Windows 10: Microsoft Learns From Mistakes

Have you seen the new Windows 10 screenshots? It sure is looking like Microsoft has listened well to the voluminous criticisms of Windows past—ahem, Windows 8.x.

After Windows 8 came out, I posted on this blog what I thought about the new look/interface. Later, I posted another apologist piece seeking to rebut negative criticism where warranted. Now with a peek behind the scenes of development for the new version, we can make a limited assessment of how they’re handling previous issues moving forward.

“Metro” Interface/Start Menus and Screens

First and foremost, while I liked—and continue to like—the new Start Screen (not speaking of the Start Menu), I do understand that it was such a major paradigm shift it became a huge distraction and radical turn-off. And for those without touch screens, for which it was optimized, it presented a paradigm shift that appeared wholly unnecessary. For many, that was very much true.

But Microsoft seems to have realized their folly, and so have brought back the Start Menu—though not without remarkably constructive modifications. The changes going forward are nothing like the acquiescing minor revisions of Windows 8.1. Now the Start Menu actually shows Live Tiles, and can expand to show more (or contract to less) if you want—the best of both worlds. And of course just like on your Windows Phone, you’ll be able to size the tiles to your own needs/preferences.

As an aside, you can still choose to boot up into the Start Screen, though the default for desktops and laptops will be the Start Menu. This is a real advantage for tablet users and a nod to the idea that the “Metro” interface will survive into the future.

Charms Bar/Search

One of things I love about Windows 8 is the Search function on the Charms Bar. Even though it was sometimes irritating to have to swipe/pull down from the corner to get to, it was so much more pleasant to be able to search so quickly—as apposed to loading a browser, then a search engine website, then typing in the search. It felt more fluid with the Charms Search feature. I got hooked, and then couldn’t understand why my wife never remembered about it (though she’s since seen it’s value)!

Well Microsoft has now added the option of showing a search box directly on the taskbar—you can now search directly from the desktop without having to swipe at all. And of course, you can still search in just one app; locally just on the PC; across the entire web, or anywhere in between; not to mention searching just for images or just for videos. And I much prefer Bing where, according to Microsoft, they don’t constantly mine your data like some other search engines.

Add to all this the brilliant Cortana, who’s being asked to integrate into the search functions as well (I’m sure she’ll be happy to oblige). After my iPhone experience, I can tell you she’s an order of magnitude more helpful and productive than the glorified search assistant Siri. Searching as part of productivity will never be the same.

Window Behavior

OK. The Charms Bar is still there (except for the Settings charm). But they’ve now also incorporated the charms into every window’s top-left “control” menu. And what’s more… One of my beefs with Metro was that I didn’t necessarily want to have a particular app be full-screen—actual windows suit me just fine. And I found the snap functionality of having two full-screen apps side-by-side to be worthless.

Well, they’ve now managed to set up Metro apps to work either way; either full-screen as we’re used to, or in windows that hover over the desktop. A perfect balance of form and functionality…

As for the new windows themselves, they’ve added some level of shadowing for a pretty nice 3D experience—windows actually look like they’re suspended in space while in front or behind one another. I find it to represent the future, whether elegant or not. At least they’re not so flat. like in Windows 8.

And they’re adding a new feature allowing you to create multiple desktops. Apparently you can now have your icons and eat them too. I’m wondering if this will be a boon to those (like me) who work with multiple monitors.

 Live Tiles

I’m actually a big fan of live tiles—whether on my PC, my tablet, or my phone. This is hands down the greatest thing to happen to computer devices since windows were added to DOS (or OS/2—do you remember the “original” Windows, developed by Microsoft together with IBM?)!

For the past several months I’ve been working daily with an iPhone 6 because of my work (time for another blog post 😉  ). I’m sorry, but after playing with this device I’ve realized that I’ve left behind the days of icon-centric computing. It’s so 1990s…

To further an analogy I used previously, Live Tiles are like having a bookshelf full of books that show the current page inside them on their spines—and you get to choose how big you want the spine to be to show how much of the page you want to see.

Seriously, how can any of us go back to the plodding world of opening an app to find the information inside it after having exposure to that kind information system? Sorry Android and iPeople…

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This will be the first major release of the operating system under the new CEO, Satya Nadella. While these represent just a few aspects of the new Windows 10 being shown—and experienced—by others, we’ll get a better idea come sometime this month. We’ll also begin to sense the trickle-down of Nadella’s leadership and vision.

Until then…

Nokia Lumia 1020 — Is Windows Phone on the Verge of a Breakthrough?

