The OS simply didn’t align with the industry, he says

Nov 4, 2014 11:01 GMT  ·  By

Windows 8 was launched in October 2012 with much fanfare and Microsoft took the whole New York Times Square to promote an operating system that was supposed to change the way people work on their computers once and for all.

Since then, Redmond invested a fortune in order to make it successful, but as time passed by, it became more obvious that Windows 8 was meant to become just another flop in Microsoft’s history.

Now it’s finally very clear for everyone, including Microsoft itself, that Windows 8 wasn’t quite the operating system that people expected it to be, and speaking to Computing, Joe Belfiore revealed what actually went wrong with this product.

Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president, Operating Systems Group at Microsoft, is the one who took the stage at the company’s latest events, talking high about the new projects for desktops and mobile phones with pretty much every single occasion.

“It didn’t align with the industry”

If you ask Joe Belfiore, it wasn’t the lack of a Start menu that caused so much confusion around the operating system. The touch-optimized Modern UI and all the other changes made to the product weren’t at fault, Belfiore said, as the main reason behind the slow performance of the operating system was the fact that it didn’t align with the ecosystem.

“If you look at Windows 8 - where I think we got a lot of technology pieces built that are strong and compelling - it wasn't all aligned. There wasn't that wave of hardware that supported the software at the right time, at the right price point, so that software developers can [support the OS],” he was quoted as saying by Computing after the TechEd conference in Spain last week.

Microsoft promised an avalanche of products that would come together with Windows 8, but many partners actually decided to delay the launch of new tablets, PCs, and laptops due to the criticism that hit the new operating system from the first days of availability.

Windows 10 to the rescue

Belfiore said that everything would change when Windows 10 hits the market, as the revamped operating system comes not only with revamped features, including a Start menu, but also with better support from partners and other companies.

Windows 10 will be like a breath of fresh air for Microsoft’s partners, and many of them are now waiting for the company to introduce the product and then launch their devices to the market.

According to sources, Windows 10 is expected to debut in spring 2015, so the new wave of devices running it should be unveiled shortly after that.