You can bet that in the halls of Redmond, there is a lot of tension and apprehension in the air. With the release date of Microsoft's new operating system swiftly approaching - sometime between June and October of this year, this is Microsoft's change to "make things right" what with Vista being such an utter failure. The problem is, this is not 1995 anymore and, as I have been saying for some time (and others too) the operating system is largely irrelevant - and that makes Windows 7, well.....you can fill in the blanks.
This post may come to a surprise to those who know me, but only if they haven't been actively listening to what I have been saying for some time. I can remember the fanfare when Windows 95 was released, and disctinctly recall the experience of lining up to be one of the first to own their own copy of the new Windows OS - and the sense of elation felt when Windows 95 booted for that very first time. Euphoric.
But that was a different time. As in my Palm Pre vs. Apple IPhone head-to-head review, the success of the platform comes down to the quality of the applications -- and quite frankly the most used Windows application I use today, apart from work related applications is Windows Movie Maker and Calculator.
Just stop and think about it. Why is Web 2.0 and the Internet so popular now? It's the applications we use. The OS really is, for the most part irrelevant. Five years ago if you had asked me if I would consider moving to a mac, I would have said No Way. I would have pointed to the applications I use - the games I play, the "tweaking power" I have being about to be a DIY and custom build my own box!
That alure is gone now. I would consider a mac today. I don't have as much time to play games, and when I do, I turn to my XBox 360 and PS3 to fill that void. On my PC, I live in my browser. Everything I do, is in the browser. When I have to fire up an application, I wonder, "Why can't I do this in my browser?" And do you know what might be the most significant "issue" that this brings to Microsoft?
I AM A Microsoft Denizen! I have a developer background - have been programming on the Microsoft platform since the early 90's. I've lived through every iteration of development environments - from Visual Basic 1.0 to the latest version of .NET. I Love .NET. I think it's a superb framework for all levels of developer proficiency. My database engine of choice is still SQL Server - I dig Oracle too, and have used other languages ranging from Java to Rails.
The point I'm trying to make here is that if Windows is becomining (in some areas) irrelevant to ME then I'm sorry Microsoft, but you better get Office 14 for the Web and a whole slew of other applications out quick, and make sure that integration with Windows 7 just blows me (and everyone else) away. Otherwise that OpenOffice solution is looking pretty good, and with Google Chrome already my browser of choice...the window of opportunity to rescue the "Windows franchise" is closing quickly - that is, if it isn't too late already.
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