Microsoft Says CIOs Helped Guide Windows 8.1 Course Correction

Steve Rosenbush / WSJ
Stella Chernyaka, a senior director in Microsoft Corp.s Windows Commercial group

Stella Chernyak, a senior director in Microsoft Corp.’s  Windows Commercial group, said the company began reaching out to CIOs soon after last fall’s release of Windows 8 , to better understand what companies didn’t like about the new operating system.


Add a Comment


Comments (5 of 24)

View all Comments »
    • Hmmm... I've been using a Windows RT Surface 2 (8.1) for about a week and believe it or not, it's excellent. I think the knuckleheads in (Redmond) allowed the engineers to really tweak 8.1 into something that works really well. I'm a decision maker for our company, and before 8.1, I had decided that I would not move to the newer platforms, that we'd just stay on the Windows 7 and Windows 2008 server platforms. Now, after using and seeing the changes made on 8.1 platform, I like the general direction of Windows. As a result, I will begin embracing the Windows 8.1 and the Windows 2012 R2 server platforms for our company.

      I hope for Microsoft's sake that in the future they work harder at listening to customers, especially those responsible for implementing systems, who know what the users can handle, who are responsible for the outcomes in their own companies. It would save Microsoft and, more importantly, their customers a lot of grief. I guess engineers in most industries are tempted to think they know what's best for the end user, especially when they've had a track record of dominating the world like Microsoft has in the past. Those at the top become a bit like the Saturday Night Live "IT" tech support guy who thinks that everything should be so "easy" for the end user. I think it would be fair to say that a bit of that was going on in the design of 8.0. But we should go back and look at what probably led to that.

      What I think happened is Microsoft was in a state of "shock & awe" watching Apple's rapid rise with the advent of the iPhone and iPad. They forgot that people really like Windows, and then panicked. Paranoia can be good, but it can negatively impact good judgment. In this instance, the bad judgment led to the development of the bad things in the Win 8.0 interface.

      As they say, "it's not over until the fat lady sings." If Microsoft ruthlessly and diligently continues down the 8.1 path, i.e., truly listens to their power users in all their communities such as the Office, Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, SQL, Server, etc. they can make their way back and truly stop and may even reverse the gains of Apple and Google. But make no mistake, they better listen even harder to their customers than they did on the 8.1 revision or there could be the blue screen of death in the not so distant future.

    • Ok. I understand why Microsoft wanted to try the Metro UI. They figured the learning curve would be easier for people using there cell phone and tablet operating systems. However, like a lot of other companies, they lost sight of what got them to the place they are now. The desktop user. I can see having an alternative way to access the system. However, to block people from booting to the desktop is just arrogant. They are basically saying "you will do it our way weather you like it or not". If Google comes out with a desktop system that the desktop user can identify with. That will be the end of Microsoft.

    • It has been proving through research that a hierarchy is the the most optimal organization possible of any regular structure. You cannot be it. That's why geography, taxonomy, etc. all follow it. It is also true that, if you shrink the visible size of the icons that represent the nodes of the hierarchy, then you have an organization of your information where all the information is readily available, but compacted in the most optimal form possible. Of course, most users don't think about all this when they use the Start Menu - it is intuitively obvious.

      What Microsoft did was take that model, based on years of extensive research, and dump it for a Mickey-Mouse Fat-Finger interface. An analogy would be like going into a mechanics tool box, and replacing all his tools with toys from Fisher-Price. Yes, it's still a drill...but...good grief..WTF????!!!

    • I just bought a $100 OEM Win 8.1 DVD. I really bothers me to give MS my money for a somewhat retarded OS, but I want to participate in the evolution of technology. Win 8/8.1 has some good features under the tiles. Like USB 3.0 Legacy support along with a more extensive native driver database. Installing Startisback makes the start button almost like 7, and eliminates navigation learning curve. I like the picture password option. There are many things I really don't like (just one example new to 8.1 - to find Diskcleanup you have to 1st enable administrative searches - how stupid is that if you are the only user and you logged in with a password to your PC?) The list of gripes is pretty long. They really need to make an OS tailored for desktop, and another/others for separate devices. Oh, in 8.1 they took out the GUI for making a system image. Now you have to use PowerShell or CMD Processor to create a system image or delete shadow copies.

    • I'm dumbfounded these high level people need help to see something so obvious.

Content from our sponsor


  • Data Integration Primes Pump for Retail Analytics Video



Search for CIO Report Articles