It's worth pointing out that we've still no
concrete idea what the exact form of Windows 8 will appear in October, but some
aspects like the app store we can be confident will be included.
Gabe
Newell, co-founder and managing director of Valve said: “Windows 8 is a
catastrophe for everyone in the PC space”
And once it became apparent what Microsoft
planned, it wasn't long before some software developers were quick to make
their feelings known. One of the first was Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing
director of Valve, when speaking at a video game conference in Seattle:
"Windows 8 is a catastrophe for
everyone in the PC space." That's a pretty sweeping statement, but Gabe
expanded on his hypothesis thus: "I think we'll lose some of the top-tier
PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a
bunch of people. If that's true, then it will be good to have alternatives to
hedge against that eventuality."
The particular hedge he was referring to is
Linux, as Valve had announced any days before this comment that it would be
bringing its massively popular title Left 4 Dead 2 to Ubuntu.
Given how the App Store could potentially
damage the Valve's Steam business model, this sort of dissent was probably to
be expected. But, Gabe was previously a Microsoft employee, and he's happy to
accept that Valve wouldn't exist without the open and flexible nature of the
current PC platform.
“What’s at the heart of all this is pure
commercial envy of what Apple has managed to achieve with its own Called
garden’ model”
He can also see the strong advantages of
closing Windows to increase profits from Microsoft's perspective, though he
argues it's not good for competition or consumers.
Once one developer decided it was time to
call the Windows 8 game as he saw it, others rapidly joined the discussion.
Blizzard's Rob Pardo, the man who designed StarCraft among other things, waded
in by re -Tweeting his comments and making one of his own. "Nice interview
with Gabe Newell - 'I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC
space' - not awesome for Blizzard either."
That was rapidly followed by Markus Persson
(aka Notch), creator of Minecraft, who blogged, "I hope we can keep a lot
of open and free platforms around. If Microsoft decides to lock down Windows 8,
it would be very, very bad for Indie games and competition in general."
What's interesting is that we've yet to
hear anything negative coming out from the wider application development
sector. I'm slightly amazed that Adobe for one hasn't made its thoughts
apparent, but then perhaps it is under the impression that Windows 8 will be
business as usual.
The Counter Arguments
There is another side to every viewpoint,
and Microsoft will be honing its own well ahead of the Windows 8 launch. There
are a number of tactical directions that can be taken with this, beyond the
rather obvious 'Windows is ours, we can do what we want' line.
Microsoft will probably run out the ones
Apple usually relies on, regarding maintaining the quality of software,
security, protecting children from 'bad people', and creating a 'better user
experience'.
It might also allude to change being a good
thing, even if it doesn't get it right at the first attempt. Without change
we'd all still be using DOS, and the only place to get stunning video game
visuals would be in an Amusement Arcade.
Yet as a commercial organization
Microsoft's foremost responsibility is to its shareholders, who expect the
company to grow and make them some money. And it's identified a means to do
this. What it hasn't factored in, because it's impossible to calculate, is the
downstream impact of these changes on the PC ecosystem - one that's been
showing signs of strain lately.
Microsoft
has succeeded for many years in market where most of the people it did business
with, and even the buying public, didn't much care for them
If Microsoft gets this right the PC will
become born again, seeing off Apple's attempts to turn computers into
appliances, and ushering in a new era of micro-payment based software
development. If it’s rather miscalculated, it'll bury Windows as the flexible
platform of choice, and will probably go down with it.
The 'plan B' in this scheme seems to be
that if Windows gaming is killed off, that at least Microsoft can harvest some
of the residual gamers and developers through the Xbox product line - although
that does assume they don't all head to Sony in reaction to how Microsoft has
mistreated them.
Microsoft has succeeded for many years in
market where most of the people it did business with, and even the buying
public, didn't much care for them. Yet it's still here, and still important in
so many tech sectors. As a company it has remarkably hard skin, and frankly
doesn't care if people hate it, as long as they keep buying Microsoft products.
The backlash against where Windows is heading is something they'll expect, as
yet another storm the company will confidently ride out.
