Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Microsoft Blue

From the NY Times:

REDMOND, Wash. — Windows Blue, the code name for an update to the Microsoft’s flagship operating system, sums up the current melancholy in the PC business pretty well, though Microsoft didn’t intend it that way.

PC shipments are slumping and the declines in the industry have gotten worse, not better, since a major overhaul of Microsoft’s operating system, Windows 8, came out last fall. If it were possible for PCs to sing, there’s little doubt they would be singing the blues.

Microsoft’s basic vision for Windows 8 has not changed — an operating system flexible enough to run on traditional PCs, tablets and everything in between — but the company is for the first time confirming that it is making changes to the software to address some of the problems people have when using it. In a recent interview at Microsoft’s headquarters, Tami Reller, the chief marketing officer and chief financial officer of the Windows division, revealed that Windows Blue will be released this calendar year and will include modifications that make the software easier to learn, especially for people running it on computers without touch screens.

“The learning curve is real and needs to be addressed,” Ms. Reller said.

Like computers, like education policy - badly thought out, arrogantly implemented, and blame is always put on something or somebody outside of the Gates operation (in this case, the PC market.)

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