Microsoft's ambitious
Windows 8 gamble may have launched this past October, but it's 2013 that will make or break the new operating system. I have five recommendations that Microsoft should implement sooner rather than later to keep Windows 8 from going the way of Vista.
Make the case for Windows RT
"That's right, it filets, it chops, it dices, slices, never stops, lasts a lifetime, mows your lawn, and it mows your lawn and it picks up the kids from school..." --Tom Waits, "Step Right Up"
Waits wasn't talking about Windows RT when he wrote and recorded "Step Right Up" in the mid-'80s, but he could've been. Microsoft wants the
tablets that run the OS to be unifying devices that are portable like a tablet but powerful enough for the heavy lifting of
Microsoft Office. Claiming that the OS can step up to that challenge, and actually proving that it can, are not the same thing.
Here's the problem with Windows RT: Even after writing
CNET's FAQ on Windows RT, I still have problems clearly explaining what it is and why people should want it. It's "Windows 8 Lite," but it's so much more complex than that. Sure, the Surface is a nice piece of hardware, but besides its utility as a
tablet-and-skateboard combo it's a hard sell.
