Rumors of Windows 9 Release: Microsoft’s Next Gamble

Last year, ZDNet reported that adoption of Windows 8 has been slow. Most experts blamed this on the fact that the interface of the new generation of the operating system was such a large departure from its predecessors that consumers found it difficult to navigate. The launch of Windows 8.1, which was supposed to return the operating system to some of its interface roots, has not repaired the problem, at least based on the lack of acceleration of sales. Windows 8 was supposed to be something like Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) popular iOS. Microsoft botched creating a strong imitation of Apple’s software.

Microsoft took the one option it had when it released Windows 8.1. It tried to upgrade the world’s most widely used operating system by taking a half measure. Microsoft had no choice. Rebuilding — or perhaps better stated, building — an entirely new version of Windows requires months of programming, if not a year or more. Microsoft cannot buy that sort of time, no matter how much it spends on programmers. Window 8.1 will have to be a stop-gap, as Microsoft hopes to build a successor that will make consumers happier.

However, what has become clear to analysts, and most users of Windows, is that Windows 9 might be the best version of the software ever released, as far as end users are concerned. However, even a brilliant release will come well after the downturn in the PC industry has gathered speed. Windows has not been a winner on the new generation of devices — smartphones and tablets. Incumbent systems, primarily Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android and Apple’s iOS, have built what business school professors like to call a “wide moat.” Windows is too far behind in adoption to bridge it. No matter how fast Microsoft can run Window 9 to market.