The Higher Insight
27 Sep 2011
Article first published as The Higher Insight on Technorati.
I’ve been thinking about a recent post by the Windows Engineering Team on upcoming design changes to Windows 8 Explorer. It’s an interesting article, and makes for good reading. The backstory: Windows 8 developers blog about what they’re doing for Windows 8, and you get really interesting insight into what’s going on up in Redmond.
Though I liked the article, something about it bothered me. I’m very pro-Apple, and passionately for user-experience. I was bothered by something that went beyond my bias, it took me a while to be able to articulate it. Most Mac/Windows arguments are emotional. I’m going to put words to that emotion.
The justification for the new ribbon on Windows Explorer is scientific. They claim that “the commands that make up 84% of what [people] do in Explorer are now all available on this one tab.”
Microsoft is missing the higher insight on this one, an insight that Apple gets.
The trends in mobile, begun with the iPhone/iOS, have led people to have an intimate relationship with their devices.
A more intimate relationship with technology. This is the higher insight. Intimacy, not which part of the window they’re clicking in, guides the user experience.
With OS X Lion and upcoming iOS 5, we’re seeing Apple merge these two environments and bring this intimacy to the desktop.
Microsoft is building a better Windows Explorer, no doubt. Most likely, way better than the frustrating Finder on the Mac. But, that’s not what matters. Watch the way people relate to their iOS devices, and understand what we crave from technology. Not a better Windows Explorer. We crave a better technology experience so that we can get things done and forget that we’re using a computer.
Apples vs. Oranges
Once I made this connection to the higher insight, I realized something else.
We can compare Microsoft to RIM.
Desktop to mobile device.
Justification to justification.
I remember RIM’s justifications when the iPhone first came out. Their target demographic were serious business people who needed keyboards. Their target demographic needed security. Their target demographic needed enterprise management tools.
They gave us a utilitarian argument.
Computing is no longer utility. As information workers, our computers are the tools of our trade. They’ve become part of our persona, how we interact with our jobs and with each other.
Guess what? RIM has not only been crushed by Apple, but RIM no longer has such confidence in their demographic. In fact, RIM have just released a social music service. I wonder how they justify that feature with their boardroom demographic?
RIM clearly had an enterprise class offering, an established user base, and a dedicated following. None of which mattered in the end.
Obviously, RIM hasn’t been around nearly as long as Microsoft. RIM’s roots into the enterprise might be wide, but they’re not deep (as compared to Microsoft).
Displacing Microsoft, and all the custom apps and administrative tools written to it is a whole other story. Never-the-less, I can’t help but think about how unlikely it seemed that Apple would crack open RIM in the enterprise, especially considering how quickly it did so.
If Microsoft continues with their utilitarian approach to computing, it will take time but they’ll suffer the same result as RIM in the end.
