Here’s What Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Needs For Windows 10 To Succeed

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) needs to do three things with Windows 10 in order for the next-generation operating system from the tech giant to succeed, PCWorld’s Scott M. Fulton III writes.

The opinion piece from Fulton comes as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is readying to unveil Windows 10 on Wednesday.

According to Fulton, the Windows 10 usage model needs to be familiar and new at the same time, Windows 10 should be a service that bridges individual devices and that the ideal of Windows needs to be a cause that everyday people can support.

As for the first point, Fulton reminds his readers of just how polarizing Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Windows 8 has become. Essentially, in its drive to make an operating system that can both run on desktops and mobile devices, the technology giant alienated its loyal customers with a user experience that’s very different from past Windows versions.

Microsoft still believes that it needs just Windows for both mobile and non-mobile devices. So how can the Windows-maker do what Fulton suggests? He takes note of Facebook’s usage model that drives the user experience for its platform using different devices.

This is also how Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) can bridge several devices and not have Windows do the opposite. In order for Microsoft to pull this off, people need to see Windows as a service, he said. In essence, Fulton is advocating that Microsoft debut a subscription model wherein users can access the same experience on Windows for all their devices.

When it comes down to it, however, Microsoft doesn’t just need Windows 10 to appease its old users and make new users feel like they have the same experience across multiple devices. According to Fulton’s editorial, Microsoft needs to find a way to portray that Windows is a cause, much larger than just being an operating system.

“The last ideal that Microsoft attempted to articulate for its base was, I am a PC. Thats exactly the wrong cause for the mobile era. While CEO Nadella has cast Microsoft in the new role of a “platform and productivity company,” the ideal people will rally behind is not a vision for Microsoft but rather a vision for society. It won’t be a product goal, like great user experiences, but a vision of work being done and life being lived,” Fulton writes.

Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management owned about 56.46 million Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares by the end of the third quarter of 2014.