Microsoft has defended the forthcoming changes to its Windows 8, following scathing criticism that the company would be admitting failure if it brought back features the fabled Start button.
In the past week articles in the news media, suggested that bowing to pressure to reinstate features axed from Windows 7 would be backtracking on its bold new experiment, after just six months.
The FT even suggested the rethink would mark "one of the most prominent admissions of failure for a new mass-market consumer product since Coca-Cola's New Coke fiasco nearly 30 years ago."
However, Microsoft's chief PR guy Frank X. Shaw called for reason, stating any changes will seek to improve upon its Windows 8 vision and listening to user feedback should be considered a good thing.
In a post on the official Microsoft blog Shaw, the company's Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications accused the media of sensationalism and hyperbole in name of page views and called for a more 'centred' viewpoint.
'Windows 8 isn't a can of soda'
He wrote: "Let's pause for a moment and consider the center. In the center, selling 100 million copies of a product is a good thing. In the center, listening to feedback and improving a product is a good thing. Heck, there was even a time when acknowledging that you were listening to feedback and acting on it was considered a good thing."
"Windows 8 is a good product, and it's getting better every day. Unlike a can of soda, a computer operating system offers different experiences to different customers to meet different needs, while still moving the entire industry toward an exciting future of touch, mobility, and seamless, cross-device experiences."
Microsoft is scheduled to launch Windows 8.1 (or Windows Blue as it named internally) at its Build developers' conference next month.
Among the expected chances, or enhancements as Microsoft would call them, are the aforementioned return for the Start button, a new version of Internet Explorer, greater SkyDrive intergation and a new SnapView that allows your screen to be shared 50/50 between apps.
For all the latest check out our Windows 8.1 Blue release date, news and rumours round up. You can also check out our round up vid below:
