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Future Microsoft Devices Will Take Cues From the Surface Tablet
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the company is committed to bringing Windows to as many computer form factors as possible — even if they have to do it themselves. He says their plan is to build out new devices with the same mindset that created the Surface line. The Surface Pro tablets (and the regular Surface tablets, now that Windows RT has been retired) have been a rare bright spot among Microsoft's mobile stumbles. Nadella seems to want Windows to become almost hardware agnostic, and he thinks the universal apps plan for Windows 10 is the way to do it.
He says, "Universal Windows apps are going to be written because you want to have those apps used on the desktop. The reason why anybody would want to write universal apps is not because of our three percent share in phones. It's because a billion consumers are going to have a Start Menu, which is going to have your app. You start the journey there and take them to multiple places. Their app can go to the phone. They can go to HoloLens. They can go to Xbox. ... And by the way, when we hook them on that, we have a phone app. This strategy is path dependent, which is a term I use that means where you start is not where you end up. And therein lies a lot of the nuance. The fundamental truth for developers is they will build if there are users. And in our case the truth is we have users on desktop."
He says, "Universal Windows apps are going to be written because you want to have those apps used on the desktop. The reason why anybody would want to write universal apps is not because of our three percent share in phones. It's because a billion consumers are going to have a Start Menu, which is going to have your app. You start the journey there and take them to multiple places. Their app can go to the phone. They can go to HoloLens. They can go to Xbox. ... And by the way, when we hook them on that, we have a phone app. This strategy is path dependent, which is a term I use that means where you start is not where you end up. And therein lies a lot of the nuance. The fundamental truth for developers is they will build if there are users. And in our case the truth is we have users on desktop."
I used a Windows Phone for a while and it is actually a good product. It was fast and stable and did what I wanted it to do. The UI was actually pretty nice. The one thing that made me go back to Android was the lack of apps and the quality of some of them. I really missed the Google apps that I was used to using. Google is no more of a villain for doing that than Microsoft is for not producing Office or Exchange for Linux, or Apple not producing iTunes for WindowsPhone or Android but Windows Phone with gmail, youtube, and google maps would have been really nice.
BTW yes I know about bing maps and using imap for gmail and the third party youtube apps but I liked google better.
In the end I really wish that WP did better than it looks like it will do. Now what Microsoft is doing to Nokia is shameful.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a tablet. ;)
The last few years it seems like decades of "because we say so" is catching up with Microsoft.
Their "innovation" seems to be at an all time low, and most of the new and shiny stuff they're putting out seems to fall flat, and the stuff they're putting out which copies what other people have done aren't very popular.
I wonder if Microsoft hasn't lost the plot entirely, and now they're a big lumbering entity flailing around to try to stay relevant, while mostly failing to write stuff people care about.
Office has mostly plateaued, yes, people will keep using it, but there's not a lot of new functionality anybody needs.
Quite honestly, their strategy to make everything look like mobile is complete garbage for a desktop computer. You have to turn off most of their "innovations" to end up with a usable desktop.
If they are pinning their hopes on all of us becoming completely involved in all of their ecosystem, they will probably discover not enough of us care, or are willing to go that route.
It just feels like Microsoft no longer has any real clue about how to remain relevant in a lot of segments. I can pretty much say I don't foresee their vision of the future being something I give a damn about.
And when I see shit like "we're going to share your wifi password" I think "wow, you have no clue about security and think you own the systems" -- basically nobody with a Microsoft product will ever get any access to any wifi I control.
Sorry Microsoft, but you've become a dinosaur selling us spreadsheets and Power Point. Meanwhile the rest of the world is actually trying to make new and interesting stuff.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.