The coming launches, in addition to existing Xbox and Kinect products, are part of an attempt to make Microsoft not only relevant again, but give it a shot at claiming bragging-rights as one of the companies at the forefront of innovation. This comes after what has been billed as a lost decade within the company, where Microsoft seemed overrun by competitors as Google, Apple and Facebook.
The news coming out of Redmond, WA lately, has spurred a lot of interest and focus on the company which had almost been written off as irrelevant to cutting-edge innovation in the PC and mobile space.
Windows 8 has with its completely revamped user interface, Metro, received a lot of positive feedback even though some wonder how the vast installed user base will react to the drastic changes. Ironically, if the Metro UI becomes a success, Microsoft can be viewed as being at the UI forefront, leaving Apple OSX behind. OSX has not seen much of an UI update in a quite a while.
Windows 8 together with Windows Phone 8 products, Surface, Kinect and Xbox are all potential building-blocks of a consumer oriented strategy that extends beyond Windows and Office.
The questions that remains to be answered are, does the products measure up, and how do they gel together into a coherent strategy?
In any case, whether you are a PC or a Mac, it is great to see a company like Microsoft give it a go, instead of folding like HP, which abandoned their latest consumer oriented effort within months after disappointing sales.
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