As a consumer, I detest monopoly, as it makes the only company within a given space become stubborn and even arrogant in addressing consumers’ complaints. Microsoft has somewhat enjoyed a monopoly in the desktop computing space. It’s main competitor, Apple, has cut up a high-end market niche for itself and doesn’t seem interested in releasing affordable devices to capture the low-end and sometimes even the middle-end market.
One might argue, ‘well, why not get yourself a Linux PC?’ Truth be told, Linux is just not as user-friendly as Windows. Good things Google came with its Chromebooks powered by the ChromeOS.
The Chromebooks are powerful computing machines at affordable prices, and they have grown to support more offline features. To top it all, they now run Android apps. For those reasons, there is little wonder why they are fast becoming popular among users looking for desktop computers.
Obviously, this development does not sit well with Microsoft and they are now working around the clock to counter the increasing growth of Chromebooks usage. So the Redmond company is working on releasing a slimmed down version of Windows 10 – Windows Lite – that will run a user interface called Webshell.
It will have no resemblance whatsoever with Windows 10. Users will also not be able to upgrade it to Windows 10, not run any apps not downloaded from the Store. Some of the major differences it will have from Windows 10, include the lack of Live Tiles; then again who really uses those?
As Zac Bowden notes: “I’ve seen internal documentation from Microsoft that suggest people aren’t really opening the Start menu to look at or customize live tiles. Users prefer pinning everything to the taskbar.”
So picture this, if most people are not interested in using Windows 10’s Live Tiles and Microsoft goes ahead and releases Windows Lite without it, and it does so well. Won’t Microsoft then come back to Windows 10 and review the need of Live Tiles there?
Some say Live Tiles will be up next for things Microsoft will be dropping in future Windows 10 Updates in a bid to improve the user experience. This might just be early signs that the days for Live Tiles are numbered.