Acer: Critics ‘Unfair’ to Windows 8

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Acer president Jim Wong believes touchscreens are an “irreversible trend”

Acer has never made any bones about its displeasure about having to both partner and compete with Microsoft in the Windows 8 tablet market. But, just to be clear, the Taiwanese company only has a problem with the “Surface” bit of Microsoft’s tablet strategy and is otherwise satisfied with the overall direction in which Windows is headed.
In a lengthy interview with Digitimes, Acer president Jim Wong touched on a number of key issues facing the company (and other PC vendors) following the introduction of the latest version of Windows.
Not everyone is apathetic or antipathetic towards Windows 8. There are those who want to take the plunge, but are finding it tough do so in the face of the steep learning curve that Windows 8 is often accused of having. Wong sees this as a teething problem that the operating system is bound to overcome in due course.
“Windows 8 is a major milestone for 2012, but it is also a new system that consumers must learn and the learning process will prevent the operating system from taking off quickly,” Wong told Digitimes, calling many of the concerns and criticisms surrounding Windows 8 “unfair”.
“In the past, market observers would accuse Windows of lacking innovations,” Wong added. “And Windows 8 with brand new features have still been greeted with pessimism. Some observers believe the new interface and touchscreen control will dramatically delay adoption by consumers. But companies must take risks when introducing innovations, and therefore it is still too early to say whether Windows 8 is a success or not.”
Wong’s optimism stems from the encouraging results of Acer’s internal research on touchscreens, which has shown that 20 minutes of touchscreen use is all it takes for most users to wish that every screen was .touch sensitive.
“This indicates that touchscreen control is an irreversible trend. Acer believes touchscreen control will be a strong selling point, but it still needs more time to take off.”


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