Microsoft Customers Always Win ⇥ marco.org

Marco Arment:

The problem isn’t that they botched it (although they did, in some ways). The problem is that Microsoft isn’t Apple, and Microsoft’s customers aren’t Apple’s customers. They tried selling a more Apple-like attitude to their customers, most of whom don’t want and won’t tolerate an Apple-like attitude. That’s why they’re not Apple customers.

Microsoft’s customers have always demanded, and will always get, exactly what they ask for. That’s the reality of serving the low- to midrange-PC business, and it’s sure as hell the reality of the enterprise business.

I disagree: Microsoft didn’t take an Apple-like approach with Windows 8. The Apple-like approach would have been to position and market the tile interface portion of the OS as an entirely different product for use exclusively with tablets. What they actually did was a much more Microsoftian approach: they crammed everything together into one big, bloated mess. It’s the “Windows everywhere” approach that has long been part of Microsoft’s culture.