Good article in the NY Times today about Microsoft’s now six-month old Windows 8 operating system that is rankling many but selling as well as Windows 7 did in its infancy. Yes, Windows 8 is a bit off-putting at the start, as far as computers go, but it is best on a tablet or a convertible laptop, and they should not have pushed it on the traditional computer users yet, especially while many of us are still enjoying the brilliance of Windows 7. The tablets are excellent and truth be told so is the operating system, which is still basically Windows 7 underneath the Surface and colorful tiles. But for people over a certain age and resistant to change this was too radical a change (WHERE’S THE START BUTTON?!?!) in a world where Android and iOS mobile devices are becoming the norm and the simplistic and dull Mac PC is gaining ground on Windows. Microsoft really wants to win back customers they’ve lost to Apple, which is partly why Windows 8 is so colorful and “touch-friendly”. Kids like it and the tablets will eventually bite into the iPad market unless Apple responds with a real tablet computer and not just another “nice iPad”. And they have to bring down the prices of these shiny, new Windows 8 tablets and convertibles!
I have two computers at my desk, one with Windows 7 and the other with 8, and I rarely use the PC running 8. Windows 7 is so good that I don’t feel compelled to start using the new operating system all the time. Plus I am waiting for the cost of the very cool Windows 8 tablets to come down before I buy yet another computer to go along with all the other computers I already own. They are way overpriced right now, and that is something the Windows 8 tablet makers will need to address soon if they want to take down the mighty iPad.
