Windows RT is a mess, and Microsoft now admits it.
The company's head of hardware, Julie Larson-Green, sat down at the UBS Technology Summit last week (via wmpoweruser) and pretty much admitted that Windows RT was a total disaster.
One of the core problems with Windows RT, I've been saying for a while, is the name. It looks like Windows 8, acts like Windows 8 and sounds like Windows 8, but doesn't run all of the Windows 8 apps. That makes for a confusing, disappointing consumer experience for people who see the Windows name and logo, and expect Windows.
"I think we didn't explain that super-well. I think we didn't differentiate the devices well enough. They looked similar. Using them is similar. It just didn't do everything that you expected Windows to do. So there's been a lot of talk about it should have been a rebranding. We should not have called it Windows," she said.
Larson-Green made a good argument for why you might want a more simplified, controlled Windows experience, but you have to differentiate the platforms. Microsoft just didn't do that with RT. It is doing it with Windows Phone, though, and as Windows Phone trends larger on devices like the Nokia 1520, Windows RT becomes less and less relevant.
"We have the Windows Phone OS. We have Windows RT and we have full Windows. We're not going to have three," Larson-Green said.
The Surface is clearly a transitional product in a lot of ways. Take its emphasis on the keyboard and mouse, for instance. That's pretty retro. Larson-Green started talking about sensors, Kinect, and "natural user interface" as the next step. A lot of thinkers in the industry are working on these ideas - gesture interfaces were a big deal for TI before it decided to retire its OMAP chip line - and a tablet with a truly new way of interacting would better be able to avoid the Surface's "it's a PC, but not a PC" curse.
"Just as the mouse was an invention, touch was an invention, there will be the next new way to interact. And that's why we've been focusing on natural user interface for a while, working on that," she said.
Windows Phone started out with very limited APIs, but there's no reason Windows Phone 9 can't absorb all of the Windows RT app library. Both OSes use the same kernel and similar UI conventions. Windows Phone 8 brought in native code support, but Microsoft now needs to fully merge the Windows Phone and RT development frameworks. At the very least, let's see a port of Microsoft Office RT to the Windows Phone platform. That would be a huge boost for devices like the 1520.
This has been rumored to be Microsoft's game plan for months, but now I think we can consider it solid. The big question is how fast Microsoft can move. The Surface was struggling in sales, and Intel-powered Bay Trail tablets like the Asus T100, running "real" Windows, are going to throw the final shovel of dirt onto its coffin.
A Windows Phone-RT merger announcement at Mobile World Congress 2014 would be absurdly fast in "Microsoft Time," but it would really electrify Microsoft's world. With these moves, the company would sound bold and streamlined, and it would be clear that "One Microsoft" is really in effect. I know big things are planned for that show, in late February. Let's hope I'm not dreaming too big.