Windows 7 turns eight this year. It’s as old as the iPhone 3GS, yet it remains the most popular flavor of Windows by far. Microsoft has updated Windows twice since then, but Windows 7 runs on roughly twice as many machines across the globe as Windows 10, the most recent version of the venerable OS.
Here in the US, Windows 10 usage recently surpassed that of Windows 7, but Microsoft wants it running on every Windows machine. That’s because the company calls it “the last version of Windows,” a code base designed to be improved and augmented, not replaced. There’s one problem with that plan: Windows users are slow to upgrade, if they upgrade at all. The biggest threat to Microsoft’s future is coming from its past.
Microsoft introduced Windows 10 in mid-2015, and offered free upgrades to anyone using an earlier version. That window closed in July, and with it, the bulk of people updating. Now the company is coming at the unconverted with a new plan: Cool new hardware. Nicer, faster machines that show off the best features of Windows 10. Devices that will make people think, “Wow, I need one of those so I can do that.” At the vanguard are its Surface machines, which are quite good, but quite pricey. To reach the masses, Microsoft is enlisting other manufacturers to build a new generation of PCs that capitalize on the versatility of Windows 10.
A Whitman’s Sampler of Windows
With Microsoft making desktops, laptops, and hybrids now, you might expect it to shun partnerships with competitors. But Redmond considers collaboration essential to diversifying the Windows 10 ecosystem and improving the OS.
Take the Dell Canvas, an interactive display that turns existing Windows computers into something like a Surface Studio workstation. The 27-inch touchscreen lies in front of a computer, ditching the keyboard and mouse to provide an expansive interface for painting, drawing, and handling digital objects. Like the Surface Studio, it features knob-like “totems” you place on the screen to access features in Photoshop, Avid, and Pro Tools without relying upon a mouse. Canvas is a peripheral, so it doesn’t run Windows. But it utilizes features Dell developed with Microsoft, and some of the code and developer tools are part of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update.
Microsoft also worked with LG on the Gram laptop, a 2-pound wafer of a machine just a half-inch thick that’s good for 18 hours on a charge. Maximizing its battery life required around 150 joint tests between the two companies. And then there’s the Lenovo Legion Y720 gaming laptop, an Oculus-ready beast with a built-in Dolby Atmos sound system. It’s the first portable PC to include a wireless Xbox controller.
Siloed Science
Such things are variations on a theme in computer design, but you can expect the Windows ecosystem to get crazier quickly. Windows 10 is as adept at stuff like touch, pen, and voice input as it is with a mouse and keyboard. It’s built to power an insane gaming rig as easily as a svelte mobile device. Given its versatility, and Microsoft’s desire have it everywhere, the company has no choice but to work closely with hardware partners.
Sometimes, a company approaches Microsoft with an idea it needs Redmond’s help to execute. Other times, Microsoft goes to someone it knows can capitalize on a core feature of Windows 10—a touchscreen, or a pen input. The best collaborations occur when everyone involved shares a similar vision of the user experience.
That can get tricky. Although Microsoft describes these partnerships as a “team sport,” certain parts of the process must be siloed. The Surface team and the folks working with Dell might be developing similar products, but do so independently. A team working with Lenovo won’t know what the people working with LG are up to. “It’s all confidential,” says Michelle Niethammer, a senior director at Microsoft. “But once the product is in the market, then we can share learnings across the board.”
A similar firewall divides the Surface and partner-facing teams within Microsoft. But any advancements made by either team are incorporated into the core Windows code base, making future projects easier for both of them.
Buy or Bye?
Microsoft’s research suggests people love three things about Windows 10. Windows Hello, the face-recognizing, finger-scanning login process, lets people abandon their stupid passwords once and for all. The Cortana voice assistant works well, and adds personality to the PC. Touchscreen support, including pen input, makes signing documents and creating art a breeze.
Those are all notable improvements, but people cling to Windows 7. Fans of the older OS have an established workflow, and simple needs. If a touchscreen and a pen don’t make your spreadsheet jockeying and Powerpoint juggling easier, why upgrade? “Consumers still have PCs, but how they use them and what they use them for hasn’t really grown,” says Steve Kleynhans, research VP at Gartner. “The old clunker in the den still works for doing the bills and surfing the web. Microsoft and the PC industry need to show not just that PCs have cool new features, but what a user can actually do with those features.”
That kind of show-and-tell is essential to a free pack of features called the Windows 10 Creators Update. At a recent launch event in New York, Microsoft demoed how the update facilitates quick 3-D scans, easy 3-D modeling, and creating VR and AR experiences. As Apple abandons the creative class, Microsoft is going after it.
Kleynhans says that while people will certainly buy new PCs, much of the work they associate with the machines can now be done in a browser or on a mobile device. Unless someone needs a full-featured creative tool with plenty of horsepower and storage, they might choose a cheap Chromebook or slick MacBook. The Windows 10 hardware ecosystem offers greater variety, but variety sometimes breeds confusion. Buyers are often drawn to the devices they see everywhere.
“Consumers buy form factors and familiarity,” Kleynhans explains. “Compare the foot traffic in the Microsoft Store to the Apple Store. The Apple store is bustling with lots of people looking at phones that are pretty much just like the phone they have in their pocket. Wander over to the Microsoft store, and you see an amazing variety of really cool tech … multiple shapes and sizes of PC systems at a range of price points. Yet you won’t see nearly the same foot traffic.”