14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 wasn’t quite a breathtaking product, and pretty much everyone knows that after launch adoption of the modern operating system remained very low due to the confusion created by some odd changes, including the removal of the Start button and the introduction of the Modern UI.
Windows 9, however, will fix (almost) everything that went wrong in Windows 8, and Microsoft knows that getting closer to buyers is the only way to make sure that its user base won’t be affected by the improvements that others make to rival platforms, such as Linux and OS X.
Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella said from the very beginning that Redmond was set to become a consumer-shaped company, so it’s no surprise that Windows 9 is more or less based on the feedback received from customers.
In fact, “based on consumer feedback” has quickly become Microsoft’s very own motif that the company uses during almost every new product launch, explaining that users have contributed in their very own way to the development process.
How useful consumer feedback actually is?
Windows 9 is one of the very first products that will use consumer feedback as a starting point, with many of the features to be implemented in the operating system to be more or less based on what people have been complaining about in the last couple of years.
The Start menu is obviously living proof, but there’s more to come in Windows 9, including multiple desktops, Internet Explorer 12, and a PC version of Cortana.
But as Softpedia reader Paulo Silva states, this feedback could be useless if it’s not handled in the right way. Microsoft must keep in mind that users are in the end human beings, and the operating system must adapt to their needs and not the other way around.
“Nadella is wrong on one thing (at least): we are human beings, and not customers, and we should be respected for it - most companies consider customers idiots, and everyone knows that,” he said.
Judging from this point of view, Windows 8 was indeed a failure because it actually forced customers to adapt to lots of changes, including working on a computer without a Start menu.
Windows 9 to “spam” users with feedback requests
Microsoft has changed the approach in Windows 9, and the next operating system will come with lots of feedback requests placed all over the UI to make sure that the parent company receives your opinions on the changes it made to the platform.
Based on the feedback you give, some features could be changed or not, but everything depends on how well the beta build is received by the very first testers.
Windows 9 preview is scheduled to go live on September 30 or soon after that, while the public unveiling should take place in April 2015.