Experts warn about Microsoft’s Windows strategy

Analysts have raised concerns that Microsoft’s determination to push Windows for tablet devices could hold them back in the tablet market.

These concerns have been voiced days after news that Windows 8 tablet devices were likely to be released by the third quarter of 2011, a move that has seen some accuse Microsoft of not acting quickly enough.

Writing for E-Week Europe, Nicholas Kolakowski talked about how Microsoft are simply not recognising how quickly the tablet market is expanding and run the risk of being left behind.

Kolakowski cited the “limited run” of Dell’s Windows 7 devices and a complete omission of tablets from Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer’s keynote speech at CES in January as evidence of the company’s blasé attitude towards the increasingly prevalent market;

“Windows has earned Microsoft untold billions of dollars over the past few decades, but Redmond’s seeming determination to port Windows onto tablets seems like a recipe for disaster,” Kolakowski wrote. “Trying to graft that user interface – built for larger screens, physical keyboards and mice – onto a tablet is the tech-world equivalent of trying to make an elephant ride a unicycle. That’s not what it’s meant for, and nobody ends up happy.”

After such a damning critique of Microsoft’s tablet strategy, the onus is well and truly on Microsoft not to get left behind in the tablet race. Windows 8 could be the deciding factor, but will it come soon enough?

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