What If Windows 10 Fails?

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This is an interesting question. What do you think will happen if Windows 10 fails?

Windows 8 was a spectacular flop, sunk to a large degree by the start screen. If Windows 10 performs no better, there are two views of the consequences. One is that the Windows platform is now vulnerable to obsolescence. So, like a prime minister facing a multiparty no-confidence vote, a Windows 10 failure would force Microsoft to make an airtight case for why a Windows operating system must continue to be produced.
 
It'd be kinda funny and totally not relevant or important to those of us that used junky Windows 8 as an excuse to get familiar with Linux and are prepared for anything else dumb that Microsoft might end up doing. :D
 
I kinda hope it does, Microsoft needs a kick in the pants. I will admit that the tech preview looks pretty good right now so I don't think it's likely.
 
Windows 7 is the new XP, Windows 8 is the new Vista. So clearly Windows 10 will be the new 7 and a rousing success.

Behold my unquestionable logic.
 
People will probably keep using Windows 7 much like many kept using Windows XP until recently.
Until there's an alternative that can infiltrate on the corporate-side, they'll just keep using older versions of Windows that everyone knows how to use and support.
 
I currently have no intention of buying Panes 10. If it does flop, they'll only have themselves to blame.
 
If Windows 10 fails then people will simply continue to use Windows 7 until something else comes along. Microsoft simply has too large a market share, particularly with business, for a second failure in a row to cause it much issue at all. Especially when Windows 7 is so robust and widely used anyway.
 
It already has. MS refuses to acknowledge various problems with the Windows 8.x strategy* that keep it away from its largest source of license sales: corporate users. Rehashing the the mistake isn't going to solve the problem. This is only going to put Windows 7 in the same position as Windows XP had in that large segment.

* particularly tablet/desktop UI mash up and the huge resulting mess it causes when 99% of the Windows base has neither a tablet or a touch screen, nor any interest in getting one running Windows.
 
Windows 7 is the new XP, Windows 8 is the new Vista. So clearly Windows 10 will be the new 7 and a rousing success.

Behold my unquestionable logic.

Except there's simply not going to be that rush from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10, the way there was from Vista to Windows 7. Those days are long gone.

7 will very much continue to be the new XP just because it's so damn solid and doesn't have any of the Metro bloat and Windows Store nonsense.

That said, Windows 10 won't be a "flop" simply due to inertia and the fact that all new PC's sold in stores will come bundled with Windows 10 after a certain date, and MS will declare all of those a Windows 10 "adoption rate" victory, same as they did with Windows 8 PC's even though when people got them home they hated the UI and flocked to Start Menu Replacement programs by the millions.

Unless MS pulls a rabbit out of its ass between now and Windows 10 launch, I don't see anything compelling on the bulletpoint list that would make a Windows 7 user REALLY want to upgrade.
 
If you don't like win 10 and you currently have win 7 you will be pretty much forced to upgrade to windows 10 anyway because microsoft will probably make windows 7 obsolete by not allowing important features to work such as USB2 on skylake and DX12.
 
It already has. MS refuses to acknowledge various problems with the Windows 8.x strategy* that keep it away from its largest source of license sales: corporate users.

That's exactly the point of Windows 10 though. It's clearly aimed at corporate customers. It removes the "Start Screen" for desktop users and gives them a way to run Modern apps that's actually useful (docked to the Start menu or in floating windows). On a desktop, it's basically Windows 7 with support for Modern apps. It's basically what 8.1 should have been, but 8.1 wasn't timed properly to garner corporate support anyway. Now that Windows 7 is no longer available for direct channel sales, it's time for MS to supersede it with a new corporate-focused release, hence the direction and timing of Windows 10.
 
* particularly tablet/desktop UI mash up and the huge resulting mess it causes when 99% of the Windows base has neither a tablet or a touch screen, nor any interest in getting one running Windows.

