New Windows around the corner

Shocks are always easier to survive if you are prepared. So be prepared, there’s a new Windows around the corner. It is supposed to win over all those who never really got along with Windows 8 and who are holding on as hard as they can to Windows 7.

Of course it is no surprise; a successor to Windows 8 is something you would logically expect, sooner or later. So where’s the shock?

It is essentially in the surprise factor. What on earth is Microsoft going to put into the newcomer this time to make it different? That newcomer has first been referred to as Windows 9 by users, unofficially of course. Then it has been code-named Threshold. A last update refers to it as Windows 10.

Consumers have mixed feelings. On one hand they anticipate a user interface that will be friendlier than Windows 8, but on the other hand there are fears that Microsoft may “force” the cloud element, one way or another. In other words the user will — well, just maybe — have few options as to use or not to use the cloud for parts of the system. What parts exactly and how much of that — that is the question.

Despite an unquestionable and steady increase in global cloud usage over the past 12 to 18 months, and the fact that consumers have learnt to trust the system a bit more with time, there are still parts in each and everyone’s work that we’d like to keep offline. Or at least we’d like to have the choice to go cloud or to stay local. Will Windows Threshold leave us the choice?

Various blogs on the web tell various stories. Some say that the entire concept may be turned upside down, and our world with it, and that Windows will simply become a web-based service! I have decided not to panic and to wait and see. I am as incredulous as Saint Thomas; I have to see it for myself before believing.

All technical specifications, functionality and features aside, Windows users expect Microsoft to reassure them this time, not to revolutionise the system. It’s psychological, not technical anymore.

Windows remains a major operating system in the world, despite forays by Linux and of course the undeniable presence of Apple’s Mac OS. Moreover, Windows Mobile has reclaimed a non-negligible share of the market thanks to beautifully designed Windows smartphones (HTC, Nokia). It would be wise and smart to strengthen this success and not to jeopardise it now — I’d say it’s a critical point, strategically speaking.

Shock or not, old habits die hard and the vast majority of Windows users are anticipating the birth of the new baby, some anxiously, others peacefully.

No official date has been announced yet for the official release. It was first expected to happen in a year from now, around October 2015. Recent blog activity indicates that it may actually take place a bit earlier. Again, it’s a wait-and-see game, the kind that Microsoft has taught us how to play years ago.