Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella issued a call to arms when he took to the stage during the recent event heralding the impending Windows 10 operating system. He says Microsoft wants users to go from needing Windows, to wanting Windows to loving Windows.
It's a concise strategy that could end up haunting Nadella, and Microsoft, for the next five or so years. Or it could be the catalyst that puts Microsoft back up on a pedestal, revered for its innovative nature and cited in future corporate timelines notating Microsoft's landmark successes.
At this point, says one industry watcher, it's just a bold statement with a hefty goal.
"In the case of Windows 10, Microsoft is attempting to address both the wants and needs of their existing customer base," Rob Enderle, of the Enderle Group, told Tech Times.
"Users need to get off older versions of the operating system as the code tends to get more vulnerable and less reliable over time as patch after patch is layered on and attackers gain skills the original OS architects couldn't or didn't anticipate," explains the analyst.
And those users, especially those on Windows 8.0, clearly want to get off the OS, and not for security reasons. The 8.0 OS proved to be one of the most controversial innovations Microsoft has ever produced, and not in a good way. It's crash and burn with users has kept many enterprises and consumers using the no-longer-supported XP OS, and 8.0 users are grumbling as loud as they were when it launched.
Windows 10 is likely being viewed as the Holy Grail for all those users and so far, from the details revealed during a conference earlier in January, it's promising to make all the pain worthwhile, says Enderle.
"Windows 10 embodies the best of Windows 7 and 8, making it a far better bridge to the core benefits of a refreshed operating system," says Enderle. "Generally people buy the solution, not just the OS, and they'll find Windows 10 solutions (PCs/phones/tablets) to be significantly better than what they currently are using," he adds.
Windows 10 is not just a new operating system, according to Microsoft. The software company is heralding it as the beginning of a PC revolution that will radically change the way users interact with computers. Features like HoloLens, a hologram functionality, and game streaming with the Xbox One are the kinds of features that Microsoft believes will spark love from users. Enderle agrees.
"HoloLens is a view of what personal computers of the future will look like. Windows 10 is enabling this development and this is Microsoft's first effort to reimagine what a personal computer should be. But it is just the birth; this will mature as the PC did into its final form over the next five to 10 years," he says.
But then again Microsoft offered up Windows 8 as a complete redesign for how users could interact with the PC and the focus then was all about fun. That's a word most Windows 8 users would never use in describing the OS.
