Re:Microsoft's Surface sales figures are in, and they're hid...
by Gormo on Wednesday July 31, 2013 @08:05AM
(#6133060)
> I think it is now evident to most that Windows RT should be unshackled.
Unshackled? What's the point of keeping it around at all? It was an attempted ARM OS (that shouldn't rightly be called "Windows"), but now that x86 architectures are poised to compete with ARM in power-efficiency, what's the point of having an ARM OS on a Microsoft product?
MS should be very, very wary about moving away from x86 platforms and the traditional Windows platform. They're an underdog in the mobile space right now, and even the slightest amount of friction for developers in getting their applications working on Microsoft's mobile offerings could lead them to prioritize other mobile platforms.
MS should be working diligently to defend the market position of x86 and to build comparatively open platforms that maintain continuity with their established markets, and which are attractive to hardware OEMs and to application developers. Instead, they're dabbling with strategies that will cause their competitors' dominance in other markets to backwash into their bread-and-butter business.
They need to kill Surface RT entirely, immediately abandon any ARM-based projects they've got going, repair their relationships with OEMs (treating the Surface Pro as a first-generation reference design, and droping their own attempts to sell hardware), build good APIs and tools for adding mobile UIs onto existing x86 Windows applications, and make no attempt to assert Apple-like direct control over the software distribution channel.
Unshackled? What's the point of keeping it around at all? It was an attempted ARM OS (that shouldn't rightly be called "Windows"), but now that x86 architectures are poised to compete with ARM in power-efficiency, what's the point of having an ARM OS on a Microsoft product?
MS should be very, very wary about moving away from x86 platforms and the traditional Windows platform. They're an underdog in the mobile space right now, and even the slightest amount of friction for developers in getting their applications working on Microsoft's mobile offerings could lead them to prioritize other mobile platforms.
MS should be working diligently to defend the market position of x86 and to build comparatively open platforms that maintain continuity with their established markets, and which are attractive to hardware OEMs and to application developers. Instead, they're dabbling with strategies that will cause their competitors' dominance in other markets to backwash into their bread-and-butter business.
They need to kill Surface RT entirely, immediately abandon any ARM-based projects they've got going, repair their relationships with OEMs (treating the Surface Pro as a first-generation reference design, and droping their own attempts to sell hardware), build good APIs and tools for adding mobile UIs onto existing x86 Windows applications, and make no attempt to assert Apple-like direct control over the software distribution channel.