Secrecy Could Kill Microsoft Completely – Analysts

Steven Sinofsky, the man in charge with Windows 7 and Windows 8 development, has left the Redmond-based technology company, so Microsoft needs to reconsider some of its long-term strategies.

The first step: to stop the secrecy, analysts recommend, pointing out that all these mysteries surrounding Microsoft’s latest projects had a pretty negative impact on the overall sales figures.

Sinofsky, who’s also responsible for getting Microsoft back in the business after the Vista disaster, is known for his beliefs that his company must share no information about the upcoming projects.

Now that Sinofsky is out, Microsoft should reconsider this tactic, Wes Miller, analyst with Directions on Microsoft, told ComputerWorld.

“One thing that may be a benefit to Microsoft is to drop the belief that information non-disclosure is a critical component of development. When you distance your evangelists from the information they need to succeed, you hurt yourself. [The secrecy] over Windows 8 did not help their case,” he explained.

The small number of apps in the Windows Store is the living proof that Microsoft has adopted the wrong strategy.

Afraid to share information on its new Windows 8 project, the Redmond-based software giant has refused to inform OEM, partners and developers about the technologies to be implemented in Windows 8, so the market wasn’t fully prepared for the new operating system.

The Windows Store is now growing up, but not at the fast pace Microsoft had hoped to reach. The company promised to have more than 100,000 apps in the Store by February.

“The lack of useful apps for the Surface at launch, the lack of information to developers, definitely damaged the effort. Microsoft didn't oversell the features, that's certain, but now they're paying the price. Enterprise deployment and app development is slowed because of a lack of information,” Michael Cherry, an analyst for the same company, stated.