Microsoft May Abandon Windows RT, the Hapless Middle Child of Windows OS

Windows RT, though it only had its first birthday this Oct., looks to be on Microsoft's chopping block, if the comments of one executive turn out to be an accurate sketch of how Microsoft is feeling about the operating system, in general. 

The comments, made by executive vice president of Devices and Studios at Microsoft Julie Larson-Green, put an obvious target on the back of the operating system that Microsoft only introduced in January 2011 and released in Oct. 2012.

The operating system, she said, was "our first go at creating that more closed, turnkey experience," referring to the type of curated, tight environment that Apple has created in its closely-guarded "walled garden" of iOS. That experiment has largely been a failure, as Microsoft's attempts at a "curated" experience unintentionally translated into a limited (or lame) operating system.

"We have the Windows Phone OS," said Larson-Green. "We have Windows RT and we have full Windows. We're not going to have three." While Larson-Green didn't explicitly drop the guillotine in that comment, you can guess which one is the most expendable between the three.

Device manufacturers have been abandoning Windows RT machines to the point where only Microsoft and Nokia (owned by Microsoft) are still making Windows RT devices. And, according to the Guardian, those Windows RT devices aren't finding a market either: Microsoft had $900 million worth of unsold Surface RT devices at the end of the second quarter.

Windows RT launched with Windows 8 in Oct. 2012 as part of Microsoft's plan to create a consumer-friendly version of Windows for ARM-based computing devices (tablets generally run on ARM-based processors), while leaving the more professional full Windows experience for more expensive, more power-hungry, and less mobile Intel-based computers.

But the Windows RT machines launched with limited app ecosystem, in the sense of both Windows and tablet apps. While Windows RT runs one of the most important Microsoft legacy apps - Microsoft Office - and, in fact, that app came pre-installed, the limited operating system environment, attempting to ape Apple, only allowed apps to be installed from the Windows Store. That meant long-time developers couldn't port their legacy desktop Windows apps to the new operating system, which would be the only option, as RT didn't support Win32 code.

On top of that, some of the most important and popular tablet apps for iOS and Android were never made available from the Windows Store either, like iTunes or Chrome. And, in fact, Microsoft shot itself in the foot again by effectively restricting development of popular third-party web browsers and forcing customers to use the dreaded Internet Explorer.

Since Microsoft essentially tried and failed to make an iOS type of atmosphere on ARM-based mobile devices, a few developments in both hardware and software have made the middle-child Windows operating system less essential still. With the new Haswell line of Intel chips, x86-based devices get much more battery life per calculation, so the mobility gap between ARM and Intel devices has narrowed.

At the same time, Windows Phone OS has proved useable on larger and larger devices, including new Nokia phablets, obviating the need for a middle ground stand-in between Windows Phone and regular Windows. And since manufacturers and developers aren't interested in continuing with the now-forlorn OS, it only makes sense for Microsoft to hold on to its luckless experiment for a little while longer, probably until 2014, and finally give up.