It’s a total embarrassment, but less than a year after Microsoft finally “caught up” with Apple’s three year lead and released a modern, multitouch smartphone operating system in Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is having to do it again, this time having been caught with their pants down by the iPad.
Their solution? Windows 8, the next version of their desktop operating system, carefully optimized to support power-sipping ARM processors and skinned with a special, tablet-specific operating system. Now a report suggests that Microsoft will rush Windows 8 to market to make sure that the iPad 3 doesn’t eat Microsoft’s tablet lunch before they’ve even sat down to the table.
According to ZDNet, Microsoft has shifted their timetable to release to manufacturing the next Windows release from the end of 2012 to April 2012, putting Windows 8 tablets in consumer hands by no later than June or July.
It’s a good move for Microsoft to get a bonafide tablet optimized operating system to OEMs as quickly as possible, but not only do we personally have doubts that Windows 8 can hold a candle to iOS even in the short term, we wonder if June 2012 is soon enough.
Apple owns 97% of the US tablet market. How’s that number going to look once they release the iPad 3?
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
55 responses to “Microsoft Will Rush Windows 8 To Market To Compete With The iPad 3”
This is potentially bad news for Microsoft considering the fact that every other OS they release is terrible… (Vista, Millennium, etc…)
-Chris
http://friendsofmac.net
97% of the tablet web traffic doesn’t necessarily mean that you have 97% of the tablet market.
Where in Mary-Jo’s article does it use the word “rush”?
My definition of a “rushed” product is one that’s released too soon with lots of bugs. As of today, we haven’t even seen a formal unveiling of Windows 8, much less any beta, RC, or RTM builds.
Call it rushed if it comes out in July with stuff broken. Simply bad reporting.
I almost wish Apple took a similar approach to MSFT. I think everyone was hoping that the iPad was a version of the Mac OS. Lion is almost there, but I can’t have that on a tablet yet.
You’re correct in your assumption. But it’s very close.
Especially funny ‘cuz Microsloth has been peddling tablets for YEARS.
HA!
There’s a turn of phrase that sends a cold chill up the spines of users (and investors): “Microsoft will rush to market.”
If we haven’t seen anything of it (Win8) now, then coming out in less than a year is likely to be rushed, by the definition you provided dagamer34.
As for Apple doing the same, I suspect no one will agree once Win8 is out, and running poorly in tablet hardware. Performance optimization is simply not a Microsoft strength. And making a 180 degree turn from a bloatware heading is going to take them a very long time. Like maybe a Windows X timeframe.
Well, MSFT seem to have got excellent performance optimisation with Windows Phone 7, which is further improved in the Mango update. So there is no reason why MSFT can’t apply the same performance optimisation to Windows 8. Performance optimisation clearly has become a MSFT strength over the last year, which can only be seen as a good thing.
They’ve been working on it since before the first iPad was released. We just didn’t see it until a few weeks ago. The tablet/slate demos looked pretty solid to me. Right now though we’re all assuming. They’ve been saying for a while they want to have their OS (starting with Win7) to run good on hardware that isn’t necessarily latest and greatest. They’ll take the same route with Win8. Interesting to see how it pans out.
True, but one would have to figure that the use scenarios between tablets are the same. There is very little usage difference between iPhone and Android (Android actually has more).
Great, a new Vista.
To be fair, 97% of an infant market really isn’t a meaningful measure. Apple has only sold ~30million, which is def not an insurmountable number. Just look how quickly Android has closed the gap on the iphone.
Whether W8 will be any good is another topic, something none of us are qualified to discussed at this time.
Windows Me and Windows Vista were rushed to market to compete. Windows XP and Windows 7 are solid follow-through upgrades on those efforts. If Windows 8 is rushed to market, I’ll definitely stay away. Maybe they’ll just continue this trend and Windows 9 will once again be solid. Maybe it is a marketing strategy, upgrade to the solid OS to get rid of that crap on your PC now.
Every day, I get closer and closer to leaving Microsoft behind forever. Just gun shy since System 7 and System 9 really burned me in the past. I am loving iOS though. Might dip my toes in the OS X market soon.
