I like my iPad but it does have its limitations. I still like my Windows desktop PC with its
full featured operating system, applications, peripherals, and hardware. The iPad has a long way to go to fully
replace the desktop PC. My iPad hasn’t
replaced my PC experience, it has supplemented it. Microsoft has nothing to worry about in
losing me as a customer any time soon.
But according to an article
in CRN Microsoft is worried that I will virtually login to my desktop PC at
work and somehow they will be losing money.
Microsoft feels that since I will be getting the “Windows PC experience”
on a device with a non-Microsoft operating system they have lost money. Microsoft believes that anything with an
operating system that isn’t sold by them is a lost sale. Starting with Windows 8 Microsoft will be
charging corporate users extra for logging into their work PC’s with their
non-Windows devices. They will not be
charging corporate customers to login to their PC’s if they are using a Windows
8 tablet though.
When I first heard about the CRN article in Fudzilla
I was shocked. Basically Microsoft has
taken a golden opportunity to make money and gain market share and has traded
it for a really short sighted policy that will only upset customers. When someone logs into a PC from a
non-Windows device it says a few very important things. First, that person (through their company) has
already bought Windows 8 on one computer.
Second, that person is acknowledging that they need Windows 8 to do
something that their mobile operating system can’t do! Effectively the user is just using their iOS
or Android device as a very expensive (but portable) keyboard and monitor. Finally, users do not want to use Windows 8
on a portable device. When you think
about it, why would someone want to log into their Windows 8 desktop when they
can use a Windows 8 tablet or phone and just synch their data? Is Microsoft anticipating that users will
stay with their current mobile device and reject Windows 8? Personally, I would love to have a tablet
that had the hardware quality and easy to use interface of an iPad but with a
Windows operating system. Why would I
want to use a “foreign” operating system to log into the operating system that
I really want to use? Microsoft is just
going to frustrate IT departments, corporate management and users with another licensing
fee. This is just going to generate bad
public relations and miss an opportunity for Microsoft to really cash in.
Instead of trying to stop iOS and Android from “invading”
the Microsoft Operating system “space” they should be “invading” the iOS and Android
“space.” Microsoft should make it
extremely easy for iOS and Android users to log into and use a Windows 8
operating system. Monetize the situation
by designing and selling apps for iOS and Android made by Microsoft to log into
Windows 8. By making those apps
compatible with Windows 8 users will actually be demanding that Windows 8 be on
their desktops in order to work with their personal devices like the iPad. The sale of these apps and the demand for
Windows 8 driven by those apps will monetize this “loss of revenue” from
non-Windows operating systems that users will like. Once users start logging into Windows 8 from
their personal devices run an advertising campaign with a very simple pitch, “Why
use a tablet to log into Windows 8 when you can have Windows 8 on your tablet?” By selling remote login apps, driving demand
for Windows 8 on the desktop and generating demand for Windows 8 on tablets
Microsoft can win the fight for the virtual and the mobile desktop.
Instead Microsoft is implementing a defensive licensing fee strategy
that will only keep the competition at bay for so long. There is still time for Microsoft to turn
things around and become competitive with mobile devices. Mobile tablets and smart phones are changing
the way that people think about computers.
These new devices are different from the computers in boxes under our
desks that we are so used to. Operating
systems will be with us regardless of the container that manufacturers sell
them in. Microsoft is still in a strong
position to be in the operating system business, they just need to think outside
of the “box.” Microsoft needs to get
away from the mindset of one box one operating system. Many of these new smart devices are really
peripherals that extend operating systems beyond the one box one operating
system model onto virtual desktops.
Instead of losing market share to these devices Microsoft should see
that their market has merely expanded because of the virtual desktop and they
need to grow in that direction with their users.
