Rain Makers

So What’s up with Windows 8?

October 31, 2012 , 0 Frank Gurnee

After what seemed like a somewhat non-news launch of Microsoft Windows 8 a week ago tomorrow, the news and word on the street about the new operating system has seemed very quiet. Though there were several reports of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft ‘s CEO claiming four million upgrades of the OS in four days it seems surprising that there has been so little chatter over such a significant change for Microsoft.

It may very well be that the change has not yet affected the mass audience. Businesses won’t be upgrading anytime soon but most major manufacturers will be shipping the OS with new systems. As users are presented with the new OS that chatter should be expected to increase.

Timing for the new OS couldn’t have been worse, with Hurricane Sandy rightfully tying up media organizations, the launch of the OS, the surface, and Windows Phone have seem to come and gone. Even a twitter search of Windows 8 doesn’t really come up with much that’s relevant to how it’s actually going.

I just attended a CompTia community event and no one was really talking about Windows 8. This was surprising considering the impact that it is supposed to have on the industry. One person that I saw had a Surface tablet but even that didn’t appear to peak anyone’s interest even enough to have the owner demonstrate or show off the device.

So the question is what’s up with Windows 8? Is anyone paying attention? Is this what we all expected and are we just waiting for next release? Or will this be the game changer that Microsoft hopes it will be? These are all unanswered questions.

I have heard a number of the people in the industry say “Microsoft needs some fresh new blood at the top”, and with this I would have to agree. Microsoft is looking for massive change but is holding on to the old ways of doing business. This may never change until the culture changes and that may need to start at the top.