Touch on Every Screen: Windows 8 Ships

There is a launch this week, and the launch is the operating system: Windows 8, on sale worldwide on Friday, the most radical redesign since Windows 95. The launch is the bet, and the bet is the interface: the touch first design with the live tiles, the Start screen that replaced the Start menu. The launch is the answer to the iPad, the belief that touch will come to every screen, the bridge between two worlds. The launch is the week: the Surface, the worried partners, the cautious enterprises, the shrinking PC market. The launch is the October 2012 story, and the story is the lesson: the redesign that bet everything on touch, the lesson that every platform will learn.

Touch on Every Screen is the subject of this article: the launch on Friday, the redesign, the bet on one system for every screen, the Surface, the reviews, the enterprises, and the shrinking PC market.

1. The Launch on Friday

The launch is the news, and the news is the Friday: the twenty sixth of October, the day that Windows 8 went on sale worldwide, the most radical redesign of Windows since Windows 95. The launch is the scale: the new edition that touched every corner of the personal computer world, the moment that the industry had watched for months. The launch is the shelf: the two editions of Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro, the Windows RT for ARM devices, the new Windows Store, the limited time upgrade price of $39.99 that Microsoft offered to draw the world in.

The launch is the mood, and the mood is the moment: the reviews that landed with the release, the critics who praised the ambition, the caution that came with the praise, the week that would measure the bet. The launch is the company: Microsoft, the maker of the operating system that defined the desktop, the giant that rebuilt its own crown in public, the firm that answered the iPad with a new Windows. The launch is the story: the touch first interface, the live tiles, the Start screen, the desktop without a visible Start button, the redesign that will be judged.

2. The Redesign

The redesign is the interface, and the interface is the touch: the touch first design that replaces the mouse world, the live tiles that move and update, the Start screen that took the place of the Start menu. The redesign is the removal: the Start button that vanished from the desktop, the menu that had opened every program for seventeen years, the familiar corner that users will search for on Friday. The redesign is the store: the new Windows Store, the apps that come from it, the single door that Microsoft built for the new software, the marketplace that every touch screen will share.

The redesign is the risk, and the risk is the familiar: the desktop that billions of people knew, the mouse and keyboard that trained a generation, the habits that no redesign can delete in a single day. The redesign is the split: the two interfaces inside one system, the tiles and the desktop, the two app worlds that critics already named this week. The redesign is the radical: the most radical redesign of Windows since Windows 95, the leap that Microsoft took on Friday with the whole industry watching closely, the interface that will decide whether the leap was wise.

3. The Bet

The bet is the operating system, and the operating system is the bridge: one Windows for PCs, for tablets, and for everything in between, the single code base that Microsoft laid across every screen. The bet is the answer: the answer to the iPad that defined the tablet in 2010, the answer to Google's Android, the counter that the desktop giant finally built. The bet is the belief: the belief that touch will come to every screen, that the finger will replace the mouse, that the old desktop world and the new touch world of computing can be one world.

The bet is the timing, and the timing is the moment: the tablet that took the world in 2010, the Android that filled the shelves, the PC that the market called dying, the moment that Microsoft picked for the biggest gamble in its desktop history. The bet is the bridge: the bridge between the desktop world that Windows built and the touch world that Apple opened, the bridge that must hold two interfaces and two app worlds. The bet is the whole: the operating system for PCs, tablets, and everything in between, the promise that one Windows can rule them all.

4. The Surface

The Surface is the machine, and the machine is Microsoft's: the first computer the software giant ever made itself, the tablet that carried the Windows name, the hardware that sat on the shelf beside the software on Friday. The Surface is the version: the Surface RT, the ARM version, the machine for the touch world, the tablet that came with Office, the answer to the iPad in Microsoft's own hands. The Surface is the price: the starting price of $499 that put it beside the tablets of the moment, the price that the press compared all week and the buyers weighed all weekend.

