The next chapter in Microsoft's corporate history may be called Windows 10, but the name of the book should be "Once More, With Feeling."
On January 21, the company will host a Win 10 event at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters that's expected to focus on the consumer side of the operating system -- for the normal everyday people checking Facebook and printing family photos. Microsoft will describe for the first time what Windows 10 will be like when it's running on devices like phones and tablets.or Microsoft, the event is critical. It's first and foremost an opportunity for the company to follow through on its promise to make good with consumers, many of whom were turned off by the company's last version of Windows, called Windows 8. Microsoft marketed that software as its answer to tablets, offering a way to run desktop-class apps on a mobile device.
Microsoft not only turned off consumers with Windows 8, but it also drove them away. The 2-year-old software powers less than 10 percent of all computers in the world, according to NetMarketshare. That's well below its 5-year-old predecessor Windows 7, which powers more than half the market, and it's even below Windows XP, now 14 years old, which commands nearly 20 percent.
The company's Surface tablet hasn't fared much better. Since the device's 2012 debut, Microsoft has heavily marketed it as a do-everything gadget, replacing laptops and tablets. The company has never disclosed how many Surface devices it's sold, but Surface revenue from last quarter was $908 million, paltry compared with iPad sales in the billions of dollars.a
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