Ahead on it’s time?
Although Apple made the real hype, I believe we need to give credits to someone that on November 7, 2002 in New York City showed of a new way to interact with very based Windows XP O.S.
Using a pen/stylus for input instead of a traditional keyboard and mouse was shakeup to the market at that time.
Also at that time, the man which this article is about made a statement: “This is big. Don’t doubt me!”.
Well…at this time we can surely say that he was right, but the implementation was really wrong.
With an operating system or an UI that clearly wasn’t adequate to input with a pen, the hardware high prices and a lot of other factors made Windows Tablet PC only a market niche worldwide but with Microsoft still believing on other forms to interact with technology. Microsoft Surface it’s one good example, and obviously later with Microsoft Kinect.
With the introduction of Windows 7, a new breathe seemed to be on the horizon with hardware vendors, like HP, creating products designed specially for Windows 7 using touch input.
Again, an user interface that didn’t suit users made everything stand still.
But…Bill Gates was right, definitely looking back, he was completely right!
Then…another Technological Midas made it’s point, showed that Apple was looking to market with eyes wide open and took the crown.
Although Apple’s offers a lot more, if we look to what most users talk about iPad, it’s about the fantastic UI. Here’s where Microsoft failed (also the technology advanced), the user interface that Apple picked up just great and made tablets/slates market, one of the largest in the technology world.
Nowadays Microsoft seams that it learned it’s lesson, reinvented itself and next year Windows 8 will show up everywhere looking to show that there is nothing wrong with admitting their mistakes.
With a real UI designed essentially to tablets, an O.S. that now runs on ARM processors, an huge market share, a very well acceptance of Windows 7 and of course, the big Microsoft’s marketing machine, makes predictable that Windows 8 could have a very nice future.
At the end…not wanting to get credits off Steve ‘God’ Jobs, I believe that Apple really done a fantastic job with a a very nice idea (in a big part a Bill ‘God’ Gates idea) from Microsoft and created a brand new way to interact with the world and made the market grow again.
Let’s see if Microsoft still gets the chance to prove that it still has a word to say on it.
Last words for Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Two personalities that collided for a long time but along the years had defined a lot in the world has we know it.
Although they’re both away from Microsoft and Apple, their legacy is undoubtedly priceless and their vision of the future will still be with us for a long long time.
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