If Windows 10 fails it won't be for the same reasons as Windows 8.x. The interesting thing about the "tablet/desktop UI mash up" is that there does seem to a market there. Windows RT/Surface RT clearly failed yet the market for full Windows 8.1 tablets and hybrids is pretty vibrant. A ton of pretty well received Windows 8.1 tablets came out last year across the price spectrum, from devices under $100 to $2k Surface Pro 3's. And not one Windows RT device that I know of.

The problem with 8.x was the hybrid concept but the implementation. It appears from what we've seen of Windows 10 thus far the major implementation issues with 8.x adding in tablet elements to the desktop have been resolved. The big question to me is how well the Continuum stuff works and if it will allow for smart UI transition for desktop to tablet and back and how much configuration will be there to control it all.
 
7 will very much continue to be the new XP just because it's so damn solid and doesn't have any of the Metro bloat and Windows Store nonsense.

There is not Metro bloat though. Windows 8.1 Update runs on less hardware than 7 can.
 
Windows is still by far the best desktop OS. I have a MacBook and OS X is a total joke, beyond the shiny looks the actual OS is 4-5 years behind in terms of performance and features.

The problem Windows has is of perception and marketing, no matter what Microsoft does, the press and bloggers will continue their Apple love-fest and continue to hate anything Microsoft does. These kind of articles influence public opinion.
 
This is an interesting question. What do you think will happen if Windows 10 fails?

Windows 7 will continue to be used by Businesses until MS says support is ending and won't be extended. By that measure, it means Windows 7 will continue to dominate and businesses will likely migrate to 11 between 2018 and 2020.

FYI, I don't know many who use 8, but most that do seem to like it. All said there was a learning curve, but that they didn't find it that different from 7. Of course that assumes you use 7 correctly. If you're still pointing and clicking through your start menu on 7, then you're fucked, because that's not how it's intended to be used (even if most still use it that way).

I do not see Tablets taking over the desktop. Businesses are moving towards laptops, because the allow people to take the computer to meetings and/or home, but I still struggle with a reason why I should buy one. There are a few instances where it'd be nice to have, but I'd need a $2000 laptop to really do what I want, and I don't see myself spending that. With that said, if I did spend that much, then I'd probably give a Apple a spin (just to try it out).
 
Time 4 Linux! lol ... Yea, maybe not. Who knows. I do hope it flops though, because I agree that Microsoft does need a kick in the pants. We could really use some serious competition in the desktop OS space.
 
I think Windows 10 is in a tough position because 7 has been excellent and there's not any kind of "Killer app" for the desktop. The new and shiny is mostly gaming related and integration with phone/tablet, I don't really see either driving a lot of adoption.
But I doubt it will fail. I see it as a welcome refresh to 7.
 
Except there's simply not going to be that rush from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10, the way there was from Vista to Windows 7. Those days are long gone.
I don't know about this. Most people I know who skipped 8 are very eager for 10, myself included. I love all the little tweaks they've done, particularly the task manager and file transfer dialogue window, but didn't want the over-prevalent metro interface, which has been addressed.
 
That's exactly the point of Windows 10 though. It's clearly aimed at corporate customers. It removes the "Start Screen" for desktop users and gives them a way to run Modern apps that's actually useful (docked to the Start menu or in floating windows). On a desktop, it's basically Windows 7 with support for Modern apps. It's basically what 8.1 should have been, but 8.1 wasn't timed properly to garner corporate support anyway. Now that Windows 7 is no longer available for direct channel sales, it's time for MS to supersede it with a new corporate-focused release, hence the direction and timing of Windows 10.

There is no need to run phone apps on a desktop/laptop. You can use a proper program with a superior interface on a desktop/laptop. What you described is making a shitty idea less shitty. What would you rather program, edit photos, or edit spread sheets with:

- Mouse & keyboard

or

- Fingers

This is the issue some don't seem to grasp. There is zero reason to use a phone application when on a desktop. Aside from being mobile, there was never a time I told myself I would rather be using my phone than my desktop or even laptop.