Nokia’s new Windows Phone with Carl Zeiss optics and 41 Megapixel camera

Nokia’s new Windows Phone offering has upped the ante. Never before has so much picture power been packed in so little space.

But what does this new hybrid device portend for the WP8 platform in general?

First things first. The appeal for such a device is widespread. Even though it hasn’t yet shipped, people are certainly taking notice. Many want to know if it’s worth it to switch over to Windows Phone from their Android or Apple devices.

And the reason why there’s such an appeal? It has to do with our new mobile, ever-connected, digital age. People never used to have to carry phones around with them. For calling, you went home, called from the office, or ducked into a telephone booth a’ la the Man of Steel. Now, you’re (almost) crazy if you don’t have one with you at all times — with or without a charged battery.

Back then, if you carried anything with you on day trips, it was probably a Kodak or other point and shoot instant camera. Then for a while you could leave home without them, take your new video camera instead, and just buy an instant disposable camera on the way.

But now that everyone has a mobile phone with them, it’s just too much to ask to drag along a video camera and a point-and-shoot digital camera as well (forget the days of having to put film in the camera!).

Well, Nokia seems to have seen the writing on the wall. You and I want — nay, need — a single device to record all our quick pics, as well as any short video stints we want to keep for posterity. And we’ve already got enough gadgets, devices, remotes, and assorted electronics at home — we certainly don’t want to take along the kitchen sink when we go to the water park for the afternoon. Just the phone, Ma’am.

This device is pretty cool. Yes there’s the 41 Megapixel camera. Yes, it includes six layers of Carl Zeiss optics (the best in the world). Did I mention it takes video in full hi-def 1080p?

But why the overkill on the resolution? After all, even the best digital SLRs (Single-Lens Reflex cameras) only max out at about 18 Megapix’s. What’s the point?

It has to do much more with what you can do with the photo after the shot than what you get with it. Because of this new approach, you can now zoom in and out of the picture after it’s already been taken! You can turn it around, skew it diagonally, and re-center it somewhere else in the picture data (for instance, from your friend coming down the water slide, to your kids in the wading pool next to it). You can even refocus on a completely different object!

In short, you collect so much data when you take a picture with this camera that you can then revisit the data almost any way you want in order to “find a new story” in the photograph, as one Nokia employee put it.

Now you can have your cake and eat it too.

This phone, more than any app or ecosystem or service offering, has the one-time chance to single-handedly boost Windows Phone into a new dimension — more of a 3-way race with the Androids and iPhones out there.

Apple is losing market share anyway. People who don’t watch may still think their technology is cutting edge, but anyone who’s looking can quickly see they’ve lost several steps without the visionary Steve Jobs at the helm. Even the stock markets see that…

Android is more popular because it’s less expensive. Google was correct to jump on this gravy train and then incorporate all its services and offerings natively. The only problem? Who trusts Google anymore? They’re too powerful — with all the search engine and email data they have on us — and giving more over to them just seems to prolong the agony that one day we’ll regret all that we freely handed over to them.

If Google was a government, it would be the sole superpower U.S. government — complete with all its spying and data collection. And where does all that data go? To advertisers/marketers. Do we really want custom-targeted spam?

Windows Phone, on the other hand, is the only platform to truly look to the future. Live tiles are absolute genius! How do a slew of static icons to stare at help me get the information I want? Haven’t we been doing that since the late 80s? But as we see, the other behemoth’s aren’t leaving the old icon-based paradigm behind (as if it could really last forever) and moving forward with user interfaces that make so much more sense in a digital age. Instead, they seem to continue to embrace them…

There’s only one visionary taking the chance right now. That’s Microsoft.

Imagine for a moment. If the Lumia 1020 delivers as promised, the new Microsoft will have to be taken seriously. Microsoft’s strategic partnership with Nokia was brilliant. The house that Bill built knew that the world’s best and most innovative phone manufacturer would be capable of driving their generally late-entry into the smartphone market. (And to be fair, that late entry was at least partially a function of their modern interface paradigm shift.)

If the Lumia 1020 starts selling like hotcakes, won’t companies like Instagram have to relent? How could they sit out on the best camera a smartphone could offer? Facebook is almost done with their Modern UI (“Modern User Interface” — the new interface for Windows 8) implementation. And Twitter just released theirs. The rest would have to follow, mostly because the revenue potential would warrant it.

Furthermore, won’t Google have to begrudgingly begin offering its services on Windows Phone, just like they begrudgingly did for Apple’s iOS products? They will if they want to keep their dominance in the services and software areas they’re famous for.

