Windows 9 - Another Failure

I am starting to see a repeat of what happened with Windows 8 with Windows 9.  Everyone is anxious for a new version and are so full of well wishes they are overlooking the obvious flaws.  I say this based on the Windows 10 preview that was made available this week.  If you are a bit confused, Windows 10 is what Microsoft is calling Windows 9.  But it's still Windows 9 in the sense that it's the version following Windows 8.

Maybe we are getting a little tired of everyone running Windows 7 and would like something new but I seriously doubt it's what MS is delivering in Windows 9.  All they really did is add the start menu back but that's not enough by a long shot.  They still seem determined to write an OS that runs on everything from phones to tablets to devices to TV's to desktops.  This is a feature that nobody has asked for.  A lot of people are using Windows, Android and IOS interchangeably without much difficulty.  People complain about unnecessarily complicated, ugly or cumbersome features of an OS but seem to be able to cope perfectly fine with different (well designed) OS's.  So why is one unified OS so important to Microsoft?  Not because people are demanding it.

Let's face it, they might never get any serious traction with their phones or tablets.  They've already fired half of the Noika people they got from the merger and have taken billions in losses from their tablet after burning all their partners.  But on the servers and desktops, MS still rules.  So why mess up a perfectly good desktop with all the baggage from their failing mobile business?

Okay, in a nutshell this is the problem:  with Windows 8 they broke compatibility.  The last time they did this was with Windows Vista and that was a disaster.  But it's important to note that with Windows Vista, they broke compatibility only on the device driver level.  That is to say with the software that talks to things you attach to your computer.  Things like graphic cards (for gaming), printers, scanners and the like.  So when Vista came out, everyone was annoyed that they either had to wait for new drivers in order to use their existing equipment or to replace their existing equipment with something that had Vista support.

With Windows 8, they broke compatibility at the application level.  Applications written from Windows 8/9 won't run on any other version of Windows.  Windows 8 applications can't be installed, they are only available at the Windows Store and, up until Windows 9, can only run in full screen mode.  That's the other big fix they added to Windows 9.  So we've waited two years to get the start menu back and to be able to run applications in a window.  I think that's pretty weak.

The big problem with W9 (Windows 9) though is that it's still confused between Windows 8 tablet applications and all the legacy applications.  Even the new start menu reflects this confusing mix.  Has anyone really asked to run their tablet applications on their desktop?  So how is this an improvement over Windows 7?  It only adds a layer of confusion.

Let's pretend we are a software developer and we have an idea for a desktop application.  Would I write it in the traditional manner so everyone with any version of Windows can run it or would I tie it to only Windows 8?  The dismal sales of Windows 8 hasn't helped.  Then there's the problem with the Windows Store--it demands 20% or 30% of all your receipts in exchange for... what?  It's a license to steal for Microsoft.  So there's not much incentive for developers to write for Windows 8/9.

I don't see any way out of the corner they've painted themselves in.  They should split their OS's into a mobile and a desktop version like Apple has done but that train has left the station.  Perhaps it would help to make the Windows Store optional.  Microsoft has gotten to the point where is starting to be dysfunctional and if they are going to recover it's going to take a long time.  Maybe they'll get it all straightened in another couple of years when the next Windows 10 comes out but if I held any stock in Microsoft, I'd sell it soon.