Microsoft
is firing back with a little pop of its own amid criticism that its Windows 8
operating system is like New Coke, which fizzled after its debut.
A
communications executive for the Redmond, Wash.-based company, Frank Shaw, said
in a blog post this week that such characterizations are more
about getting page views on Web sites than predicting doom for the product.
He
focused his message on “the center” of Microsoft’s strategy with its latest
operating system, one in which it is “listening to feedback and improving a
product.”
Despite
the fact that Microsoft has sold more than 100 million licenses for Windows 8 ,
in recent weeks the operating system has been likened to “New Coke,” a major
marketing failure Coca-Cola suffered in 1985. The world’s largest beverage
maker did an about-face and dumped the new formulation in less than three
months.
Don’t
expect the same reversal of course by Microsoft, judging by the company’s
response to the barbs.
Lots of
people are welcoming the notion that Microsoft will improve Windows 8 when
later this year it releases Blue, the major update to the OS expected to be
available through the Windows Store and not through a typical push
update.
Users
have complained loudly about the lack of a Start button in Windows 8 and rumors
have been floating around that Microsoft will resurrect it with Blue, as well
as let people boot directly to the Desktop and bypass the tiles-based Start
screen that includes both Modern and Desktop apps.
“Microsoft
could benefit from the Start-button backlash in much the same way Coke Classic
rebounded from the New Coke uprising,” he wrote.
The
lack of a Start button is confounding, but people should quit dissing the OS
and just start using it. Once you get through the learning curve, the missing
Start button isn’t that big of a deal.
The
ability to shut off your machine, which the Start button so nicely offered, is
obviously still there; it’s just found in a settings cog in what’s called the
Charms bar, which you get to by dragging your mouse to the bottom right of your
screen.
Same
thing with frequently used apps; just tap the Windows key, and you’ll go to the
Start screen where you can double click them and go. Can’t find the Snipping
Tool or a particular app? Just search for it in the Charms bar.
On the
flip side, Computerworld’s Preston Gralla points out that bringing back
the Start button might actually be a big mistake for Microsoft. Apparently, the
Start button Microsoft may include with Blue may not work the way it did in
Windows 7, but merely pull up the Windows 8 Start screen, which is basically a
screen full of app tiles—the Modern interface that’s so vastly different from
the Windows of old.
Every
day I use a Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga , a fantastic touchscreen Ultrabook that makes
Windows 8 look pretty good. While I spend my work day mostly on the desktop
using a keyboard and mouse, if I’m killing time on the sofa or sitting on an
airplane the tiles-based Modern interface is more appealing because of the
laptop’s touchscreen capability.
So
while not everyone sees the near-term need for touch on the desktop and what
might be seen as a conflicted operating system that can’t decide between the
Desktop and the Modern Start screen, as more people start using Windows 8 on
machines like mine my guess is there’s going to be less griping about things
like a missing button. [Source]
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