The new Windows with 50 shades of boring
It must be the summer coming when there is nothing of substance happening in the technology world. Not even a major announcement from a 2 trillion dollar company creates a ripple. What company? What announcement?
Microsoft. The most boring trillion dollar company just announced the upcoming release of Windows 11, the operating system used by the majority of people on this planet. There was a time when Microsoft executives would dance when announcing the release of the new operating system. Those were the days. Now? They make a few announcements, do a few interviews and put out some blog posts. That's it.
Through business acumen, Microsoft muscled itself into the number-one position as the largest software maker. However, it is always lagging behind its competition when it comes to innovation.
The new amazing features demonstrate how bad it is:
- A rejuvenated Start menu Moving from the bottom left corner, to the middle of the screen. If you won't like it, you can move it back
- Windows 11 is secure by design. It is 2021. That is an improvement. Security in Windows was actually always an afterthought. As a side note, you might read about the death of John McAfee, who built an antivirus empire as a direct result of Windows’ lack of security
- Connect instantly to the people you care about. It means that chat capabilities are now built directly into the operating system. To prevent a monopoly-abuse lawsuit from Slack, Microsoft is trying to convince Apple to extend its Message app to Windows
Is there anything really worth noting in the upcoming release? Yes, Microsoft wants to lure more developers to its platform.
Microsoft signed a deal with Amazon to include all the Android (Google mobile OS) apps to run on Windows as well. To top it off, the company will allow developers to bring their own payment processing systems without paying anything to Microsoft (in contrast with Apple charging 30 percent).
Microsoft never had the best-in-class product. It was always in a good-enough class, copying innovation from others. Its position is cemented by a huge ecosystem. It’s supported by chips and computer makers, by millions of developers and their applications. Not to mention, there are an unimaginable number of Word and Excel files.
Whether you are part of an exciting and innovative company or a boring one, in order to become a trillion dollar company, you really have to understand business and your customers. That's where Microsoft shines and that's the recurrent pattern.