Imperfect Ten

Microsoft has announced the new version of Windows, which will be called Windows 10.  People have accused Microsoft of being complacent and arrogant, and if they feel like they can skip number nine just 'cause they feel like it, then perhaps they're right.

The good news is that it's going to be more like the older versions of Windows that people actually use, rather than force-feeding us something resembling their mobile operating system.  But the question is, will people upgrade? It used to be automatic that people would start shifting to the new version.  But after a succession of at-best-mediocre editions, that's not so true.  Just over 12% of users currently use the latest (Windows 8 or 8.1) while half of computer users are still using Windows 7.  Funnier still, Windows XP (which is essentially Windows 5) still has twice as many users as number eight.

The fact is, it's been a while since Microsoft gave anyone a good reason to upgrade.  XP finally made it reliable, and since then there really haven't been any compelling new features.  And the only User-Interface improvements have come when they remove their old interface changes.  I don't blame anyone who hangs on to XP.  They do have an interesting new feature: multiple desktops.  It's been available on Linux for years and recently on MacOS, and it's probably the feature I miss the most when I have to switch to using Windows.

Although Windows 10 is moving away from the mobile-style interface used in Windows 8, Microsoft is still crowing about how the new Windows is one common platform for all devices.  What they mean by that is that they're making it easier for developers to develop the same applications for both PC's and mobile devices.  Wired seems to think this is a brilliant aggressive move. 

Though I doubt it will work.  Lots of developers already use Microsoft software to develop their applications, and Microsoft has tried to use that to their advantage by making it easy for those developers to make Windows Phone apps.  But it hasn't helped, because there just aren't many users of Windows Phones.

And there doesn't seem to be much call for having the same apps on a phone as on a PC.  Even if you are going to work on the same data (say, a document in the cloud) you're probably going to use it quite differently.  That is, you wouldn't want the same word processor on your phone that you use on your laptop.  So all-in-all it looks like Microsoft is continuing to produce so-so PC software thanks to their misguided attempt to take over the phone.