I have never been a huge fan of Microsoft products. I began using a Mac because of the graphics and video capabilities. When I started working on 3D networked environments, (MMOG’s), and travelling to Europe to present interactive projects, I realized that the rest of the world who were involved in gaming technologies used PCs and if I wanted to interact with this community I needed to work on the same platform. So I switched. For the most part I have been happy, though I never loved the operating system. It was merely conveinient. It was also less expensive.
Last year after Apple released the iPad and I started to think about switching back. I also began to think more about the future of publishing, (interactive books and periodicals). I spent months experimenting with Adobe’s newer digital publishing software and learned about the various distributors for digital books. In terms of being able to produce a highly graphic digital book and distribute it easily to an audience it seemed Apple was moving towards the future much faster than anyone else. For the first time in many years, I decided my next machine would be from Apple. I was not sure what model as their infrastructure was changing rapidly. I knew I no longer needed a desktop. And I was not sure how much longer we would even be relying on laptops. But the Apple hardware and software developers were clearly creating a vast and growing environment for publishing that no one else could touch.
My mind was made up. I was switching to an Apple. But then I experienced Windows 8.
I have researched and worked in User Interface design for many years and have suffered through many iterations of Windows. It was clunky. It was ugly. But I wasn’t thrilled with the Mac operating system either. But this time Microsoft had done something different–something right. Windows 8 is stunning.
Tonight, shortly after I began this post, news was released announcing that Steven Sinofsky, the head of Windows at Microsoft was leaving the company. Apparently, after the debacle of the Vista operating system, he was brought in to oversee Windows 7 and Windows 8 development. He was initially hired by Bill Gates in 1989, after graduating from Cornell. Gates hired him because he understood new technologies, including the web, before others even thought it worth considering. He has vision. Windows 8 is the result of his vision.He is also the person behind Surface. Many thought he would be the next CEO at Microsoft.
Another source cited Julie Larson-Green, who will replace Sinofsky, as the person who led the team responsable for the design of Windows 8:
Already one of the highest-ranking women at Microsoft, Larson-Green led the team that overhauled the design of Windows 8, opting for a start screen with tiles similar to the look of Windows Phone and eliminating iconic elements like the start button. Before that, she remade the look of Microsoft’s Office software for businesses by switching from drop-down menus to a bar across the top called the ribbon. Larson-Green was in charge of all program management, design research and development of all international releases for Windows 8.
Back to Windows 8
The tile metaphor in Windows 8 is not just a replica of Apple’s work. It is nothing like it. It is fluid and logical. It takes some getting used to because they re-engineered the entire interface. It is designed as a “touch” interface, but works well even if you work on a non-touch device. It is also designed so that the interface on your Wndows 8 phone or tablet employs the same metaphor. It creates a seamless experience.
Some of the new PC touchscreen laptops also function as tablets. This capacity works perfectly with Windows 8.
There are still reasons to choose a machine running an Apple over a Microsoft operating system. Apple has created a propriatary and closed environment for many of it’s services, including access to it’s publishing and distribution capabilities. But this may not serve them well over the next few years.
Like most things, Microsoft’s ability to create a competing and engaging ecosystem, based on their touch environment and Windows 8, will depend on how well they can communicate it’s beauty and logic to their audience. Their new ads for Windows 8 certainly do not show they are on the right track. Why don’t they understand that Apple is dominating the market because Steve Jobs was able to tell a better story, while at the same time creating beautiful products?
Microsoft’s engineers and designers have now created one of the most engaging operating systems ever produced. But can they create a myth around it to make everyone feel like it is the first time they experienced the warmth of a bon fire with friends? Can they make everyone feel it’s beauty?
It stuns me that as leading game developers they do not understand how to use story to engage a new audience for Windows 8.
But then again, Steve Jobs was unique. Even Apple is faltering a bit these days at it’s own story telling. And it’s not Tim Cook’s fault. It is unlikely anyone really percieved what Steve Jobs understood, even those closest to him. Yet it is so simple. If they would only talk to storytellers outside of advertising agencies. Why don’t they begin by talking to those who create the stories for their games? That’s what Jobs would have done.
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