{"id":4283,"date":"2013-12-17T12:30:39","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T17:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=4283"},"modified":"2013-12-17T12:30:39","modified_gmt":"2013-12-17T17:30:39","slug":"windows-versions-may-be-split-for-consumers-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/12\/17\/windows-versions-may-be-split-for-consumers-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows versions may be split for consumers, business"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Microsoft may revert to separate release schedules for consumer and business versions of Windows, the company\u2019s top operating system executive hinted recently.<\/p>\n

At a technology symposium hosted by financial services giant Credit Suisse, Tony Myerson acknowledged the operating system adoption chasm between consumers and more conservative corporations. Myerson, who formerly led the Windows Phone team, was promoted in July to head all client-based OS development, including smartphones, tablets, PCs, and the Xbox game console.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe world has shown that these two different customers really have divergent needs,\u201d Myerson said, according to a transcript of his time on stage. \u201cAnd there may be different cadences, or different ways in which we talk to those two customers. And so [while Windows] 8.1 and [Windows] 8.1 Pro both came at the same time, it\u2019s not clear to me that\u2019s the right way to serve the consumer market. [But] it may be the right way to continue serving the enterprise market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous policy<\/p>\n

Myerson\u2019s comment hinted at a return to a practice of about ten years ago, when Microsoft delivered new operating systems to the company\u2019s consumer and commercial customers on different schedules.<\/p>\n

Before 2001\u2019s arrival of Windows XP\u2014when Microsoft shipped consumer and business versions simultaneously\u2014Microsoft aimed different products, with different names, at each category. In 2000, for example, Microsoft delivered Windows ME, for \u201cMillennium Edition,\u201d to consumers and Windows 2000 to businesses. Prior to that, Windows 95, although widely used in businesses, was the consumer-oriented edition, while Windows NT 4.0, which launched in 1996, targeted business PCs and servers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The update\/upgrade-acceptance gap between consumers and businesses reappeared after Microsoft last year said it would accelerate its development and release schedule for Windows, then delivered on the first example of that tempo, Windows 8.1, just a year after the launch of its predecessor.<\/p>\n

Enterprises have become nervous about the cadence, say analysts. Businesses as a rule are much more conservative about upgrading their machines\u2019 operating systems than are consumers: The former must spend thousands, even millions, to migrate from one version to another, and must test the compatibility of in-house and mission-critical applications, then rewrite them if they don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

That conservative approach to upgrades was a major reason why Windows XP retained a stranglehold on business PCs for more than a decade, and why Windows 7, not Windows 8 or 8.1, has replaced it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s extremely difficult to serve both masters\u2014consumer and commercial\u2014equally well, said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. \u201cNo one has yet mastered being good on enterprise and good on consumer,\u201d said Moorhead in an interview. \u201c[The two] are on completely different cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballmer’s take<\/p>\n

In October, outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer dismissed concerns over the faster pace. At a Gartner Research-sponsored conference, when analyst David Cearley noted, \u201cEnterprises are concerned about that accelerated delivery cycle,\u201d Ballmer simply shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201dLet me push back,\u201d said Ballmer, \u201cand say, \u2018Not really.\u2019 If our customers have to take DVDs from us, install them, and do customer-premise software, you\u2019re saying to us \u2018Don\u2019t upgrade that software very often … two to three years is perfect.\u2019 But if we deliver something to you that\u2019s a service, as we do with Office 365, our customers are telling us, \u2018We want to be up to date at all times.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another Gartner analyst, Michael Silver, countered Ballmer\u2019s claim. \u201cOrganizations need to be afraid of what\u2019s to come,\u201d Silver said at the time. \u201cIf [companies] get on this release train, Microsoft will take them where [Microsoft] wants to go, or [Microsoft] will run them over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myerson\u2019s hint of separate release trains, to use Silver\u2019s terminology, may be a repudiation of Ballmer\u2019s contention. Or not.<\/p>\n

His statement of, \u201cIt may be the right way to continue serving the enterprise market,\u201d could be interpreted to mean that Microsoft will maintain an accelerated tempo for business versions of Windows\u2014one faster than the three years between upgrades that the company has used in the past\u2014and speed up Windows updates to consumers even more.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe consumer really is ready for things to be upgraded on their own,\u201d Myerson said.<\/p>\n

\u201dMicrosoft\u2019s biggest strategic question is, \u2018Am I an enterprise company or a consumer company, or both?\u201d said Moorhead. \u201cSomething has to break here.\u201d<\/p>\n

And one crack might be, according to Myerson, a separation of consumer and commercial on Windows.<\/p>\n

via Windows versions may be split for consumers, business | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Microsoft may revert to separate release schedules for consumer and business versions of Windows, the company\u2019s top operating system executive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,9,11],"tags":[159,224,1220],"class_list":["post-4283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft","category-software","category-windows","tag-business","tag-consumers","tag-windows-8-1"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-175","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7841,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/03\/18\/windows-10-release-set-for-this-summer-in-190-countries-say-hi-to-windows-hello\/","url_meta":{"origin":4283,"position":0},"title":"Windows 10 release set for this summer in 190 countries; say hi to “Windows Hello”","author":"NCCT","date":"March 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft confirmed today Windows 10 will be released this summer, hitting 190 countries in 111 different languages. 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