Indians may adopt wait-and-watch policy in first year, say analysts.
Microsoft will launch Windows 10 operating system - one of its most ambitious upgrades ever - on Wednesday.
This will not only be the last ‘version upgrade’ from Microsoft, Windows will also become Windows-as-a-service segment.
In India, analysts say although it will be a huge game changer for Microsoft, users in the enterprise segment will prefer to wait and watch and consumers will wait for more clarity on pricing after the first year of free use.
Microsoft has said it will offer a free upgrade to Windows 10 for qualified new and existing Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 devices that upgrade in the first year.
Once a qualified Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, it will continue to keep it up-to-date for the supported lifetime of the device, and introducing new features and functionality over time - for no additional charge.
“Whenever there is a new Windows version upgrade made available, it is the consumers who have embraced it first. This time, too, things look the same, especially with Windows 10 to be available for a free upgrade for the first year. For enterprise, the wait period will be at least six months to a year before the refresh cycle begins,” said Kiran Kumar, research manager at IDC India. However, Kumar feels ambiguity still exists regarding Win10 around new features and ease of upgrades. It is still not on the top three or four tech priorities of users. “The level of excitement is definitely not high among enterprises,” he added.
Agrees Vishal Tripathi, principal analyst at Gartner. “At the enterprise level, adoption would vary. Early adopters of Windows 7 might migrate to Windows 10 if they will have some compelling business reasons. As the cost of the OS (operating system) is not the only concern for organisations - it’s also about security, compatibility and manageability - so many of them will adopt a wait-and-watch strategy,” said Tripathi.
From an enterprise point of view, the glitches are in the form of Win7 and Win8. It was only in April 2014 that Microsoft ended support to XP systems - one of the most common and popular OS used by several Indian organisations. With no other option than to upgrade, many chose Windows 7 OS.
Analysts are hence vary that since several enterprises would have migrated to a new OS only recently, moving to Windows 10 will be delayed.
The success of Windows 10 is crucial for Microsoft as users have given Win8 a miss. Users and developers had hoped that Windows 8 would be future ready, but the OS was too complicated for users to learn and it wasn’t intuitive.
It disappointed the ‘mouse and keyboard’ users as it was primarily designed for non-personal computer (PC) platforms.
As for consumers, those who will buy new laptops or Windows smartphone will get Windows 10. For those who are using older version, the first year would be free.
“Since Windows 10 will be downloaded from cloud, internet speeds will be crucial. Despite shrinking the disk footprint, it would still mean a few hours of download in India. So how does Microsoft handle this will be crucial?” asked Kumar.
Windows 10 is not just a version upgrade that Microsoft does. Windows 10 will be a single OS across multiple device platform.
Though this brings its own challenges like how apps will transfer from one type of device to another! Microsoft’s answer in Win10 is called Universal Apps. They are promising a wide range of apps that will be seamless on phones, small tablets, and PCs. It is also crucial for Micrososft as Windows 8 has not been adopted well.
Users and developers had hoped that Windows 8 would be future ready but the OS was too complicated for users to learn and it wasn't intuitive. It Disappointed the 'mouse and keyboard' users as it was primarily designed for non-PC platforms. Win10, it seems, will change this.
Other than features like Cortana, a voice assistant, gaming, single cloud based data access among others, Windows 10 also has huge significance for Microsoft.
“With Windows 10 Microsoft is bringing new generation of computing that brings a new user experience (UX) across multiple device types. Microsoft is hoping that users will see the Windows experience as connected, cross-device and personal. By focusing on fundamental operations, creating consistent interfaces and improving security, Microsoft hopes to restore a sense of trust in Windows for consumers,” added Tripathi.
Regarding pricing, a lot of ambiguity exists on how the company will bridge the gap between tablet pricing in a country like India.
“The PC market is also hoping that Win10 will up the sales, but how much would Win10 arrest the shift to portable devices needs to be seen. As for tablet, in India, it is the Rs 6,000-9,000 range that sells the most. How will Win10 bridge that?” asked an analyst who did not wish to be named.
More importantly, Win10 could put an end to the perennial problem of piracy for the Redmond-based company.
Why it makes sense to upgrade
- Cortana: Microsoft’s digital assistant makes her debut on the desktop
- Start menu: Taking the best of Windows 7 and Windows 8, it now features both the list of frequently used programs and the tiles interface. The shutdown button is back on the Start menu
- Continuum: Basically, if you’re running Windows 10 on a hybrid device, the OS can automatically detect when it’s being used in desktop mode and when in tablet mode
- Gaming: Windows 10 will allow Xbox One games to be streamed to the PC over home Wi-Fi. Also, Microsoft has promised the rollout of DirectX 12 (a graphics protocol), which will apparently halve the power consumption of the preceding version
- Apps for all platforms: If you’re invested heavily in the Windows ecosystem, you can use the same apps across multiple devices and since all your work will be saved on OneDrive, you can start something on one device and seamlessly move to the other one
