Microsoft Windows RT The Death Knell Rings For Thee

A lot of people have never been able to understand the logic behind Microsoft's Windows RT, with many urging the company to kill it off so that it can focus on more important products, like the mainline Windows. Well, this is probably not going to come as a huge surprise, especially in light of mass layoffs announced last week, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that his company will be working to combine all Windows versions into a unified release by next year.

"Microsoft is about to take the ax to one of the stupidest products it ever created.", says CNN Money - a sentiment that will be shared by many. Windows RT was always a strange experiment, but there were still many out there who enjoyed it. The key was knowing what you were getting into. Those who picked up an RT tablet expecting a regular Windows experience were let-down, with Microsoft deserving the blame for not doing a better job of informing the public as to the platform's limitations. Treated as a tablet OS just like iOS and Android, Windows RT wasn't that bad.

Microsoft's pocketbook didn't reflect "not that bad", though, as it took a $900 million writedown last year as a direct result of horrible Surface RT sales. If Microsoft killed-off Android-based Nokia X phones, it's really no surprise that Windows RT has become part of the culling as well.

While it's generally agreed-upon by many that Windows RT left a lot to be desired, we can't ignore that many have felt the same way about Windows 8. There are still many out there who are quick to bash the OS - I see it all the time in comment sections. I do believe that's undeserved, as once you look past the Start Screen, the OS itself is extremely solid - I certainly would not want to go back to Windows 7 given the general polish of Windows 8.

That said, with the next version of Windows to ship with a Start Menu, Microsoft clearly wants to right some of its wrongs - and it's no doubt because it thinks it has to. People are not going to be happy if Windows 9 is just as appalling as Windows 8, after all. It'd be at that point that some would begin to consider the alternatives - especially with Microsoft already waving the end-of-support flag in front of Windows 7.

As far as Windows RT is concerned though, I say good riddance, and Microsoft, please make the next Windows release a "great" one.