Will you love, or hate, Microsoft Windows 8?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 03 June 2011 14:45

Your IT - Home IT

Microsoft's newly unveiled Windows 8 demo has showcased the company's ability to, after a bazillion previous tablet attempts, finally come up with an OS and UI that looks like it might finally marry the tablet and desktop PC worlds into one harmonious union - despite some Apple-like behaviour.

Apple's success has partially come from the fact that it tightly controls both the operating system side and the hardware side of the equation, even though this same strategy saw the PC 'winning' the desktop computing war against the Mac.

While this same strategy failed the Zune, it worked for the Xbox and then Xbox 360, with Microsoft being a big player in the console gaming world today, much to the chagrin of Sony and Nintendo.

Now Microsoft is trying the tight control game with its upcoming Windows 8 tablets, forcing chipmakers Intel, Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and AMD to only work with one hardware manufacturing partner to qualify for Microsoft's 'marketing' funds, as reported by the Wall Street Journal (and commented upon by PC Magazine).

While this has caused some disquiet amongst the chiperati, news reports suggest Microsoft will be loosening this strict requirement once the first batch of Windows 8 tablets are out, opening up the Windows 8 tablet market to more of the clonery that saw Windows PCs become so dominant and successful over the past few years.

It also means that the first batch of Windows 8 tablets should deliver a strikingly consistent experience, without a vast range of differently priced tablets to muddy the market - at least at first.

The initial reaction across the web for Windows 8 seems to be largely positive, which is a good sign for the Redmondian company, eager to follow up the success of Windows 7 with a proper multi-touch tablet OS that resonates with consumers, instead of shunning them away with inelegant touch controls and the expensive, thick and heavy hardware that characterised the last ten years of old-school Windows tablets.

My own reaction has been one of pleasant surprise, for Windows 8 - at least in the demo - looks like an excellent blend of proper tablet and proper computer in one.

The biggest disappointment of the launch, however, is the fact that it was just a demo - with demos sometimes being far from what is actually launched.

Indeed, instead of actually launching, we find that Windows 8 won't come until sometime next year, by which time the iPad 3 will probably have already rolled around, or perhaps some kind of elegantly crunchy MacPad Air hybrid that delivers the same tablet-and-full-PC benefits that Windows 8 espouses.

Thus, while initial reactions have been good, it's still far too early to tell whether consumers will truly love, or hate, Microsoft's Windows 8.

Let's hope that Microsoft can up the release schedule somewhat, and surprise the world with a pre-Christmas 2011 launch, or if not, a relatively early one in 2012, rather than making Windows fans suffer the fate of a late 2012 wait.