Time to sell Microsoft shares, they just guaranteed a turkey by rushing their crappy coders/product managers.
You mean that os that was great after its first service pack? Just like XP before it?
So, what…this will be the 4th or 5th iPad killer? I’m starting to lose track.
Fig
So, what…this will be the 4th or 5th iPad killer? I’m starting to lose track.
Fig
Microsoft “rushing” to compete with Apple. That’s really pretty funny. I got a good chuckle from that. May Ballmer reign forever.
^Exactly
I love the iNaive attitude these comments are packed with. They really have no idea what they are talking about. Win8 has been in development since the day Win7 was released. In fact, the OS is right on time with MS’s traditional release pattern. Which makes it HARDLY rushed. This “article” inserts words to manipulate reality. But what else would you expect from “cult of mac” lol.
Win8 is packing the gorgeous and intuitive UI design of WP7 and the full functionality of a standard desktop into a tablet. Their UI design language is going to be standard across Xbox (see dashboard update), Win8, and WP7. In addition they are reducing the foot print of the OS so it can run on ARM SOC technology. And they’re integrating all their products across the board along with social networks like facebook/twitter/flickr/etc.
Win8 (if not full of bugs) will be a slam dunk and will compete very well with the iPad. Especially considering all the other enterprise technologies it is going to have like Hyper-V Virtual Machine, full Office access, etc. which will certainly play as an advantage over the iPad.
I’ve seen the Windows 8 video. It’s pretty good and some things make iOS look old and creaky.
Three things stand out in particular: the split keyboard (so thumb-typing works on larger tablet screens), the shared-screen multi-tasking, and the task-switching method.
If Windows 8 has decent performance and they are smart enough to include tablet versions of Outlook and Office for free with the OS for the first year or two, it could be a real contender.
I don’t think that Windows 8 will be the next ME or Vista. There were reasons why these two OSs did poorly and those reasons would not apply this time. And as fare as the release time, its about the same as Windows 7, which was released to OEMs in July of 2009 which was sooner then Vista. If you figure that it released sooner then the normal three year cycle, there is no reason that Win 8 could not as well. And the beta that Microsoft released in early 2009 was rock solid from the start.
The Win 8 beta starts this fall (again, ahead of the three year cycle) so I think I am going to hold my judgement till I get my hands on that. I am not sure that a Windows 8 tab is in the same market as a iPad. I think it will eat more into the PC and Android market.
So now you know it will have lots of bugs by the fact that it will come out in less than a year? That’s quite an assumption there.
to EVER break in to the tablet market, MS HAS to do two things:
– make the admin/upkeep of the Windows OS as drop dead simple as iOS and the rest.
– sell a new tablet/touch version of its market leading Office suite at the same low price as Apple does with iWork – $10 for Word, $10 for Excel and so on. Outlook for free as the email app.
AND then the Windows software companies HAVE to release new tablet/touch versions of their popular programs.
those are three big hurdles. forget the UI eye candy in the demo, it may turn on geeks but that is not what motivates buyers. overall ease of use, good software, and total cost of ownership do. odds are that MS, as usual, will do an initial half-ass job of each. that won’t be good enough.
This article is straight up flawed. Its WRONG.
First of all RTM does not mean to the market, its to the manufactures. Which may mean not an actual release to consumers until sometime in the summer. So how does that coincide with the next iPad release which is usually in the Spring?
Second, Mary-Joe Foley (the source of the rumor) never said rushed or even brought up the silly iPad. Her source said that “Microsoft is currently on track for Windows 8 release.” Usually “on track” does not imply “rushed” unless you are an Apple Kool-Aid drinker I guess.
No, I’m being sarcastic. Vista sucked at launch, and now Windows 8 will be the new Vista
iOS 5 has a split keyboard option, FYI.
Will it be as much of a slam dunk as WP7, a product which is just a-flyin’ off store shelves?
iPad killer? I choose to change?
‘m Looking forward to the prizes! (Like to be a gift)