Does Windows 8.1 herald a back peddling from Microsoft?
Has windows bitten the dust? According to some analysts, the pc market has taken a nose dive over the last quarter, and many are blaming the problem on the introduction of Windows 8. Having tried windows 8 myself, and being immediately befuddled by how bad it is, I can well believe that it's immature design, and schizophrenic nature have had a big impact on the PC market.
I can't imagine what Microsoft can do to put this mess right. If, on the one hand, they back peddle and resurrect the Start button, and boot straight into the desktop environment, then everyone will see it as an admission that Metro is a failure. Alternatively, they could try and get rid of the desktop, and make the Metro interface into something that is really stylish, and usable by everyone. I'm not sure that the second option is even possible. From a developers point of view, Metro is a dead zone. No development tools have been built to work in it - once you start visual studio, you are dumped out of the Metro interface and straight into desktop mode. It's a dogs dinner - and it's something you would never see happen at Apple, and probably not at any of the major linux distros - forgetting Ubuntu for now.
So, what can they do? Why would thousands of developers worldwide put all of their efforts into learning how to develop for the new platform when it looks like it could be ditched, or put into a holding area until they can work out how to handle it? I for one, am tired of learning the latest, great Microsoft technology, and putting all of my sweat into it for two years, just so it can get superseded by something else. There was nothing wrong with silverlight, or WPF. Why not just extend them, and improve them?
I can't imagine what Microsoft can do to put this mess right. If, on the one hand, they back peddle and resurrect the Start button, and boot straight into the desktop environment, then everyone will see it as an admission that Metro is a failure. Alternatively, they could try and get rid of the desktop, and make the Metro interface into something that is really stylish, and usable by everyone. I'm not sure that the second option is even possible. From a developers point of view, Metro is a dead zone. No development tools have been built to work in it - once you start visual studio, you are dumped out of the Metro interface and straight into desktop mode. It's a dogs dinner - and it's something you would never see happen at Apple, and probably not at any of the major linux distros - forgetting Ubuntu for now.
So, what can they do? Why would thousands of developers worldwide put all of their efforts into learning how to develop for the new platform when it looks like it could be ditched, or put into a holding area until they can work out how to handle it? I for one, am tired of learning the latest, great Microsoft technology, and putting all of my sweat into it for two years, just so it can get superseded by something else. There was nothing wrong with silverlight, or WPF. Why not just extend them, and improve them?
Evolution not revolution. N'est pas?
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