The Surface is the statement, and the statement is the shift: the software giant that became a hardware maker, the partner that stepped onto the partners' floor, the company that competes with the very firms it sells its software to. The Surface is the worry: the anger and the worry of the PC makers, the Dell, the HP, the Lenovo, the partners who saw their own future in Microsoft's hands. The Surface is the debate: the Microsoft becomes a hardware company debate, the question that the tablet asked of the industry, the question that will not close with the week.

5. The Partners

The partners are the ecosystem, and the ecosystem is the industry: the Dell, the HP, the Lenovo, the makers who built the Windows machines for decades, the channel that carried Microsoft to every desk. The partners are the reaction: the anger and the worry that the Surface brought, the reports this week of partners who saw it as a threat, the makers who asked whose side Microsoft was on. The partners are the platform: the Windows that lived on other companies' hardware, the ecosystem that Microsoft just entered, the floor where the giant now walks as both landlord and tenant.

The partners are the caution, and the caution is the market: the PC makers who must sell the new Windows, the makers who must fight the new Surface, the shelf that holds the partner's machine and Microsoft's own. The partners are the question: the Microsoft becomes a hardware company question, the debate that the launch forced into the open, the doubt that follows every future release. The partners are the balance: the giant that needs its partners and the giant that now competes with them, the balance that the week laid bare, the balance that Windows 8 will test for years.

6. The Reviews

The reviews are the verdict, and the verdict is the split: the critics who praised the ambition, the critics who noted the split personality, the praise and the caution that arrived with the launch. The reviews are the interfaces: the two interfaces inside one system, the desktop and the tiles, the two app worlds that live side by side, the design that asks users to live in both. The reviews are the word: the ambition that everyone granted, the boldness that no one denied, the question that every review carried, the question of whether the split can ever feel whole.

The reviews are the first week, and the first week is the record: the launch on Friday, the verdicts that followed the same day, the debate that filled the weekend. The reviews are the measure: the touch interface that must be learned, the desktop that feels like home, the app world that is only beginning, the judgment that will change as the months pass. The reviews are the mirror: the ambition that the critics saw, the split that the critics named, the Windows 8 that will be argued over at every dinner table, the debate that the reviews only started.

7. The Enterprise

The enterprise is the customer, and the customer is the cautious: the businesses that run the world on Windows, the offices that upgrade on schedules, the buyers who watched the launch this week with folded arms. The enterprise is the cost: the upgrade costs that budgets must carry, the compatibility that every department must prove, the old software that must run on the new system, the tests that will take months, not days. The enterprise is the wait: the cautious silence from the corporate buyers, the slow decisions that follow every major release, the patience that Microsoft must now match.

The enterprise is the base, and the base is the business: the millions of desks that run Windows, the millions of licenses that pay the bills, the installed world that the redesign must carry along with it. The enterprise is the question: the question of the new interface on a thousand office screens, the question of the touch that most desks do not have, the question of why the office should change at all. The enterprise is the verdict: the verdict that will come in upgrades and renewals, the verdict that the cautious customer will write in the coming years.

8. The Lesson

The lesson is the market, and the market is the shrink: the PC market that is shrinking, the narrative that the PC is dying, the iPad that took the living rooms and laps, the Android that took the rest. The lesson is the clock: the touch that Microsoft says is coming to every screen, the tablets that proved the point before Windows, the race the giant entered on Friday. The lesson is the bridge: the bridge that must hold the old desktop world and the new touch world, the bridge that Windows 8 built, the bridge that every screen will test.

The lesson is the October 2012 story, and the story is the lesson: the launch on Friday, the redesign that removed the Start menu, the bet on one Windows for every screen, the Surface that divided the partners, the reviews that praised and cautioned. The lesson is the change: the touch that will come to every screen or will not, the platform that bet its crown on the future. The launch is the beginning, and the beginning is the question: whether the old world and the new world can be one, the question that Friday asked of the entire industry.

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