Microsoft Corp (MSFT)

[Bootz]

OH MY! Trouble Looming?

Of course, the desktop isn't a particularly hospitable place for touch-screen-based users either. Although I’m not sure which is more awkward -- using Metro on a desktop PC or using the desktop from a tablet -- both are pretty tedious and rarely the experience you're looking for.

To play devil's advocate, I'll at least point out that the Apple approach -- two different systems, Windows for PCs and Metro for devices -- would have failed mightily had the software giant gone that route. Microsoft is not Apple, and it never will be. And if you accept that a coming generation of iPads and iPad-like devices is reforming the market for general-purpose computing devices, then this Apple-like plan would have pitted this new Metro business against Windows internally at Microsoft. And the only thing worse than watching Microsoft get out-maneuvered by Apple would be watching it commit ritual suicide by pitting a fictional Metro team against Windows.

Windows 8, like it or not, is thus Microsoft's best chance. It gives the company a platform that's at least unique -- I mean, seriously, could you imagine Apple foisting this two-headed hydra on customers? -- and retains all of the compatibility of the past while aiming Windows squarely at the future. But as is so often the case with Windows, its biggest strength is also its greatest weakness, and by trying to please all possible customer types, Microsoft might have just created a system that is perfect for none.

Those who believe that tablets are the future will find a simpler and purer system in the iPad. And those who believe that the PC is where it's at and always will be might be turned off by what they see as the unnecessary tabletization of Windows. Fortunately, it's not like Microsoft has much competition in that particular market. But that's the issue: Traditional PCs might soon be in the minority compared with other computing devices.

The worry, simply, is that Microsoft's quest to create a no-compromises version of Windows that answers all needs might have resulted in something that is very much a compromise. Turning Microsoft's own marketing lingo against it is cheap, I know. But that's the fear. And it sits at the heart of a debate that won't quiet down anytime soon.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-industry-inflection-point-142482