It’s hard to believe that within a week of its launch that Windows 8 is getting a bad rap from the very market that Microsoft needs most to support it.
TechRepublic and ZD Net Research ran have released details of a study to determine what plans businesses have to deploy Windows 8 – and the results are hardly encouraging for Microsoft. The Windows 8 Business Intentions study revealed that a staggering 74 per cent of businesses have no plans to deploy Windows 8, and the new, touch-centric user interface is a driving factor in the decision.
According to the report, Microsoft hasn’t convinced many IT decision makers that Windows 8 is an essential OS upgrade, either. Amazingly, with 23.8 per cent reporting that they will skip the OS altogether. By comparison, a 2009 ScriptLogic survey found that 59.3 per cent of 1,100 respondents had no plans then to deploy Windows 7.
Perhaps many IT managers have not-so-fond memories of the Vista debacle before Windows 7, when many had to ‘downgrade’ their company PCs. If the radical touch-centric interface really is to blame it could be a major calculation flaw in Microsoft’s strategy.
Microsoft’s attempt to leap-frog Apple by having the same look and feel across mobiles, tablets and desktops may too much for some to handle (no pun untended). It might also explain why Apple has persisted with two distinct operating systems for mobile/tablets and PCs, albeit with merging characteristics. Until all notebooks and desktops come with touch-screens, Microsoft’s elegant tile system (itself the subject of a new patent dispute) is really not optimized, anyway.
First published at Telco Professionals on 2 November 2012