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'Windows 8' Looks Revolutionary, Risky

I hadn't really had time to digest Kurt Mackie's sneak peek at Windows Next or Windows 8. (Windows Next is an utterly bad code name, since it's just too close to the core, so to speak.) Well, I've see the screen grabs and all I could think was that Ballmer is finally stamping his name on the company and OS. The changes seem pretty risky and will have us either wishing Gates was back at the helm or hoisting Ballmer on our shoulders for...ahem...thinking different.

Sure, you'll be able to revert to a classic interface (why tick off your enterprise constituency who's been supporting you all this time?), but the Windows Phone-like tile interface is leaps and bounds a new direction. By comparison, Aero appeared to be just more of the same, but spiffed up, glassy, and OS X-ish. I wonder if Windows 8 (or Windows Phone 7, for that matter) had ever been scrutinized by the Microsoft UI feedback loop where it would have raised dozens of eyebrows? I'm sure someone in a focus group raised a hand and suggested that the company call the new OS 'Tiles' because it's that obvious and different, even Zune-like.

But I'm not making any unique observations and who cares what I think anyway? What matters is your opinion out there in IT-land, where you may or may not switch to the new OS when it's out in the not-too-distant future. Yes, that soon.

Based on the interface preview alone, do you think Microsoft's OS is going in a new direction or will it eventually usher Ballmer into retirement? Would love your comments here.

Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/03/2011 at 9:05 PM


Reader Comments:

Wed, Sep 14, 2011 Phil Man Mountain View CA

Its risky because all of the users who associate computers with windows are going to be sitting in best buy looking at new PC's with windows 8 loaded on them, and theyre going to think, "What the heck is that, looks complicated", simply because its different. The fancy new UI will be default and the old UI will be a setting that Microsoft will probably show off as little as possible. No one besides technology nerds will even know you can use the other interface.

Sat, Jun 4, 2011 Dr. Shalit Asbury Park, NJ 07712

Going from windows to"tiles" seems to me like a re-invention of the wheel. I am tapping this out on Ubuntu 11.04 and truth be known, the "unity" desktop is a pain in the butt, and has to be tricked to even function on my machine.Canonical has 6 months to make it right and the O/S is free. Windows is far from free and cannot afford another major mistake. Guess I will stick with XP and "7"/Vista SE for the forseeable future on my Windows machines. Dr. Shalit

Sat, Jun 4, 2011 Onuora Amobi

It is risky and hopefully it pays off. They cant win..they take a risk and we complain, they saty still, we call them boring. Cest la vie. http://www.windows8update.com/

Fri, Jun 3, 2011 Anil Shah

They should have named it Windows TouchPoint 7. The family would then be Windows 7, Windows Phone 7 and Windows Touch Point 7

Fri, Jun 3, 2011 Allen Williams

You're an idiot for calling it risky. First of all the new interface looks great. I have and love windows phone. Shortly after I started using it, I said that it would make a great tablet. Second of all the new interface is optional. If you don't like it then don't use it. Risky would be to force the new interface exclusively. While I don't alone see it edging out windows 7 in desktops, I don't see it losing to it either. In the tablet department, I see it killing the incomplete ipad's ios. Sorry, but the ipad is trying to be a full computer, but isn't.

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