"Hybirds" (tablets with crappy detachable keyboards) are tablets. They need a GUI for tablets and programs that are optimized for the most efficient workflow for that type of device. And that is not a desktop/laptop GUI. Likewise, a limited phone application with a garbage touch based GUI like ribbon isn't as efficient as drop down menus or other elements which are better suited to mouse and keyboard.

Different GUIs for different devices which have different roles. A half assed attempt at either UI will receive poor a reception. This is one of the reasons Microsoft flopped with Windows phones many years back; the UI too closely resembled that of a desktop/laptop. And that is one of the reasons 8.1 flopped.
 
Windows 7 is the new XP, Windows 8 is the new Vista. So clearly Windows 10 will be the new 7 and a rousing success.

Behold my unquestionable logic.

By sales? Maybe (i'm not going to look up sales), but from a S/W perspective they're not at all alike. Vista had some bugs (not nearly as many as most think), but it's biggest problem horrible driver support as well as douche companies like Intuit forcing user to upgrade s/w to work with Vista (because they never wrote their old S/W to XP coding standards :rolleyes:).

I don't recall reading about any significant bugs with 8 or 8.1 and every review I read showed the OS was faster than 7 from day 1.

Where MS did screw up is removing the option to boot to the desktop. That was dumb, but it was fixed in 8.1.

I'm not sure about the start menu. I thought it simply lacked the button, but if you went to the lower left corner the menu popped up (or perhaps you had to click there). If it was either of those, that's not a huge jump. It may not be the best HMI decision, but it wasn't the end of the world.

I suspect whatever 8.1 didn't address, 10 will. Maybe MS had it right all along. 8 was never going to supersede 7 (businesses don't change OSs unless they absolutely have to), so this gave them 2 versions (10 and 11) to get it right before Enterprises make the next change. I know at work we just got knew machines (all with 7). We won't replace them for 4 years. So it's likely that 2018 or 2019 will be when they change to a new Windows OS. My guess is by mid 2019 they'll settle on 11.
 
Except there's simply not going to be that rush from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10, the way there was from Vista to Windows 7. Those days are long gone.

7 will very much continue to be the new XP just because it's so damn solid and doesn't have any of the Metro bloat and Windows Store nonsense.

That said, Windows 10 won't be a "flop" simply due to inertia and the fact that all new PC's sold in stores will come bundled with Windows 10 after a certain date, and MS will declare all of those a Windows 10 "adoption rate" victory, same as they did with Windows 8 PC's even though when people got them home they hated the UI and flocked to Start Menu Replacement programs by the millions.

Unless MS pulls a rabbit out of its ass between now and Windows 10 launch, I don't see anything compelling on the bulletpoint list that would make a Windows 7 user REALLY want to upgrade.
Except windows 7 is just windows vista with less features + window snapping. Windows 7 in large part was a rebranding of windows vista. Not sure how different windows 10 is compared to 8. Although the issues of vista mostly revolved around stuff 3rd parties were doing after years of a highly insecure windows XP environment, not exactly the OS. So the failure of Vista was instability caused by poor 3rd party support which gave it a bad name. Which is why the windows 7 rebranding worked.

Now the issue with windows 8 revolves around a UI which admittedly microsoft sorta just pulled an apple and said figure it out. Which the majority of users gave up after 10 mins and called it a broken OS. Only way to salvage that is to either do a 180 on the UI, which they wouldn't because it's a move to unify the OS look across platforms OR to make the UI more transitional a stronger mix between the new and old and use it as an opportunity to interject help with using the newer UI. So in a later OS the transition can be in full and less of a shock to users.
 
Windows 8.1 seems similar enough to 7, except i still never found how to get into safe mode. Never understood what the big deal was with the start menu. In 8.1 can't you just click the windows button, click the down arrow, and go to your programs? And then drag the most used ones to the main screen?

I will eventually upgrade to 10.x, but learned through the years to not touch the first version of an OS upgrade.

