MacBook Air to Windows 8 Ultrabook: Microsoft Switch Campaign?
When Windows 8 launches on Ultrabooks, Microsoft should open its arms to millions of former Windows users who defected to Mac OS X during the Windows Vista debacle, which started in 2007. Some of those Macs are now five years old — an ample installed base that will likely consider MacBooks, MacBook Airs and even iPads in the months ahead. Will Microsoft turn the tables on the old Mac vs. PCs ad campaign? Hmmm…
First, let’s start with what went wrong at Microsoft. Back in 2007, the software giant proclaimed:
“On Jan. 30 the most significant product launch in Microsoft Corp.’s history culminates in the release to consumers of the Windows Vista™ operating system and Microsoft® Office 2007.”
The Emperor Has No Clothes
By mid- to late-2007, Microsoft proclaimed that Windows Vista was “the fastest-selling Windows in Microsoft’s history.” But the press wasn’t buying it. Vista suffered from a range of incompatibilities. Consumers didn’t like it, and corporations were holding fast to the much older Windows XP.
Meanwhile, Apple in June 2007 was busy launching the iPhone empire, and then would return again in April 2010 with the iPad.
So, let’s get this straight: While Microsoft was struggling to launch Windows 7 as a fix for Windows Vista, Apple was busy dominating the mobile revolution — from iPhone to iPad to… the MacBook Air. With the Vista debacle in mind it’s easy to see why Microsoft failed to catch the initial smartphone and tablet waves. The Redmond software giant was far too busy fixing holes in its core desktop business.
Five Years Later…
Fast forward to the present — five long years — and Microsoft may finally have a compelling end-to-end software story again. Software developers, in theory, can write to a single code base to reach Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 tablets (including Microsoft Surface), notebooks and desktops.
Microsoft should also thank Intel, which has developed the Ultrabook specification to help generate super-thin, super-light notebooks that compete with Apple MacBook Airs.
Will Windows 8 Ultrabooks trigger the second coming of the Wintel duopoly (Windows on Intel)? Nope. ARM processors, Linux, Google Android and Apple all represent stiff competition for Intel and/or Microsoft.
But Windows 8 Ultrabooks are a compelling story — perhaps the most compelling Microsoft-Intel combo since Windows 95 and Pentium processors together rose to dominate the 1990s.
Assuming Windows 8 works as advertised on Ultrabooks, it’s nearly time for Microsoft to fire back at Apple…
Haha,
Intel and Microsoft have become fat, complacent monopolists over the decades. Intel even got used to paying computer manufacturers like Dell BILLIONS of dollars under the table to block out competition and innovation.
Well, since the FTC and Justice Department wouldn’t do anything, Steve Jobs came along and found a little hole in the Wintel Monopoly while Microsoft was busy trying to fix its awful XP.
What a brilliant play. Intel and Microsoft are about to become museums, as they should have been long ago:) Kudos for Apple for slipping through the monopolists’ lazy, gargantuan butt cracks.
As bad as Vista was, perhaps the most significant cost was the loss of credibility caused by Microsoft insisting on “how good it was” after the misery was obvious for everyone. Hard to believe anything they say after that.
The story nobody writes is that Microsoft de facto is copying the *nix principles – detaching kernel, system, UI and applications. They are abandoning their base concept. It’s a defeat, and a HUGE recognition of the *nix way of piling together a OS.
What they get wrong is the UX bit.
They’ll use one UX for all formfactors and all devices. Their choice of UX might be a reasonable compromise, but it’s still a compromise. It was a similar thing with XP and tablets (Thinkpad X series ++) Just didn’t work well.
Google isn’t delivering perfect either. Android for tablets is still in need to become better optimised for the pads. Scaling up from smartmos without further adaptation just isn’t good enough.
Apple did a far better job than anybody else wrt adapting to formfactors. Apple understands that if they make an laptop, the UX must be optimal for the Laptop. When they make smartmos, the UX must be optimal for the phone.
When they make pads, the customer wants optimal user experience for the pad. The laptop and the phone is pretty much irrelevant. KDE is in line with Apple in this respect.
I’d say Apple is way more in line with users than Microsoft is with W8.
Ubuntu is making the same mistake as Microsoft. Trying to make one UX for all formfactors (and it doesn’t fit any formfactor it has been released for).
If I should speculate in what users want, it would be similar functionality (whenever useful) – but fully optimised for the formfactor they are working with/on.
What Microsoft and Ubuntu is doing could be compared with trying to combine the characteristics of a 747, Hercules and F16 with a Harrier and a Apache gunship.
Now, Microsoft got quite good reviews of their tiling concept. But is it really as good as they (and many users) claim? I’d say such quality would have resulted in way better sales. Or perhaps it’s just that users don’t believe a thing if Ballmer is the storyteller?