Microsoft takes the blue pill

Summary: Microsoft is exiting the desktop market by abandoning the old platform which in turn can't be replaced by a new one (Android/Linux already dominant)

MICROSOFT is in serious trouble and it knows it. One site asks if Windows Blue Microsoft's next step in killing the desktop, joking in a sense that Vista 8 no longer targets the desktop. SJVN suspects that Microsoft will dump the desktop metaphor completely, for the first time in decades. He writes:

The early look at Blue have some Windows experts thinking that Microsoft is getting ready to dump Windows 8's desktop mode once and for all in favor of Metro. No!

John Dvorak adds to this debate by warning about Blue:

Apparently at least one person prefers the dumb Metro interface over what is possibly the most popular metaphor—the desktop. The desktop metaphor began with the Xerox Star and ran through the Lisa, Macintosh, and Windows for decades to become the most popular product in history until the mobile phone appeared. But screw that, let's do this instead. If it ain't broken, let's fix it with something dumbed-down.

Everyone knows I think it stinks. My Windows 8 has long-since been patched to push the tiles off to oblivion. I'm happy with the results. I boot straight to the desktop and there I stay.

So now Microsoft is pushing the dreadful Blue. Who wants more and smaller tiles? As I explained back in September 2011, tiles simply slow you down.

Microsoft used to be accused of producing sluggish bloatware because the CPU was too slow. Today it's showing over and over that the software itself is slowing down productivity in new ways; the ribbon interface is said to knock down productivity by as much as 35 percent. You can't help but wonder: does this company hate productivity?

And now, after everyone has groused about the advisability and usability of full-screen apps, especially on huge monitors, the Snap View feature allows up to four full-screen programs to equally share a screen. Wow! Innovation! Hey, I could do that before—and it was easier to accomplish.

Luckily, there are various third-party patches that make this dysfunctional program useful. But how long will they work if Microsoft makes Windows 8 worse with every new idea?

It is not as though Microsoft is gaining a foothold in portable devices. Developers too continue to ignore Windows in devices. As a new article put it:

Beyond supporting OpenGL, Microsoft needs to make itself a priority for game developers. It can’t always play catch up. It must convince game developers that they should build for Windows Phone within months, if not weeks, of a game launch. We can’t expect them to develop for Windows Phone first, but neither should they be doing so a year or more later. Instead of trying to wow us with yesterday’s hits, Windows Phone needs today’s hits today.

The Windows franchise is dying [1, 2], rapidly alienating developers, too. We need to protect Linux-based platforms from the inevitable patent assaults, which are worse than FUD; they're legal threats. They are signs of desperation. ⬆