At this point the only real reason to use Windows is for gaming or specific business software. Otherwise the majority of people just need a web browser, document editor and maybe a spreadsheet editor. Which can all be done on a phone with an external keyboard. What software is the reason Macs sell so well anyways?
 
I had Win 7 on my old machine and when I bought a new gaming rig I bought Win 8 and hated it ... But after a while and Win 8.1 I grew to be okay witht Win 8.1. The tiles bother me every once in a while but I use the desktop most of the time. For me Win 8.1 is stable and runs all the software that I have. I may switch ti Win 10 if the tile interface is improves but I won't go back to win 7. My wife just bought a laptop with Win 8.1 and loves the tiles. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
Except windows 7 is just windows vista with less features + window snapping. Windows 7 in large part was a rebranding of windows vista. Not sure how different windows 10 is compared to 8. Although the issues of vista mostly revolved around stuff 3rd parties were doing after years of a highly insecure windows XP environment, not exactly the OS. So the failure of Vista was instability caused by poor 3rd party support which gave it a bad name. Which is why the windows 7 rebranding worked.

This is largely true, but there were some networking issues and I believe something with HDs. Most people never saw those fixed until SP1, but there were hotfixes for them between June and August of 1997 (6-8 months after Vista was released and almost a year before Vista's SP1 came out).
 
There is no need to run phone apps on a desktop/laptop. You can use a proper program with a superior interface on a desktop/laptop. What you described is making a shitty idea less shitty. What would you rather program, edit photos, or edit spread sheets with:

- Mouse & keyboard

or

- Fingers

This is the issue some don't seem to grasp. There is zero reason to use a phone application when on a desktop. Aside from being mobile, there was never a time I told myself I would rather be using my phone than my desktop or even laptop.

"Hybirds" (tablets with crappy detachable keyboards) are tablets. They need a GUI for tablets and programs that are optimized for the most efficient workflow for that type of device. And that is not a desktop/laptop GUI. Likewise, a limited phone application with a garbage touch based GUI like ribbon isn't as efficient as drop down menus or other elements which are better suited to mouse and keyboard.

Different GUIs for different devices which have different roles. A half assed attempt at either UI will receive poor a reception. This is one of the reasons Microsoft flopped with Windows phones many years back; the UI too closely resembled that of a desktop/laptop. And that is one of the reasons 8.1 flopped.
The Ribbon is far more efficient and was designed for mouse and keyboard. The ribbon is just a tabbed contextual layout a very old and the accepted norm for UI design. The design philosophy aids users by giving them assistance with strong icons instead of strictly relying on users memorizing the menus. It's something that's been in computing since the 90's as far as i can remember.

Or is this too slow for you?
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ALT then one letter then another letter somehow too slow for you? Perhaps you'd like to memorize the other short cuts which are combinations.
 
I don't think windows 10 will flop. It's taken Microsoft a bit, but I think they have refined the Desktop/Tablet hybrid OS pretty well. The best thing about Windows 10 will be the scaling from small screen devices like phones, all the way up to large TV's

I love the idea that when I attach a keyboard to my Surface Pro 3 that it will go into Desktop mode with the normal start menu, but when I remove the keyboard for a more tablet/touch screen type of use, that it will revert to the tiled start menu.

Microsoft is headed in a very interesting direction with their new CEO. I foresee some great things happening in the future. But that's just my opinion.
 
Not Win 10 related but with all the Windows 8x talk...

Has anyone ever tried teaching Windows 8.1 to a 65 year old woman who was used to XP? HOLY $%@^^. I get calls every other day. A few more problems and I'm putting Linux Mint on it.
 
