Microsoft's newest OS has helped PC users forget about Windows Vista, but Windows 7 has a major downside that could prevent it from being widely used on tablets and touchscreen PCs. The OS didn't ship with touch abilities built natively into the OS, and Microsoft must now try to play catchup with a changing industry amidst rivals with more advanced touch technology.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced plans to include new Windows 7 touch optimizations sometime in 2011, with Windows 8 to include a full native interface that includes touch support. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated that new Windows 7 slates will be shown off and promoted this fall, but without a revamped touch interface, what good will they be?
"You'll see new slates with Windows on them. You'll see them this Christmas, you'll see them continue to change in the fall," Ballmer recently said. "Certainly we have done work around the tablet as both a productivity device and a consumption device."
Ballmer indicated the touchscreen features will be available from partner OEMs -- but the new tablets will run the Windows Phone 7 OS, as Microsoft tries to combat the iPad and its cannibalization of the netbook market.
If Microsoft is truly unable to have a touch screen tablet available from a major OEM this Christmas, I see it as a major failure by Ballmer and company. Hewlett-Packard and other OEMs have heavily researched touchscreens and there has been growing interest over the past two years, though Microsoft seemed hesitant to become immediately involved.
As we've said before, Microsoft needs a whole new touch OS for tablets, not just a patched up version of Windows 7. Perhaps the Windows Phone 7 OS will fit the bill, but perhaps it won't.
