Microsoft Windows 8.1 Preview Release

Microsoft finally conceded, adding the Start button in the improved version of the new operating system, Windows 8.1. Faced with the changes in the Times, the market competition intensified, the global desktop software giant now has gradually changed the attitude of the ground to listen to the market response, to accept the views of partners. This is a positive sign for Microsoft.

Post-PC era has come, smartphones and tablets have gradually become consumers of the main computing equipment and network portal, but also a severe impact on the traditional PC market sales. While Microsoft has no control over the desktop, it controls more than 90% of the operating system's market share, but in the new Mobile world, Microsoft has had a lackluster performance.

Last year's release of Windows 8 (Win 8), which was Microsoft's rallying order to move into the mobile world, was the biggest bet since the advent of the Windows operating system, the most controversial of which was the start of buttons and the disappearance of menus. To introduce desktop dominance into the tablet arena, Win 8 has an imaginative blend of two distinct user interfaces, the desktop and the tablet, in an attempt to gradually change user habits.

Win 8 is a touch-focused operating system and represents Microsoft's vision for future computing devices. But for traditional PC users who are not touch-control devices, they don't pay for this change. If it wasn't for the new touch-screen device, Win 7 users didn't seem to have much power to upgrade the system.

In the win 8 system, the boot will be the default into the flat-style interface. Because of the cancellation of the Start menu and buttons, users can not easily access the software and settings, and many software, including office, Microsoft's own software, is still designed for desktop mode, has not yet or inadequate for touch optimization.

Perhaps Microsoft is too eager to make a breakthrough in the mobile field, in the case of touch devices have not yet become popular, the Win 8 attempt to forcibly change the behavior of the user's habit has been a strong consumer criticism, but to restore the Start button and the menu of Third-party Software brings a thriving business opportunities. Since the release of the win 8, the 5-dollar start 8 software downloads more than 5 million times, and the function of the software is to recreate the Start menu and the Start button in Win 8.

Although win 8.1 is only recovering from the Start button and does not fully return to the Start menu, users can use a variety of software and functionality settings more easily by redesigning the list of software. In addition, traditional PC users can also choose to start directly into the desktop, no longer forced to accept the flat interface without practical significance.

What prompted Microsoft to make a difference is the criticism and protest of consumers, but more severe industry pressure and the pressure exerted by hardware partners. While win 8 's authorized sales have broken through 100 million (including equipment pre-installed by manufacturers but not yet sold), PC shipments in the first quarter of this year fell 13.1% per cent year-on-year, the worst performance since IDC began recording data. It seems that win 8 has not effectively stimulated market demand, but it has exacerbated the PC market downward trend.

The form of the future is even more brutal. IDC expects PC shipments to fall by 8% this year, down from a forecast of 1% per cent, while tablet sales are expected to overtake laptops for the first time this year. Gartner, for its part, expects a 10.6% drop in traditional PC shipments this year, totaling 305 million. If you include ultra-polar mobile computing Devices (ultramobile), this market will also have a 7.3% decline in shipments this year. Meanwhile, Tablet PCs will grow by 68% to 2.02.

Even if the traditional PC recession is a difficult trend to reverse, many OEMs are also grumbling about the leap-forward hybrid model of Microsoft win 8. Wong, Acer's chief executive, said that while the touch brought more possibilities, the next five years would not sweep the globe and must focus on areas that did not need it. The implication is that Win 8 is too advanced and steps too far.

To speed and not reach, the past year's progress is unfavorable, especially win RT's bitter defeat, but also let Microsoft began to have a strong sense of crisis. Microsoft is now more than ever required to support partners, especially when many hardware vendors across Microsoft and Google platform. To get support from hardware vendors, Microsoft has announced a reduction in the licensing fees for the win 8 tablet.

Microsoft has built a win RT flat system based on ARM architecture, which is meant to rival Google and Apple in the low-end tablet sector. But it is clear that Microsoft does not have the strength to create a new platform, the surface for the representative of the win RT sales can only be described as miserable. According to IDC, the first quarter of this year, the win RT tablet in the global sales of only 200,000, the market share of only 0.4%. In the face of bleak sales, Samsung, HTC and other manufacturers have withdrawn the win RT flat follow-up research and development.

The Win 8 tablet has become Microsoft's biggest hope in the tablet world. Universal Win 8 Core, shared desktop applications, common operating experience, is the win 8 plate expansion market advantage. According to IDC, this year's Intel-chip win 8 tablet sales are expected to reach 10 million units. From the many new products presented by the build Convention, Lenovo, Asus, HP and other hardware manufacturers still have confidence in this area.

The recent sharp shift in Microsoft's attitude toward the Xbox One of the new entertainment terminals suggests that Microsoft's traditional mindset is changing. When Microsoft first released its Xbox One, it had asked for daily online validation and strict restrictions on the use of second-hand games. But in a fierce backlash from the media and users, Microsoft soon announced the lifting of the restrictions under the competitive pressure of Sony PS 4.

Perhaps Acer's chairman, Wang, can best represent the feelings of the industry. ' Microsoft's intention to make changes is good news for the PC industry, ' he said. "If they (Microsoft) used to live in heaven, they would now come to Earth and begin to understand the ideas of ordinary people," he said. ”