spotify as my music service.
In three years Nadella has failed to progress my love of Windows. In fact it’s gone backwards. Now Windows has retreated from the central part of my technology use to being mainly something I use for work or when I need a keyboard to type.
Apple did the same thing. There was a time when an Apple user had to have a Mac to sync music, activate and upgrade an iPhone and use Apple services like iTunes. Apple then just made the Mac a component in an integrated ecosystem.
Microsoft seems to have done the same thing. It’s downgraded or deprecated Windows as just part of their environment. The difference is that Microsoft don’t have an ecosystem outside business and productivity. Of course there is Xbox and Minecraft. Despite their rather incompetent launch of the Xbox One in 2013 as a $500 TV box that had to have a Kinect sensor it survived the poor marketing of consumer products,
I reflect that in 2018 there is little to make a consumer “love Windows”. I struggle to find a service, not related to work, that a normal non-gaming consumer would look to Microsoft for.
If you care about Windows then this is a little bothersome. Microsoft may be looking ahead to the next wave of quantum computing virtual reality headsets that interact with the cloud but Windows is disappearing. It makes me sad that I can’t love Windows and no one else can in the way Apple and Google seem to generate real passion for their products. I am not sure whether UWP or PWA really matter much in the Microsoft universe when cloud interaction may not involve Windows at all in 10 years.
Nadella is and will make Microsoft shareholders a lot of money. That’s what he is there to do. However, I think if you care about Windows then we have passed the peak and are heading to a future without WIndows.
jumpingjackflash5
<p>Yes. Microsoft should be clear of what the future of Windows will be. It is not sustainable to tease the users with announcements of new features that are then abandoned, twice a year reinstall upgrades that bring very little to the average users (but provide compatibility and reinstallation issues) etc.</p><p>Windows IS a great OS, especially on desktops and notebooks (both irreplaceable "form factors"). But Microsoft must position it clearly and define its future. If it does it, it can even regain its position in mobile space, because its Android apps are very good and if they collaborate with Windows well – Android is more the firmware of mobile devices than OS.</p><p>However if Microsoft continues to treat Windows and Windows users like it has been doing recently, people will start to dislike their desktops, focus on mobile and not using connection with desktop/notebook much, which will also cause less usage of Microsoft apps on Android. Then Microsoft becomes the new IBM, and we will mostly run various Linux distros on our desktops, and another Linux distro, e.g. Android firmware, on our mobile phones. The richer people could run Macs and Iphones similarly to what they have been doing up to now.</p><p><br></p>
jumpingjackflash5
<blockquote><a href="#287671"><em>In reply to wright_is:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yes.</p><p><br></p><p>Microsoft has made big mistake to dismiss Windows Mobile. It was for sure not that hard to maintain the platform – given the number of Windows versions it supports already. They could take mobile as an additional "Surface" platform. </p><p>Android is a firmware of mobile phones, not an OS. On every device it is different, fragmented, upgradeable by one or two versions and two or three years only. That is enough for mobile but nothing else.</p><p>Maybe Microsoft top management simply did not like Windows Mobile. </p><p><br></p><p>Well now it is done. Microsoft must now ship its mobile software on Android and IPhone, which it does and does reasonably well – Office, OneDrive, Skype. </p><p><br></p><p>And maybe one time, when they start to listen to their customers, will put the mobile phone with Microsoft Apps and Microsoft Mobile OS on the market again. Even if the OS could be based on heavily customised Android, for application compatibility. Of course if Windows Mobile could not be resurrected that is a viable alternative.</p>
RR
<p>You typed this complaint onto Thurrott on a Windows computer. Was that work related?</p><p>I don't get most of this (seems like you wrote something similar a few months ago). I don't see anything wrong with W10, at least not in a major way, given that these OSs are always work in progress. Your issue seems to be that Microsoft cut services that were losers (kinda different from Thurrott's complaints which are about W10's design moving away from people like him, power users, but he shoe horns it in). </p><p>Microsoft or any business eventually have no choice but to cut losers after throwing enough money at it. The market tells them this, so, these complaints really aren't actionable, your choice is to go with the companies that have won in those places Microsoft has withdrawn. Microsoft made some major errors in mobile, and many other services. I think the most basic one, that incumbents have repeated since the beginning of time, is they tried to integrate the new tech into their existing platform while it turned out mobile was its own thing that the winners fast optimized for both technically and business model wise. This is a root cause of all that happened thereafter that you complain about, but there isn't really much anyone can do about it now. Also, after following this for a few years now, Microsoft's business model is just different. That is why they lose very often on these consumer plays. They cannot throw unreasonable money at things the way Google and Amazon can because they make their money the old fashioned way by selling things, whereas Google/Amazon are luring consumers in with low cost/free services, which Google monetizes via ads, and Amazon via retail (plus in their case, a stock I don't think makes sense, which is a very powerful tool when you are competing). In this environment, Microsoft can't do what you want which is support Windows Phone, Grove, consumer Cortana etc as losers just to satisfy a few enthusiasts. They would lose money now, but have no future business model they were relying on to make it back, unlike Google/Amazon.</p><p>BTW, I still use a Windows Phone. But if it breaks before Andromeda, I will get an Android and won't think too much about it. If it doesn't break and Andromeda isn't what I expect, I will get an Android, end of story. Forget the love. Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon etc are just suppliers and we are consumers. You have to go with those who rise about in the scrum. </p>