Microsoft is facing a “three-year social media backlash” against its new Windows upgrade – Windows 8 – which launches tomorrow with a marketing spend of more than $1.5bn (£939m).
According to research carried out by one of Europe’s largest experience design specialists, Foolproof, even the most experienced user will have to go through a huge pain barrier to get to grips with the new software.
One participant in the study said: “I feel like a baby again. I can’t do anything, not even my very simple list of things like launch Internet Explorer, type in the address, open something in a tab and go to that tab and read it.”
Foolproof senior practitioner John Waterworth commented: “Even assuming it takes the average user a – highly-conservative – couple of hours to come to terms with the changes, this would imply the loss of more than 300,000 man-years of productivity worldwide.
“When Microsoft last implemented such radical changes to Windows, way back in 1995, we were still years away from the emergence of mass social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
“Microsoft will therefore need very broad shoulders to weather the likely backlash from consumers on social media, which we believe could last as long as 2 to 3 years.”
Meanwhile Robert Rutherford, founder and managing director of QuoStar Solutions, claims businesses will not gain much from the upgrade.
He added: “Windows 8 is all new, not so much at the core, but in terms of user experience it’s different, completely different. There lies the biggest issue. Many will remember the pain of moving to Microsoft Office 2007: the change was vast and caused a raft of training and productivity issues.
“In general, people don’t like change. The rule of thumb will be, stick with Windows 7 if you are already there – no matter what size of business. If you are using tablets (or want to use more tablets) then you may want to try Windows 8, but still leave the rest of your PC estate on Windows 7.
“Hardware compatibility has been drastically improved on the new version so when the time comes to switch, virtually any PC or laptop that will run Windows 7 will also run Windows 8. In the meantime it’s a solid platform and you don’t need to move; I’d still keep buying PC’s and laptops with Windows 7 for at least the next 18 months to two years while they iron out the bugs.”
