In a Q&A session with Mary Jo Foley, Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of operating systems, talks about not only the One Microsoft vision, but also the future of Windows. It’s an interesting interview which goes some way to explaining the decisions Microsoft has made with its operating system.
The two faces of Windows 8.1 — modern and desktop — have divided users. Some people feel happy using either, some believe that modern apps are the way ahead, and others would prefer that the desktop was given greater prominence. With the push of modern app, one might expect that someone so high up at Microsoft would be giving it the hard sell. But in fact Myerson reveal that he still feels “highly productive using” the desktop, going on to say that: “The desktop is part of our future. It’s absolutely core to Windows.”
But of course the desktop is not the full story of the future. As Myerson points out, it is “not the right experience for a phone or a tablet.” He also has a great deal of faith in ARM devices and the work that is being done by Intel in this area: “I think ARM chipsets have a bright, vibrant future, and Windows will run on those chipsets.”
When speaking of the Windows ecosystem as a whole, the word “delight” is bandied around a lot. Part of the One Microsoft vision is creating a Windows experience that is familiar across a range of different devices — Myerson want to “delight people in the whole ecosystem”. It is all about creating “one coherent, consistent excellent place, one way for developers to target the Windows ecosystem and delight our customers.”
And the question that has been on so many lips since we were granted a tantalizing glimpse at Build — when is the Start menu returning to Windows? Sadly, there is still no sort of timetable set out, at least not one that is being shared. “I really don’t have anything to share there. We’re just not ready yet.”
Do you like the direction Windows is heading in these days? Are you feeling or seeing the benefits of the One Microsoft vision?