If Windows 8 continues to improve and develop into the Microsoft-envisioned “one interface for all devices,” including desktop, tablet, phone, and game consoles, then clearly the “ecosystem” will develop accordingly, as more and more developers realize how critically their future is tied to Microsoft’s products.

Am I a huge fan of Microsoft? I’ve had my differences with them over the years, especially having been a Novell engineer and originally a WordPerfect support specialist.

But I can truly say that I believe they’re the only ones with the Steven Jobs-like vision for the future right now, whereas Google is just gobbling up all the real estate in the current paradigm, and Apple is now lagging behind.

I do know one thing. If anything can break through in these mega-firm technology wars, this one single smartphone has the potential to fire the shot heard round the world…

Nokia Lumia 920: Launches Are For Selling Product

I always thought that manufacturers actually want to sell their products. It looks like Nokia has found a way to launch a product and work at not selling it.

I put my name on the email list for receiving notice when the new Nokia Lumia 920 went on sale — the phone’s actually supposed to be the absolute finest smartphone on the planet! Obviously it runs on the coolest, most hip operating system (OS) in the world as well: Microsoft Windows Phone 8.

(The main  cool thing about the new Windows OS lineup has to be that all the interfaces are identical — if you learn one you’ve basically learned them all. You don’t need to learn Android for your phone, Apple’s iOS for your tablet, and Windows for your desktop. Check out my previous post on this here.)

But on to my odyssey. I got the email announcing that the new phone was available and immediately went to find out how to get it. (Hint: I live in Berlin, Germany, so this all applies only to that country. But read on if you like a good story!)

The choice offered me was to go through a middleman firm I had never heard of but which packages these phones with several of the most popular mobile coverage providers. In Germany the big three are: T-Mobile (yes, just like in the U.S.), O2, and Vodafone.

I like T-Mobile enough — we use them for our in-home phones and cable. My wife used to be very loyal to Vodafone, until one of their outlet stores deceived her with some fast-talk, making her buy a new contract and a new phone when she just went in to get her existing Sony-Erickson phone fixed. They ended up really taking it to us, and when we finally escalated it all the way to the Executive Assistant to the company’s top executives, he confirmed for us that they are willing to take customers for a ride as long as the customers didn’t do everything they possibly could at every step of the way to fix it.

Say goodbye to Vodafone for us!

I’m actually with O2, and I really, really like them. My wife and I get a discount because we’re business owners. But in general, they have such a killer deal for customers, that I think if they brought it to the U.S., they’d be an instant hit and would  bankrupt AT&T. Maybe the government won’t allow them to…

So here I am, and I can only get the phone from this 3rd party — at least if I want to stay with O2. The problem? O2 isn’t yet offering the phone. And if I do want to get it from the 3rd party company, I’m going to have to lose my existing wonderful, cool mobile plan and take one of O2’s not-so-cool plans (yes, they do have those as well). If I want to purchase the phone without a plan, I have to pay up front 650 Euros (not hardly)!

So I wrote the following email to Nokia Customer Service (note that I did indeed misspell the name of the phone in the email):

I want a Lumina 920.

I am a Microsoft engineer/professional (independent contractor). My wife and I had Nokias before the smartphone revolution. When we went to Windows Phone 7, Nokia was not yet in the game. Once we saw the Lumina 920, we wanted to move back to Nokia: 1) We have HTCs now, and while we are happy enough with them, we don’t want to support products from China, but from Europe; 2) We know that Nokia is betting on Windows Phone and we want to support the platform and help to usher in a renaissance for Windows devices (we’re very impressed with Windows 8); and 3) We believe the Lumina 920 to be possibly the very best smart phone on the planet at the moment.

We love O2. They do NOT force us into a 2-year contract, and we reward them with our loyalty. They do not count the minutes we use, and we reward them with our loyalty. They have always made new phones available to for reasonable prices and we reward them with our loyalty. We don’t have a monthly minimum cost, and — of course — we reward them with our loyalty.

We abhor Vodafone. They have treated us so bad, that we would never, ever give them our hard-earned money again — for Anything!

We want your phone, but you are making it impossible to sell it to us. You have set things up so that we cannot ever purchase one of your wonderful phones. I work in IT. I will obviously be telling many others about this inability to have the phone I want with the provider I want and the service possibilities that I want.

Noovi WILL NOT SOLVE MY NEEDS, and thus you will lose a sale.

