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Why Windows 7 is an Uncertain Bet for Microsoft
Photo: jonathansin/Flickr (CC)
Sharon Pian Chan/Seattle Times
October 19, 2009
Oct. 18 – With Windows 7, Microsoft may have found its mojo again. Reviewers are giving the new operating system the thumbs up, this after the technical and marketing blunders the company was unable to shake with the predecessor, Vista.
Still, even though Windows 7 has been lauded as everything Vista should have been, Microsoft is launching its flagship product Thursday into a vastly different and more uncertain technology landscape. While a billion people still use Windows today, the personal computer no longer reigns supreme as computing migrates to different devices and platforms.
Where people once relied on PCs for e-mail, for instance, many now get their messages on smartphones and Web browsers through services like Hotmail or Gmail. Developers are putting their juice into making iPhone apps rather than PC software, or into so-called cloud applications, which run online instead of in Windows.
Has Microsoft built a faster train while the rest of the industry is making planes and automobiles?
“Right now, the market is going through an awful lot of change,” said industry analyst Rob Enderle, of the Silicon Valley-based Enderle Group.
“The potential market for personal computers is being challenged by other platforms; set-top boxes, connected TVs, smartphones, even game systems are all taking some of the emphasis away from personal computers,” he said. “With that emphasis, Windows as we have always known it, a PC operating system, doesn’t get the attention it once did.”
For Microsoft, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Not only does Windows contribute half of Microsoft’s operating profit, it has an outsize role in the company’s zeitgeist.
Windows in a launch year is like Ohio in a presidential election. As Windows goes, so goes the rest of Microsoft.
Deadline met
To the company’s credit, Windows 7 has so far shown that Microsoft can again deliver an operating system on time.
When Vista launched in 2007, years late by some accounts, the operating system was plagued by compatibility problems with other devices.
Apple saw an opening and launched its “I’m a Mac” television ads, hammering on Microsoft as glitchy and bloated.
While Microsoft fixed most of the problems through software updates, the image was indelible. The ads defined Microsoft as a sad sack played by “The Daily Show” reporter John Hodgman in a bad suit, even though the typical Microsoft employee looks as unpressed and floppy-haired as actor Justin Long, who plays Mac.
As the company began building Windows 7, Microsoft went on a listening tour. CEO Steve Ballmer took the reins of the Windows group, running it through three senior vice presidents.
The result was an operating system focused on making the technology reliable, trimmer and easier to use.
“We did over 15,000 individual user sessions where we had people come in and use their Windows experience and used XP and Vista,” said Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows consumer marketing.
delpi99999
21 days ago
46 comments
Stated a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, a government organization currently headed by Labour Party appointees, “The scale of unlawful file-sharing poses a real threat to the long-term sustainability of our creative industries. While surveys asking people about unlawful behaviour should be treated with caution, it’s encouraging that the findings signal that the three-pronged approach set out by the Government this week – a mix of education, enforcement and attractive new commercial deals – provides the best way forward
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verakot
23 days ago
116 comments
Windows 7. What a crap. Just installed W.7.Ultimate on one of my netbooks. Already found 2 bugs. The VirtualPC mode that supposed to emulate Window XP, however for unknown reason Windows XP mode cannot be installed. The virtual machine and XP mode are two installation files that must be downloaded from Microsoft's web site. Spent a few hours figuring out what's wrong, with no success. My advice: wait for SP1 in a month or two.
spankipie
27 days ago
4 comments
I love Windows 7. However, I do not love the price. There is something wrong with Microsoft. With Windows ME (their most terrible attempt to date) they really dropped the ball and still made customers who bought ME pay for the upgrade to XP. Now here they've done it again. Microsoft needs to cut the prices of their operating systems. What family, especially in today's economy, can afford a $200 upgrade to Ultimate (which is the only flavor worth having, in my opinion). Get with it, MS!!
Shawn263
28 days ago
76 comments
That was a heated debate a while ago, in discussion of how Microsoft should give away the Windows 7 upgrade for free to those who had purchased Vista. It makes sense, but money sense, they still are saying "purchase the upgrade". Lol
verakot
28 days ago
116 comments
Microsoft... found... its mojo? I think it is still frozen somewhere in 90x... :-)
vijer
about 1 month ago
6 comments
Well beside being skeptical of anything MS develops these days, I have to say that MS is down right trying to force me to be a Mac convert. I spent a week making a Hankintosh from my Lenovo S10 and I am ecstatic with the performance. Not to mention a full OS X 10.6 version is $129 and an upgrade is only $25. MS wants $300?!?! FOR AN UPGRADE!! That is down right stealing. MS should be giving W7 away just to make amends for Vista.
qka
about 1 month ago
36 comments
So MS put new siding on Windows, so that it looks like Apple OS X and Linux. Meanwhile, it's still rotten in the foundation.
JasonM80
about 1 month ago
2 comments
Interesting article. The main point seems to be that Microsoft is behind the times, chosing to focus on the PC market, which is becoming less and less significant as the rest of the industry moves toward online, cloud-based platforms. However, the mention of an important endeaver of Microsoft's is missing here. Microsoft is developing their own cloud-based operating system and service, Windows Azure, which will be hosted in Microsoft's own data centers throughout the
world.
For a general overview of the Windows Azure Platform, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/products/ and, for a more detailed look, http://www.azure.com .