Microsoft to retool Windows 8 amidst complaints and confusion

It’s not quite the debacle of “New Coke”, but Microsoft is doing some serious polishing of its newest version of Windows to address complaints and confusion with customers that have been blamed for a slump in personal computer sales.

“The big blunder is that they threw everybody this new user touch interface and took away the basics of the older interface that had the start button and the basic desktop,” said tech expert Tim Bajarin in an interview with KIRO Radio’s Seattle’s Morning News.

Bajarin, author of a recent TIME article criticizing Microsoft’s mishandling of the Windows 8 roll out, suggests the company should have made a slower, more gradual transition rather than a complete overhaul.

“I just think that the process of moving everyone to a touch-base, brand new user interface is really a multi-year process,” said Bajarin. “It’s just not going to happen as fast as Microsoft and their partners had hoped.”

The Windows 8 design, which emphasizes interactive tiles and touch controls, seems to have befuddled as many people as it has impressed. One leading research firm, International Data Corp., says Windows 8 contributed to a 14 percent decline in worldwide PC sales during the first three months of the year, the biggest year-over-year drop ever.

“They put the blame squarely on Windows, and I think that there is some merit for that,” said Bajarin.

Bajarin also said a lot of customers didn’t even realize the touch features wouldn’t work on their old computers.

“One fascinating story was where we saw a woman call into a Best Buy and ask why when she touched her screen wouldn’t work. She just assumed because Windows was now these tiles for touch, her old laptop would still work with touch,” said Bajarin. “There was just a lot of confusion.”

Despite all the complaints, Microsoft insists it’s pleased with Windows 8’s performance.

The company says more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses have been sold so far, up from about 60 million licenses in January. Microsoft marketing and financial chief Tami Reller insisted in an interview sales are “in the same general ballpark,” as Microsoft’s previous operating system, Windows 7.

“Are there things that we can do to improve the experience? Absolutely,” Reller said “There is a learning curve (to Windows 8) and we can work to address that.”

While the company won’t say what kind of changes it’ll actually make in the update code named “Blue,” analysts speculate it’ll include the return of the Start button and changes to make apps easier and more intuitive to use.

Reller said more details about Blue will be released before Microsoft holds a developers conference in San Francisco in late June. Some of Blue’s features are expected to be previewed at that conference.

MyNorthwest’s Josh Kerns and The Associated Press contributed to this report.