Windows 10 will most likely suck. Microsoft's history doesn't really allow for any other outcome
 
That's exactly the point of Windows 10 though. It's clearly aimed at corporate customers. It removes the "Start Screen" for desktop users and gives them a way to run Modern apps that's actually useful (docked to the Start menu or in floating windows). On a desktop, it's basically Windows 7 with support for Modern apps. It's basically what 8.1 should have been, but 8.1 wasn't timed properly to garner corporate support anyway. Now that Windows 7 is no longer available for direct channel sales, it's time for MS to supersede it with a new corporate-focused release, hence the direction and timing of Windows 10.

windows 10 still makes it harder to get to the areas you need to work with. example, device and printers, folder options, if you type folder options you have to click on the folder options OR it will do an internet search for that crap. admin tools, add remove programs. forget me trying to get things down with this piece of garage isn't worth the headache. simply putting the start menu isn't enough, they could have kept that piece of crap (windows 8) the way it was if you could get to everything easy.
 
Not Win 10 related but with all the Windows 8x talk...

Has anyone ever tried teaching Windows 8.1 to a 65 year old woman who was used to XP? HOLY $%@^^. I get calls every other day. A few more problems and I'm putting Linux Mint on it.

try walking them through things that sucks also, i tried the other day, forgive me some more damn when I asked them to type internet explorer because they didn't have the tile it kept doing a web search for it, just click on the words I was ready to pull my hair out.
 
Irrelevant question. If you need to run professional software such as OrCAD, Pro/Engineer, SolidWorks, Inventor, etc. you need Windows. Mac OS X is over glorified iOS for Facebook consumption.
 
I have absolutely no use for Window 8.x, nor Windows 10.x, or the Cloud, or anyother "On-Line Apps", or Storage, nor anything else, that "King MicroSxxt" wants to rent me, or charge me for, which is simply waiting to be Hacked into, and stolen, by someone Smarter Than "King MicroSxxt THINKS THEY ARE".

I was reasonably happy with XP, especially after the Window's "Previous Crxp" that I had to put up with, after "King MicroSxxt" KILLED MS-DOS.

Personally, I will be estactially HAPPY, if Windows 10.x TANKS :)!
 
A certain major UK defence company only finally moved away from Windows NT in 2007. Windows 7 works just fine for an awful lot of people. Unless a business uses Windows mobile / tablet devices, there'll need to be a really compelling reason to move to Windows 10. And a corporate rollout of 10 in a large corporation is a huge logistical and technical exercise which will likely take a year or more anyway.
 
windows 10 still makes it harder to get to the areas you need to work with. example, device and printers, folder options, if you type folder options you have to click on the folder options OR it will do an internet search for that crap. admin tools, add remove programs. forget me trying to get things down with this piece of garage isn't worth the headache. simply putting the start menu isn't enough, they could have kept that piece of crap (windows 8) the way it was if you could get to everything easy.
You don't have to click shit, just hit the down arrow and enter after the proper folder options shows up when you search for it and you select it with your arrow keys. If you index everything or have a SSD it should be near instationus. Only time it brings up an internet search is if you don't down arrow to select from the menu. It's literally, windows key->"folder options"-> down arrow-> enter. Down arrow isn't necessary for most applications or staple things like control panel where the highlight is automatic.

The difference is windows 7 automatically highlights the first result every time. As for clicks, hell if the control panel is so important to you, you could just make it a shortcut on the start screen or taskbar.
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Your argument is essentially, I don't know what i'm doing. I refuse to learn. The OS is a P.O.S. because of that. The OS is not a pos because of it, but it is a problem for microsoft. Changing the culture and attitude of your customers is very hard.
 
Your argument is essentially, I don't know what i'm doing. I refuse to learn. The OS is a P.O.S. because of that. The OS is not a pos because of it, but it is a problem for microsoft. Changing the culture and attitude of your customers is very hard.

To motivate a change in customer behavior, you have to demonstrate value to compel that behavior, and intuitiveness is key. And Microsoft hasn't done that so far in Win8 OR Win10 preview. It's great that MS really wants to get into the mobile space, god bless 'em, but therein lies no obligation on the part of their customers.

Ergo, its a Microsoft problem, not a customer problem.
 
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