Windows 8: Microsoft Builds New OS Around the Cloud

Written by Chris Talbot 1
October 29, 2012

Windows 8 has launched as the first Microsoft operating system to be specifically designed around the cloud. But will customers and partners embrace it?

Does it only feel like yesterday that Windows 7 emerged as the latest Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) operating system? That version had all new bells, whistles and shiny things to keep us busy relearning how the operating system works. Now the company has unleashed Windows 8 on the world — and this is no normal update to the world's most popular PC operating system.

Microsoft has embraced the cloud in recent years in its operations, its software transitions and its marketing messages. Windows 8 is in some ways the culmination of the last few years of cloud messaging. Charles King, principal analyst of Pund-IT, told Talkin' Cloud that the latest OS is arguably the first Microsoft operating system tailored specifically for the era of cloud computing.

"That's partly a practical issue — since Windows 7 arrived before Azure, SkyDrive and other Microsoft cloud offerings were really fully baked," King said. "But in Windows 8, Microsoft is promoting features, like sharing documents stored on SkyDrive among multiple devices and form factors, as part of Windows 8's core value proposition."

Step away from the drastic changes to the user interface for a second. Windows 8 is Microsoft's first new operating system since the company really shifted much of its business to the cloud. However, the company has embraced a cloud-based solutions strategy with Windows 8 and other offerings that many of its biggest competitors had already latched on to and helped pioneer.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) were ahead of the cloud curve when compared to the laggard behavior of Microsoft. King noted numerous other vendors "have long pursued a similar strategy and delivered useful cloud-based solutions that have really caught fire among consumers and businesses. Whether Windows 8 will offer Microsoft the means to join, let alone lead, that group remains to be seen."

How changes to Windows 8 and Microsoft's cloud strategy overall will play out with customers is still a bit of a mystery, he said.

An even better question to ponder is what this will mean for Microsoft's channel partners, particularly those that have built a business practice around Microsoft cloud offerings.

For more coverage on Windows 8, visit our sister site, The VAR Guy.