Earlier this week, Microsoft's CEO added to all the promises that've been made about how the company is taking the drive to fix Windows 11 very seriously, although there was an element here which I found less reassuring.
Windows Central picked up on chief executive Satya Nadella's little speech, which came as part of Microsoft's recent earnings call (following its fiscal Q3 results).
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Bing it on
So, that's all good, but I'm about to nitpick somewhat, because there's something that worries me in Nadella's key statements above. Let's rewind back to this sentence, on the "work required to win back fans and strengthen engagement across Windows, Xbox, Bing, and Edge."
Bolstering Windows, yes, that's great, and Xbox, fine and dandy, all good — but Bing and Edge. Wait a minute — where do Bing and Edge come into it?
Yeah, I know. Bing and Edge are important to Microsoft, clearly. But this is messaging from the CEO which is specifically aimed at consumers, and acknowledging these "core users", remember? How much does the average consumer use Bing or Edge?
Not a lot, frankly. Okay, so Edge is the second most-used desktop web browser, but it's a long way behind Chrome, and adoption has remained lackluster going by the market share figures I've seen (just over 10% or so).
And yes, Bing has hit a billion active users for the first time, which Nadella also announced, but how much does the average consumer care about it? Not much, I'd argue, and if you look at search engine market share (on desktop), Bing is on about 10%, which is as far behind Google as Edge lags Chrome. I'm guessing a lot of Bing's billion users are from the business world (and that a good deal of fresh traffic has been driven by Copilot queries).
So, the question is: why bring Bing and Edge into a statement that's firmly targeted at consumers?
True, this is all part of an earnings report, and Nadella evidently has investors in mind here, too, as a result. But this kind of encapsulates one of my concerns about the big Windows 11 revamp: that Microsoft wants to please consumers, yet it constantly has one eye on investors, and the monetary part of the equation.
Of course it's interested in the financial side of the equation, you may well be muttering to yourself under your breath at this point: it's a business, it exists to make money. However, I worry that the mention of Bing and Edge in the same breath as Windows 11 and Xbox in a speech focused on consumers is a somewhat concerning glimpse into the inner workings of Microsoft's collective mind here.
Remember that one of the promises of the 'fix Windows 11 initiative' was to chill out on all the upselling activity in the OS? That was the response of a key Microsoft exec to a jab at Windows 11 and specifically about pushing Edge and Bing in an advert-like way within the operating system's interface.
And yet, here we are, basking in the glow of Nadella's commendable promises to 'win back fans' with Windows 11, which in the same breath has a nod to the shareholders along the lines of 'don't worry, we've not forgotten about Bing and Edge either'.
I've never had much faith that Microsoft is going to relent with the kind of promotional activity that has been a hallmark of parts of the Windows 11 interface (the Start menu, Settings app, and notifications center in particular), and this thorn amongst the rosy consumer-targeted comments from Nadella does little to convince me otherwise.
A dominant desktop force
It's noteworthy that Nadella also took the time to share news of a new high for active Windows devices, which now exceed 1.6 billion globally. This is a clear reminder of the dominance of Windows in the desktop world, in a time where people are increasingly talking about the threat Linux poses. (On the latter score, it's notable that Microsoft is also making promises relating to better gaming performance for Windows 11 versus that seen on SteamOS, too).
I don't want to detract too much from what Nadella said here — it represents a mainly comforting backing up of what Microsoft has already laid out on the table. However, while it's a telling reinforcement of intent, I do find it ironic that Bing and Edge were mentioned alongside Windows and Xbox here, when for consumers, their main desire is to see the latter two forces banished from Windows 11 for good. (Well, that's not entirely fair, but it's certainly true for some folks going by many of the comments you see on the likes of Reddit — although the less noisy majority simply just don't care about either Bing or Edge, one way or another, I suspect).
I really hope that Microsoft can make a key move in improving Windows 11 by reining in all the promos and upselling for Edge, Bing, OneDrive, Microsoft Accounts, and so forth. This would be a huge fan-pleaser, and I'd rank it as close to the importance of fixing QA and testing for Windows 11 (which I've already banged on about recently).
However, I have my cynical hat on here (along with my skeptical shades), and I remain unconvinced that much will change about upselling in Windows 11 at all. And Nadella's comments here haven't helped soothe my fears, let's put it that way. I think Microsoft needs to tread carefully and look at some of the reaction to this online, because while the CEO is talking about 'winning back fans', there are Redditors pouring scorn on the idea that there were fans of the OS in the first place.
As one Reddit poster phrased it: "Windows 11 fans? Are there any? I thought people use Windows because it runs games and most software, not because they're fans."
And another in the same thread observed: "IDK if I've met a Windows fan in the last decade. It's more like 'tolerators.'"
Microsoft is priding itself on listening to feedback now, so I think it must take note, and focus on turning 'tolerators' into users with a good deal more enthusiasm for Windows 11. And here's a clue — the key to swaying those opinions very definitely doesn't involve anything to do with Bing or Edge.
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