I don’t want another Chinese HTC. I also don’t want to pay 649 Euros for the Lumina 920 from Noovi when I’ve just paid 689 Euros for my new Microsoft Surface RT 64 GB tablet. I WOULD, however, pay 500+ Euros over a period of 24 months for the Lumina 920. O2 has allowed me to do that with the last 3 (1 American and 2 Chinese) phones I’ve purchased.

Make this phone available to me from O2. If you refuse to do that, then perhaps make it available to me on a 2-year payment plan. If you can’t do that, make it available to me for free or at a substantially reduced cost and I’ll blog about its wonders on my technology blog, and extoll its virtues to everyone I meet or know — I’ll show it off.

If you won’t help, I’ll be forced to buy another Chinese Windows Phone 8, which I probably will blog about and extoll its virtues.

Please reconsider your distribution channels and your approach. This is not the way you’ll sell millions of phones because most people already have a provider they’re happy with.

You shouldn’t do this to customers who want to be loyal…

Would you be surprised if I told you that Nokia called me the next day? Well they did.

The person assigned to me expressed sincere empathy for my plight. That was refreshing. But for now, it seems that my beloved O2 just isn’t ready to take the plunge. Surprise — it’s the providers fault!

I’ve called O2 a couple of times on this and they say they have nothing coming down the pipe for this phone yet. But they do offer the old Nokias. And they do have the new HTC 8X running Windows Phone 8. Choices, choices…

Nokia said they might be able to provide me with a trial phone of the Lumia 920 soon. I won’t hold my breath. But if I do get one, and can put it through it’s paces, I’ll post a nice — non-technical, but more practical — review of it here.

Note to Nokia: You sell the most phones if consumers are actually able to buy them for a reasonable price from the service providers they already have contracts with. It’s simple Marketing 101… 😀

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UPDATE:  After posting this, I went into a local big-box superstore (Saturn) and inquired at their O2 counter, and low and behold, the phone is available from them. Their prices were 15% off amazon.de and 8% below the Noovi cost. And I can pay in installments and keep my beloved contract!

Nokia is able to get their phone to market after all. A little patience on my part would be refreshing. I’ll let you know the details once I’ve had a chance to get used to it…

Does Microsoft’s Vision Portend A Renaissance for Technology?

I have just seen a video for the new Windows Phone 8. I am literally blown away… And that’s not always easy to do in today’s world.

I’m astonished in its breadth; astonished in what’s behind the scenes; astonished in its pragmaticism (Merriam-Webster: “dealing with events in such a manner as to show their interconnection”); in short, astonished in its vision.

To wit:

That’s the video. (You’ll love it, if you’re not too distracted, as I was, by this Microsoft Corporate Vice President’s killer, avant-garde, bouffant-looking, modern cool-dude hairdo.)  😉

So now I’m going to take you on a little walk about. I call it:

What I find So Compelling About Microsoft’s New Vision.

First, let’s start with the basics.

Compatibility. Consistency. Simplicity. Microsoft is looking at the big picture, the one you wish every technology company would focus on. We have Kindles and iPads; Blackberries and Galaxies; and everything in between. (Ahem. Windows Phones and Windows tablets are in there too.)

Now, which of these devices work together easily. Apple, for obvious reasons (and, well,  because it’s Apple), wants you to use its own hardware to interact with its phones and tablets. That makes sense. Until you realize (as you always have) that Apple is the only one making these devices — there’s no competition between different vendors for providing iOS products.

Microsoft is on the other end of the extreme. There are all sorts of vendors competing for your attention in the Microsoft realm. This is the real cloud — the one where there’s a fog of so many products you don’t really know which one to choose.

Google is somewhere in between. They maintain aspects of the fogginess of multiple vendors, yet still have no real hardware or hardware framework (read desktop OS) to base their future on, though it’s not for lack of trying.

But keep in mind that Android’s smartphones have taken the lion’s share of the market and are outpacing everyone else. And there’s good reason for that, besides the fact that Microsoft was late getting to the starting gate on this one.

So why have Android smartphones been so successful against iPhones?

Well, when you have many different hardware manufacturers making many different devices — and sprinkle in the competition factor — the chances end up being much higher that innovative and cool products will make their way to market. In point of fact, that was the basis of Microsoft’s success formula for many, many years.

But this model also yields a real disadvantage. There’s a potential for a whirlwind of products that make it hard to discern two things: 1) With limited funds, what can I get that will provide a guarantee to last for a while? And more important, 2) What is compatible with the other products I already have now?

