Microsoft Rolls Dice Hopes For (Windows) 7 And (IE) 8

After taking a lot of flak for Windows Vista, Microsoft has recently released beta versions of two of its most popular products–Windows and Internet Explorer–in an attempt to recover lost ground.

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IE 8 is equally impressive in terms of features and functions, but is likely to face an uphill task in the face of competition from the likes of Opera, Firefox, Safari and now, Google’s Chrome, all of which update versions far more frequently than Microsoft does. Our brief look at IE 8 showed it to be a capable browser, if a trifle too stacked with features, resulting in making it less than intuitive to use. But it allows you to do pretty much everything that every other browser lets you do, from smoothly accessing your favourites to easy bookmarking. And there are some features that others do not have, such as Accelerators (which let you get stacks of information without having to key in URLs) and Web Slices (that allow you to get regular updates from specific sites without your having to go to them). Also, the fact that it will come bundled with Windows 7 (no, we have no intention of stirring up that controversy here) means that it will have a fair degree of popularity among users, who will use it as their default Internet browsing option.

But the real challenge for Microsoft will be to convince users to move up not just from Vista but from XP. How it does this is going to be interesting. We are sure the overall approach will be a lot more subtle than Steve Ballmer’s warning that users expect the latest operating systems in their work environment, and might be dissatisfied if asked to work on older systems (see ‘They Said IT’ on Page 12). Whatever happens, 2009 is going to be an interesting year for Microsoft, with the company also readying a new version of its Windows Mobile OS, version 6.5. Will these products get the Redmond giant back on track? Or will they accelerate its (perceived, we hasten to add) decline? Stay tuned…