Microsoft Knows Best??

Windows RT is Too Confusing for Users

Microsoft CEO was told by the head of Dell's PC business that he should reconsider the name “Windows RT” for the ARM version of Windows 8. The latter explained that since the OS didn’t run traditional Windows software, this name would be too confusing for users. He warned Microsoft not to use the Windows brand name on RT, because it was designed to run on ARM-based tablets: Windows RT runs only Windows Store, or Metro, applications.

However, Microsoft just shrugged and claimed that the Windows brand was too important not to be used in the new OS name. Indeed, Microsoft has created Windows, which couldn’t be seen as making something else. Nevertheless, the warning turned out to be right. There have already been some users who’ve picked up the Surface RT tablet and were confused.

Actually, Microsoft has even had to change its return policies for consumers who bought Surface RT only to figure out that they can’t run standard Windows software on it. Local media agrees that if Microsoft had listened to Dell, they could have avoided one of the major criticisms of its new OS: that Windows RT looks so much like Windows 8 that it is incredibly easy for an ordinary user to mistakenly purchase a Windows RT device without realizing that it isn’t a regular Windows device.

Worse still, Windows 8 differs a lot from Windows 7, and users might think that RT simply doesn’t run their old software due to that rather than because of running a different chip. In response, Microsoft blames its customers for their lack of desire to be “educated” about the gadgets they purchase. The company also complains that the consumers aren’t going to read any instruction manual – they would just buy something else instead!