5 ms·

Funny how these days it's the inverse, isn't it? Everyone, including Microsoft with Windows 10, seems to be obsessed with making PCs into large hand-helds and p

by avian 8y ago

Funny how these days it's the inverse, isn't it? Everyone, including Microsoft with Windows 10, seems to be obsessed with making PCs into large hand-helds and phones as far as user interfaces are concerned.

simonh 8y ago
I think there are useful lessons that can be learned from mobile, that might be applicable to desktop, but you're right Microsoft made exactly the same mistake again in the opposite direction. I'd say they did that most egregiously with Windows 8 though. Microsoft keep looking at a few data points they have now, extrapolate those into the future and then try to jump directly to that future. Currently it's an attempt to 'catch up' with Apple, but they keep extrapolating straight lines when the actual track of innovation is in curves. They did the same sort of thing with Longhorn, trying to re-invent the PC platform with object oriented database file systems and the whole OS running on .NET because Java looked like it was the wave of the future. They're trying to out-compete rival technologies without really thinking through what they're doing.
- mprovost 8y ago
  A quote from the post calls this pattern "Microsoft takes three tries to get anything right": Microsoft's entry into most new technologies follows this same plan, with the first effort being a preemptive strike, the second effort being market research to see what customers really want in a product, and the third try is the real product.
- jimbokun 8y ago
  I don't think they're doing that anymore under Nadella. I don't think he sees Apple as their main competitor, but is really competing with AWS for the future of business computing, and not doing that badly.
  - simonh 8y ago
    That’s a good point. Microsoft saw what Amazon was going with AWS, projected that into the future and got the right answer. It’s an example of where this strategy paid off. To be fair to them it’s not just random chance it worked out either, execution matters too and they seem to have hit the nail on the head with Azure.
Can_Not 8y ago
I didn't use a windows computer in all of 2018 and 2019. MS's "let's make PC GUIs more like a 2006 flip phone" strategy and other random instabilities and anti-user designs have inverted the difficultly of switching to linux to now being difficult to stay on windows.
- Godel_unicode 8y ago
  Windows 10 doesn't come with the tablet experience on by default, you have to put it into tablet mode to get that. That's been true for several years now.
  - simonh 8y ago
    Win10 is a lot less user hostile that 8, but it still has the legacy of having two different UIs in parallel. Finding specific configuration setting has always been hard on Windows but you also have the dumbed down don’t-call-it-metro interface getting in the way as well.
    - Godel_unicode 8y ago
      I've never understood that problem, whenever I'm looking for a Windows setting my process is always the same. Hit windows key, start typing until the name of the setting I'm looking for pops up, arrow keys and enter.

by avian 8y ago

simonh 8y ago

I think there are useful lessons that can be learned from mobile, that might be applicable to desktop, but you're right Microsoft made exactly the same mistake again in the opposite direction. I'd say they did that most egregiously with Windows 8 though. Microsoft keep looking at a few data points they have now, extrapolate those into the future and then try to jump directly to that future. Currently it's an attempt to 'catch up' with Apple, but they keep extrapolating straight lines when the actual track of innovation is in curves. They did the same sort of thing with Longhorn, trying to re-invent the PC platform with object oriented database file systems and the whole OS running on .NET because Java looked like it was the wave of the future. They're trying to out-compete rival technologies without really thinking through what they're doing.

mprovost 8y ago
A quote from the post calls this pattern "Microsoft takes three tries to get anything right": Microsoft's entry into most new technologies follows this same plan, with the first effort being a preemptive strike, the second effort being market research to see what customers really want in a product, and the third try is the real product.
jimbokun 8y ago
I don't think they're doing that anymore under Nadella. I don't think he sees Apple as their main competitor, but is really competing with AWS for the future of business computing, and not doing that badly.
- simonh 8y ago
  That’s a good point. Microsoft saw what Amazon was going with AWS, projected that into the future and got the right answer. It’s an example of where this strategy paid off. To be fair to them it’s not just random chance it worked out either, execution matters too and they seem to have hit the nail on the head with Azure.

Can_Not 8y ago

I didn't use a windows computer in all of 2018 and 2019. MS's "let's make PC GUIs more like a 2006 flip phone" strategy and other random instabilities and anti-user designs have inverted the difficultly of switching to linux to now being difficult to stay on windows.

Godel_unicode 8y ago
Windows 10 doesn't come with the tablet experience on by default, you have to put it into tablet mode to get that. That's been true for several years now.
- simonh 8y ago
  Win10 is a lot less user hostile that 8, but it still has the legacy of having two different UIs in parallel. Finding specific configuration setting has always been hard on Windows but you also have the dumbed down don’t-call-it-metro interface getting in the way as well.
  - Godel_unicode 8y ago
    I've never understood that problem, whenever I'm looking for a Windows setting my process is always the same. Hit windows key, start typing until the name of the setting I'm looking for pops up, arrow keys and enter.