Windows, Positive Brand, or Liability?

Now, this post is not about the product. My question is about Windows as a brand. Obviously, Windows has strong brand recognition, dating at least back until 1985.

My question is...is Windows a positive brand or a liability?

It has been around a long time, but isn't Windows the OS that we all love to hate?  We use Windows, but do we love the brand?

People love Apple. They loved Steve Jobs. Some will deny it and claim that they just love the products, but millions trusted Jobs enough to buy an iPad without ever having held one or knowing what they were going to do with it. Jobs said it was magical and millions lined up to give him money for something unlike anything they had used before.

Does anyone have that sort of trust in Microsoft? Well, you certainly would not know it from the sales of the Surface. Microsoft built an incredible product. They paired that product with an innovative new OS. The fact that the pairing works I will judge from the fact that I have yet to meet a dissatisfied Surface owner. Unfortunately, that puts the Surface in the same company as the Zune HD. A product that owners loved, but where sales were not high enough to make it a going venture.

So why aren't people buying more Windows RT tablets, and specifically the Surface?

For the last 25 years there has been no truly viable alternative to Windows. Yea, yea, yea, I hear all you Linux and Apple fanboys, but if you have the brains you claim to have, then you know that neither has been a true alternative to Windows...for the average user. Apples were too expensive and the average user does not want to fiddle with Linux, and no matter what you say, Linux requires fiddling.

The average person wants something that just works, and that leaves Linux out of the equation. Apple would do very nicely in the "just works" category, but they are too expensive. That leaves Windows.

But, how many of those people would buy Apple if the price were the same? And why would they choose MacOS over Windows? Because it just works.  I know more people who are frustrated by Windows than are totally happy with it. Some would say that Windows is the OS we love to hate, but I have never felt the love. Windows is the OS we use...but hate.

So, is Windows a brand name that really helps sell PCs? Microsoft thinks so, but I don't. I think that setting Windows as the OS on the PC you are buying is about the same as seeing that your car runs on Goodyear tires. It's a brand name you know (and probably like more than Microsoft), but you don't choose between cars based on the brand of tires, and we don't buy a specific PC because it comes with Windows. It's what we expect.

Now lets get back to tablets. Microsoft designed a premium tablet, gave it a few more features than an iPad and priced it like an iPad...and it didn't sell. Why?

I think that most users, when presented with the question of iPad or Windows tablet, had no trouble choosing.  Windows never stood a chance.  The iPad just works.  Windows is the OS we use, but hate.  Microsoft did a terrible job of selling the virtues of Windows 8 to the public.  And then, Microsoft foolishly put the basic price at $100 more than the iPad.  Yes, you did get the very cool TouchCover, but again, Microsoft did not bother to push at users that you were paying more, but getting more.  iPad users have been proving that they do not need extra ports, and SD card slots, and yet Microsoft seemed to focus on these as the selling points of the product.

Microsoft runs ads that show off the cool sounds of the kickstand and the TouchCover.  iPad ads show how you use the product.  They often do not say anything at all, just music, and visuals of the cool things you can do with your iPad.

Yes, Microsoft has some disadvantages that it cannot completely control, like the number of apps for Windows RT, when compared to Android and iOS.  But I think they have a much bigger disadvantage, something that goes way beyond Microsoft making the wrong step at every stage of the marketing of Windows 8 and Surface (which runs Windows RT).  I can state that disadvantage in one word...

Windows

The OS we use, but hate.  The OS they make jokes about.  The #1 PC OS in the world, and I might even call it the best PC OS in the world, but also the OS with the worst brand reputation in the world.

Microsoft has not been doing too well of late, in the area of brand names.  First, they had to give up using the name Metro, for the UI common to Windows Phone, Windows RT and Windows 8.  Now, they appear to have lost the name SkyDrive for their cloud service.  They need to come up with a name to replace SkyDrive and they still need to find a true replacement for Metro.  Excuse me Microsoft, but the Modern UI is just lame.  But, I have one more suggestion, and maybe Microsoft can kill three birds with one stone.

Throw out Windows.

At least for Windows Phone and Windows RT.  Neither of them is Windows, because neither uses windows.  Please pay special attention to that lower case windows.  Windows was the OS named after it's main feature, the floating application windows on the screen.  You could open lots of them, and they could overlap.  They let you see into the application.  But Windows Phone has no windows.  The apps take up full screen.  There is only one window, the screen.  Windows RT should be the same way.  Microsoft needs to do away with the Desktop in Windows RT.  Office needs to move to the Modern UI.  All the control panel and system administration applets need to move to the Modern UI.  In Windows 8, the Desktop serves a purpose, legacy apps, but Windows RT does not run legacy apps, so there is no reason for the Desktop.  Because of the Desktop, Windows 8 still uses and needs to use windows, so it can retain the name.  Windows Phone and Windows RT don't need the desktop, so get rid of it.

I wish I had a good suggestion for what to call the new OS.  Everything I come up with I reject almost immediately.  Actually, I like Metro, but that is off the table.  Tiles would be appropriate, but I do not like the sound of it.  The new tiled UI appears on Windows 8, RT, Phone, and XBox, so it really is not the Windows UI anymore, and I think that Windows needs to go away, on everything but PCs.  Not the OS, just the name.

Change the name for any OS that does not run on an Intel processor PC.  Let Windows Phone and Windows RT soar, maybe they can reach as high as the XBox without the anchor that is Windows.  Microsoft needs to wipe the fog from their eyes and realize that the brand, Windows, is confusing their customers and pushing people away from their superb tablet.  Lose nearly thirty years of baggage and let the tablet OS, Windows RT, take over in the new mobile market.

Book #24

I hope that anyone reading this will understand that I am not only way behind on my original goal, but way behind on getting my reviews posted.  I will try to change that, and to find something else to write about soon.

Just in case anyone is reading this.

Swords Against Wizardry

Fritz Leiber

I hope by book four of the adventures of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser that you are up to speed on the whole "Swords" link in the titles.

The first half of Swords Against Wizardry deals with their attempt to collect certain legendary gems and their adventures along the way, and what happens when they attempt to sell the gems they have acquired.  In keeping with the general pattern of the stories, they are equal to the task of acquiring a treasure and rubbish at turning it into gold that they can spend.  Out heroes start by climbing Stardock, the highest mountain in Newhon, and along the way they run into invisible adversaries, and even collect a reward from two invisible ladies...well, actually two rewards, but only one they can carry away when they leave.

This is followed by the story of how they swindled out of their reward, which leads each to take a contract to the distant land of Quarmall.  The Lords of Quarmall is the first of the stories that was written, and most, or at least a good bit, of it was not written by Fritz Leiber.  He gives his collaborator, or one might say benefactor, full credit, both in the dedication of the book, and in a short forward.  The first part of the story was written in 1936.  Fritz Leiber took up the tale 25 years later and finished it.  Our two heroes show themselves not only to be fantastic swordsmen, but also quite cunning.

More fun reading and there are still three to go.