Ultimately, for the consumer, figuring out what will be a smart investment vs. a dumb buy becomes a shell game. And Microsoft’s been caught a couple of times being the dumb buy — mostly for lack of vision — and ended up paying a price for it.

Of course, Apple and Google try to make token forays into each other’s “ecosystem” (funny little term). Google provides iOS with its famed maps; Apple ports iTunes to Android. If you ask me, it’s amusing for the customers… And it’s sad for the customers.

Well, Microsoft got scared (rightly so) and decided to fly all the way up to 32,000 feet to get the big picture and breathe the rarefied air. And I think what they came up with is downright phenomenal. And while Joe Belfiore,  the VP over Windows Phone, only talks about his side of the house, one can see the writing on the wall for all of Microsoft’s consumer (and many of its business) products.

The only question left: Can Microsoft really pull off the show’s “prestige” on a world stage crowded with other magicians?

With that in mind, the following are just a few points from the video, with my own take on how it all pertains to what I call The Bold New Microsoft Vision…

• Personalization – At the outset, I didn’t find this to be such a wondrous marketing approach. But upon close inspection, I find this to be integral — core really — to the new vision. Making people’s phones as unique as they are makes sense from an aesthetic view, to be sure. But it makes even more sense from a get-things-done approach. In this manner, you’re always putting closest to eyes and fingertips the things people want to know and do the quickest. Joe does a great job in the video describing how “Start Screen” personalization makes so much sense. And he makes clear why the other vendors simply aren’t there yet.
• Data Sense – This feature — tracking your data plan usage — is equal parts innovative and practical (watch the video for more information on this clever new feature). Microsoft’s vision in general seems to take the approach, “What don’t you like about your phones, tablets, and other devices? Why don’t you like it?” And the answer invariably has to do with how technology seems to get not easier to use, but actually more complex. So Microsoft then takes those problems, performs a level of critical analysis, and in effect offers the solutions arrived at as subtle new forms of personalization for its customers — a way to overcome our individual hang-ups and complaints.
• Interoperability – Next comes the various features that allow all sorts of software on devices to interact with one another, something everybody’s working on (nothing new here, Google Apps). But how Microsoft wants to do it is strikingly different than the pure web-based model, though it relies heavily on the so-called “cloud.” (By the way, what happens if your Internet connection dies with some of these other approaches?) With Microsoft holding all the cards in office productivity software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), having those applications talk and play among devices from multiple categories is just downright wise on their part. And to do it across devices from multiple vendors (like with Microsoft’s new Rooms — more on that later), makes even more sense.
• Music – Who wants their songs to be accessible wherever they are and regardless of the devices they happen to have with them? Who wants to stop having to keep track of a multitude of synching cables and applets in order to do so? In today’s world, to be forced to answer either of these questions with anything but “I do!” is just downright dumb. And yet we do it consistently. I travel a bit, and if I could get “un-cabled” and take just a few key devices with me, I’d be pleased as punch. Well, Microsoft’s vision in this area is almost second to none — it transcends all these frustrations and makes for seamless access to music wherever you find yourself — yes, even if you want to sing in the shower in a cabana on a Tahiti beach. No more buying individual tunes from iTunes. No more having to share just the name of the song — or perhaps a link — with my big brother. I can take it all with me — automatically — everywhere, all the time.
• Social Networking – Finally, there’s a method to the madness — targeted socializing in a way that cuts through the mindless clutter. Microsoft’s re-thought-out “People Hub” overarches their grand vision. After all, isn’t the underlying movement behind social networking focused on getting and staying in touch in a very busy world? Well, contact lists are a thing of the past. Integrating all people across the board into one place, being able to read what they’re up to, and then contacting them in whatever ways we choose — that’s the new paradigm. How hip is it to create Microsoft’s new “Rooms” to share relevant information, including notes, photos, calendars, etc., with specific others? And typing the information to get it there has been made so much easier. All leading to the eventuality that we keep in touch more, and more efficiently.

Again, Microsoft seems to say to itself (collectively), “What’s difficult with today’s phones, tablets, laptops and other devices (Xbox anyone?)? And then they imagine how their products will fix it. They even realized that kids like to play with phones and created a Kid’s Corner safety area so you don’t wake up after your nap with a $20,000 accidental bank transaction waiting to be processed! That’s the basis of the new vision…

Microsoft’s got the right idea. I’ve seen what Apple has to offer, and while they were once very innovative, the point now is, “What do we do with all this technology?” And Microsoft, it seems, is the only one putting all the right answers at our fingertips.

The new Microsoft vision will continue to inform their answers for years to come.