Microsoft Got it Wrong

Microsoft has got it wrong with their approach to Windows 8.  Windows 8 is selling poorly because it’s not what people expect or want from a Desktop OS.  Microsoft would have been better bringing out a new OS, not based windows.

That said Windows 8 isn’t a bad operating system, it’s better than Windows 7 if you can ignore Windows 8 “Metro” or Modern.

The Windows brand is the problem not technology necessarily.   Developers or Dev’s are going to where the users are and what’s cool and that Android and IOS.   Windows is seen as old and not cool.  That’s the problem with Windows 8, which extends to Windows Phone.

I believe that when people hear Windows its brand recognition is, “Oh Windows” read, Windows is shit.   So when people see the marketing for Windows Phone their perception, even before they have seen or used it, is this isn’t going to be very good and unfortunately for Microsoft because they were so late/slow responding to the iPhone when released in 2007 that the store doesn’t change their perception it just reinforces it.

While there are many apps on Windows Phone as they are on IOS and Android, there is also still lots of missing still.  Their biggest issue is also the quality of these apps are just OK, they never seem to match the fit and polish of IOS, Android apps aren’t as good as IOS, yet there often better than Windows Phone.

Microsoft can create a brand, take XBox, imagine if this was called Windows Console or whatever, I think it would have failed.   Microsoft would have been better starting afresh with a new OS brand consumers don’t care about they OS they run, they care about what they want to do and to some extent if what there is using is hip/cool and Microsoft achieved this with the XBox brand and it’s what they should have done for their mobile platform and they should have left Windows on the desktop/laptop as it was.

It could still be Windows under the hood with a new interface, such as metro but no desktop!   Again take XBox One as an example, that is Windows under the hood but you wouldn’t know it and nor should you.

I’m not sure what MS can do going forward even if it did they above now, it could perceive as a start again…