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Technology

icrosoft is quietly reinventing itself. Just over the past year, the company has launched a slew

of products and services, with more to come in the near future. The common theme running through these products is the new design language recently rechristened “Modern UI” (formerly Metro).

The new design continues to be uniformly implemented across Microsoft’s myriad of hardware and

software product lines. This is no flash in the pan. To prove their dedication to a cleaner simpler approach, Microsoft has even changed its logo for the first time in 25 years.

While many may see this as just a branding exercise, the extension of a common design language across all its products enables users to switch between Microsoft’s hardware and software products, while still feeling they are on familiar ground. The company realizes that if it is to gain a significant share in new markets,

it can only do so by using its already successful products as a springboard. Lately, Microsoft has been making a serious effort to compete in the hardware, software, mobile and web services industry. The transition into these new areas has not been easy for a company of Microsoft’s size and culture.

Many industry analysts make the mistake of comparing Microsoft’s new offerings on a one-to-one basis with its already established competitors. This sort of analysis is myopic because A

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Why design, innovate and leverage is Microsoft’s new mantra

January 2013 GlobeAsia 95

By Jason Fernandes

while this is an accurate snapshot of the present, it does not take into account the long-term perspective.

Microsoft’s ultimate goals do not require it to build products that are individually competitive in their respective space. What Microsoft is trying to achieve is a visually coherent and expansive ecosystem spanning all its products. The hope is that each will work so well with the others that people will choose Microsoft simply because it’s the path of least resistance and they are already familiar with the brand’s aesthetic.

The new unified design is a key component of this strategy as it helps Microsoft leverage its absolute dominance in the desktop and game console market, and parlay that success into its other properties. With very capable products in almost every field and an ample bank balance, Microsoft looks like it is well on the road to success. Microsoft’s desktop dominance Windows 8 is the most visible and controversial part of this new unified strategy. Its interface is both visually appealing and coherent with the company’s major online properties.

Microsoft’s Live Tile interface allows access to information at a glance with very little interaction and almost no learning curve. The main criticism of Windows 8 is that many of its users feel like they are using two completely different operating systems.

The fact is Microsoft’s new “Windows 8 UI” doesn’t quite play well with the standard view of the OS most people are familiar with. The majority of users choose Windows because of familiarity and these users don’t take kindly to jarring unfamiliar changes.

While this may be a valid criticism, it creates a potential no-win situation for Microsoft because by that standard

they should never innovate. If they were to stay stagnant, on the other hand, people would complain that Windows 8 was merely incremental.

In order to counter this criticism, Microsoft has tried to both innovate and stay familiar at the same time. It has given users the option to disable the new look and go back to the standard interface if that’s what they prefer. This allows Microsoft to compete with Apple on design and simplicity for novices while allowing power users to get their hands dirty should they choose to do so.

Microsoft’s other blockbuster property, Office, is expected to receive a design facelift with the upcoming 2013 edition sporting the new Modern interface. Office has dominated the

word processing industry for years and with the release of the subscription-based Office 365 last year, things are only getting better.

Microsoft has again used its market acceptance in the word processing industry to push its enterprise-focused web apps. According to TheVerge.com, sources close to Microsoft have revealed that Microsoft Office apps for Android and iOS are slated to be released in early 2013. To further the strategy, it is expected that viewing documents will be free but editing them will require an Office 365 subscription. Mobile offerings While Android and iOS have to wait for their versions of Office, the new Microsoft tablet “Surface RT” has

Office built in. Since many enterprise customers are reluctant to use the Office substitute apps that have cropped up, Office alone could well make Surface the preferred tablet for enterprise customers.

The tablet runs a stripped-down version of the new OS titled Windows 8 RT. Microsoft is unique in its ability to use its desktop OS and word processing suite to sell tablets. Anybody who has used ChromeOS or Google Docs for any extended period of time knows that Google’s products in this space are nowhere near competitive with Microsoft’s.

While observers have rightly pointed out that the tablet market is terribly crowded, there is no company that can provide the kind of synergy

that Microsoft can bring to the table. By far the greatest criticism of the

Surface RT is its lack of a significant App ecosystem. Many point out that several popular apps including Facebook are currently unavailable on Windows 8. Again these criticisms fail to take into consideration that when the iPhone and the Android app market first started they both lacked widespread support from developers.

