Windows 8 has received more than its fair share of bashing since it was first revealed to the world last year. That bashing has continued through the three preview releases of the upcoming operating system.
The reality is that Windows is always going to take a bashing – would have happened even if this was not a transitional OS between what we know as a traditional desktop and touch-centric environment. There will be some people who will give Windows 8 a chance and learn the new OS and realize the benefits of an updated operating system that has been improved under the hood in many areas. Then there will be those who turn it on the first time, or maybe a few more times than that, and then pronounce it the most horrible thing they have ever seen.
So be it.
However, in the last couple of days we have started to see companies reveal their Windows 8 hardware plans and show off some pretty impressive hardware including new tablets, hybrid machines that meld a keyboard and screen into a laptop or tablet depending on how it is configured, as well as ultrabooks. These machines feature touch capabilities which really bring out the Windows 8 UI and its ever growing Windows Store collection of apps.
Speaking from a perspective of having used Windows 8 with a touch tablet and in a non touch environment – just wait until you can use the touch features of the OS – they really do make it the OS it is meant to be – a connection between our keyboard/mouse desktop and touch exclusive environments.
I read a post by GeekWire’s Todd Bishop yesterday entitled Former Microsoft GM- Surface is a ‘North Star’ — not a business and there is a real valid point made by Charlie Kindel in it which speaks to the hardware that we will be seeing come out over the next several months.
“It is a North Star for the rest of the PC industry,” he said. “That is why Microsoft is building Surface. They are not building Surface to be a business. They are building it for the same reason they built the Microsoft Store. Think of it as a marketing expense. It shows the rest of the industry what is possible and how to do it right.”
I believe the reason some of the Microsoft hardware OEM’s reacted the way they did when the Microsoft Surface was announced was out of frustration because they got caught resting on their laurels – if you want to call them that. They have been building less than desirable hardware, stuffed with third party software, that just got by over the years and now that Microsoft has thrown down the gauntlet they are playing catch up.
Just look at the recent Windows 8 hardware announcements over the last few days and tell me they are not trying to create some unique options for the new OS.
I look forward to seeing what other innovation starts to come out as we approach the 26 October General Availability date for Windows 8.
