Windows 8, Microsoft’s flagship software, begins selling at 12:01 a.m. Friday.
This is a bet-the-company move for Microsoft. The software maker will now build devices as well. It has redesigned Windows, where the keyboard and mouse long reigned, for fingertips and thumbs. It is the most significant remake since Windows 95, a milestone now 17 years in the rearview mirror.
“In building Windows 8 we shunned the incremental,” said Windows division president Steven Sinofsky at the New York launch. It’s about time.
There are 670 million PCs running Windows 7. More than half of each dollar of Microsoft’s operating profit comes from Windows.
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But the franchise is under siege by competitors Apple, Google and Amazon.com. Apple has sold 84 million iPads since its launch, and PC sales slowed.
For the health of our region and the entire tech industry, Microsoft must change.
Microsoft employs 41,302 people in the Puget Sound area, and supports a vast ecosystem of local contractors and software developers.
Microsoft’s embrace of tablets prevents another company from gaining a monopoly. It will drive down prices for businesses budgeting in a tortoise-paced economic recovery.
This holiday season, shoppers will have their pick of new tablets, convertible hybrid laptops and touch-screen desktop PCs at all prices, including Microsoft’s own tablet, the Surface. Microsoft should make a stronger commitment to fair labor practices and open inspections at the factories in China where the Surface is made.
The makeover came with hiccups. The new Windows design has confounded some users. Where is the Start button? It will take time to discover the option of reverting to the Windows 7 environment. Fortunately, these are not the fatal flaws of Windows Vista.
A separate operating system called Windows RT will run on tablets and some laptops, but new apps must be developed. Microsoft is an underdog in the app world, trying to win over developers already building for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
Still, innovation deserves a fist bump.
Windows is the blood that beats through the heart of Microsoft. The transfusion is long overdue. Hopefully, it’s not too late.