Microsoft Windows 9: What Do Users Want?

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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Windows 8 is facing worldwide disinterest amongst users, and its popularity is dropping more than what is being showed or projected by the company.  On the other hand, Windows 8.1, a free upgrade for Windows users with some significant improvements over Windows 8, has been adopted by only 25 million PCs at the moment.

“Windows 8 has set back Microsoft, and Windows, by years, and possibly for good,” Windows SuperSite’s Paul Thurrott wrote over the weekend.

Windows 9: the pressure is on

The grim outlook of Windows does not settle down well with some, who think that the operating system is too big a brand to fail. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has much less time to fix the issues related to Windows 8 especially when the company is apparently gearing up to unveil Windows 9 in April 2015. Microsoft may get only 9 months to resolve the multiple issues and bugs, and find out the features that users would seek in Windows 9, says a report from Zdnet by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.

The most basic issue which users want to be addressed is that the operating system should be made for desktop and notebook PCs, which are used by almost a billion users, rather than the touch enabled system.

In other words, the qualities of Windows 7 should be retained in Windows 9, which seem to be absent in Windows 8. The software giant would not have to make huge efforts to do this as it already has Windows 7 as a template.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) should also take the focus off apps and restore the “rich, fully-featured applications that Windows users know and love,” say the author. The foray into Windows 8 apps has not been a failure for Microsoft, but it could not be called a success, either. Apps fit well on smartphones and tablets as they have limited screen size and features.

Giving OS for free may prove beneficial for Microsoft

Giving away the new operating system for free seems to be a step inspired by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). The step could be an advantage of Microsoft as more users would come on the platform, and will also allow the OEM to nsell new PCs to those who cannot upgrade. Also, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will lose the upfront revenue from the sales of Windows licenses, but could recover the revenue from Bing, Skype, and Office 365.

Microsoft’s CEO Ballmer called Windows 8 the “rtiskiest product bet” and it surely turned out to be one, not only for Ballmer, but for his successor, as well.

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