Once the Surface moves to retail stores and becomes more accessible and widely adopted, there will be a greater incentive for developers to focus on Windows 8. Certainly in time the Windows 8 app store will include if not exceed the content available in other stores.

The app criticism is completely muted however, when one considers

The company realizes that if it is to gain a significant share in new markets, it can only do so by using its already successful products as a springboard.

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the soon-to-be released Surface Pro. The Surface Pro is slated to run a full-featured version of Windows 8. A cursory glance at its specifications reveals its hardware is more comparable to an Ultrabook than a tablet.

While many expected that there would eventually be an overlap between mobile and desktop OS’s, most expected that it would be Apple which finally made an iPad that ran a full-blown OS.

The fact that users will have the ability to launch legacy desktop software from within the Surface is just completely revolutionary. Once more, Microsoft is able to tap into its desktop strengths and extend them into the tablet space.

Microsoft’s new modern design aesthetic is also a core component of its Windows Phone software. The new Mobile OS features the same Live Tile interface common to Microsoft Surface and Windows 8.

The increased focus on design appears to be working. While Windows Phone currently ranks a distant fourth in the smartphone market, research firm IDC has predicted a growth of 8.8% in its market share just over the next four years. Interestingly, over half this growth is expected to come at the expense of Android.

Microsoft’s acquisition and subsequent integration of Skype into Windows Phone could also be a game changer. While Skype already featured somewhat in its earlier release, Windows Phone 8 completely integrates Skype and its calling features into the dialer itself. Skype’s massive user base along with a very capable mobile offering from Microsoft will surely be a compelling combination. Lately HTC also appears to be sidling up to Microsoft. Its two newest smartphones, the 8X and 8S, both run

Windows Phone 8. Certainly Microsoft has a long road ahead of it if it is to compete with the established players in the smartphone industry, but the numbers from IDC and the recent deal with HTC suggest that it’s on the right track.

Unified design for online services, hardware Microsoft has taken pains to ensure that its online properties also integrate visually with the software and hardware. In the past few months Microsoft has revamped its web services - Bing, Outlook and SkyDrive - to sport the same design experience as the new Windows mobile and desktop products.

While Outlook’s features do seem somewhat limited when compared to Gmail, its SkyDrive and Facebook integration make for a very attractive service. These products are well made and provide a more unified experience than users are accustomed to.

Microsoft has also just launched a new social network - So.cl (pronounced Social). It’s too soon to know what Microsoft’s goal is in entering this arena, but the fact that one can login to So.cl using a Facebook account seems to indicate that Microsoft views So.cl as an enhancement rather than a competitor to Facebook. It will be interesting to watch what Microsoft makes of So.cl and the role its new

design language will play in its overall strategy.

An often overlooked component in Microsoft’s long-term goals is the enormously successful gaming console, the Xbox. The Xbox 360 has been the highest-selling console for 23 consecutive months running now, moving over 1.2 million units in November. Its latest update finally brought the interface of the Xbox in line visually with Microsoft’s other products.

Neither Apple nor Google sell game consoles, leaving this market virtually Microsoft’s sole domain. This advantage allows it to push the unified ecosystem to several million young people who are interacting and growing comfortable with a design language that will seem very familiar should those gamers at some point be in the market for a cell phone, tablet or a PC.

Microsoft has finally learnt that design and aesthetics are important. Consumers are no longer happy with something that merely works well or is generously featured. They want a beautiful product.

Microsoft’s new logo and Modern design aesthetic is indicative of its understanding of this new empowered consumer. For the first time in several years Microsoft is building a suite of products that work so well together that people are sitting up and starting to take notice.

Microsoft’s synergy across their product and service universe could well lead many to buy into its ecosystem as a whole simply for the convenience. Microsoft’s competitors would do well to look around, because the sleeping giant has awoken and nobody’s seemed to have noticed.

Jason Fernandes is a tech commentator

and the founder of SmartKlock.

The fact that users will have the ability to launch legacy desktop software from within the Surface is just completely revolutionary.