With Windows 8, Microsoft MSFT ignored the basic tenets of change management and paid the price. Now Microsoft is finally trying to correct the mistakes it made with Windows 8.
In my analysis, the big drop in PC sales has been in part due to mistakes made by Microsoft in Windows 8. I am an engineer and technology is my game. It took me about three hours to become comfortable with Windows 8. I can only empathize with users without a tech background.
I disagree with Apple AAPL CEO Tim Cook’s assessment of Windows 8 when he called Windows 8 a combination of a toaster and a fridge. Cook predicted that users would not like it. Under the hood Windows 8 is revolutionary and well implemented, but the user interface is another matter.
In my experience, a majority of people do not like change. It is up to leaders to ease them into change in a manner that they can handle. Since the pedigree of Windows 8 was desktop and not tablets, Microsoft needed to keep the familiar Windows 8 user interface in the forefront. The right course of action would have been to provide options for the users who wanted the same look and feel in both their PC and tablet. The familiar Start button needed to stay and Charms should have been optional for the majority of people who do not like change.
Tami Reller, chief financial officer and chief marketing officer of the Windows client division at Microsoft, has been giving many interviews indicating that the next version of Windows is coming later this year…Read more at Forbes
