How can Microsoft Windows 9 avoid repeating Win8?

Text/Sun Yongjie

It is reported that Microsoft will release the latest Windows 9 "Technical Preview" version at the end of this month to allow developers and users to make feedback on Windows 9 changes at any time. Given that this is the most significant system release after Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft, and Microsoft is facing a critical moment of transformation, the appearance of Windows 9 will be well received by the industry.

It is well known that due to the weakness of the traditional PC industry and the rapid development of the mobile Internet (smartphones and tablets), Microsoft's traditional Windows is becoming less and less. To this end, Ballmer released the so-called Windows8 system that combines traditional PCs and mobile devices. Unfortunately, due to this slanting sword, the excessive use of mobile devices in terms of usage and experience has led to confusion in the choice and experience of traditional PC users. The result is neither boosting its performance in the PC market as Microsoft expected. Not to let Microsoft have a big gain in the mobile market. The so-called car, then how will the upcoming release of Windows9 avoid repeating the mistakes of Windows8?

First of all, we believe that even if Nadella repeatedly emphasizes Microsoft's strategy of Windows, from the current industry and the trend and performance of Microsoft's entire market (traditional PC and mobile), Microsoft's Windows9 should still be traditional. The PC user experience is centered, at least with a focus on traditional PC users. Some people may say that the traditional PC industry is going down, and mobility is the future. However, the facts of the market prove that the traditional PC industry is bottoming out after experiencing a sharp decline. This has greatly reduced the overall PC market decline in the last quarter, and the top five of the traditional PC manufacturers have achieved year-on-year growth, with PC chips. The growth of leading Intel's performance has been confirmed. More importantly, the experience and lessons of Windows 8 in the past prove that relying on the mobile experience not only does not let Microsoft change its position in the mobile market, but offends the traditional PC users. As the saying goes, it loses watermelon and sesame, but for Microsoft, It’s like losing a watermelon and not getting sesame.

In addition, from a technical and ecosystem perspective, there is still no single company that can do a good job of traditional PC and mobile user experience. The industry knows that the previous rumors about the integration of Apple iOS with Mac X and Google Android and Chrome OS have been continuous, but until today, Apple and Google are still independently developing and updating these two operating systems for the traditional PC and mobile market, at best. It is the test of water that carefully attempts to migrate applications from a small number of mobile ecosystems to traditional PC platforms.

For example, Google recently ported four Android apps ——Vine, Evernote, Duolingo and Sight Words to Chrome OS based Chromebooks. Porting Android apps to Chromebooks is part of a plan announced by Google at the June I/O Developers Conference to remove barriers between Android and Chromebooks. Currently, since Google controls the application platform Run Run for Chrome, application developers can't directly port Android apps to Chromebooks. What's important is that Google only allows properly optimized Android apps to run on Chrome OS. It can be seen that the so-called true integration is not only the operating system itself, but the integration of two different ecosystems. It is worth mentioning that even in the same market, Google recently released the Android One system for the low-end smartphone market in addition to the mainstream Android system. It can be seen that even in the same market, user needs and experiences are also There will be differences, and even this difference still needs different systems as a support.

Under the above-mentioned actual market demand and technical background, combined with Microsoft's performance in the traditional PC and mobile market, we believe that Microsoft Windows9 should avoid the mistakes of Windows8 and should return to the traditional PC user experience. Don't expect this version of Windows to implement your own Windows strategy. After all, the integration is not only a stand-alone operating system or all the names can be changed to Windows. It is a fusion of two completely different operating system-based ecosystems. Microsoft must figure this out.