The things I'm reading here in this thread ... It must be opposite day again. Microsoft setting trends? Isn't that a ridiculous thing to say?
Look, I don't want to discredit them for some of their design ideas and they do have a few people with good taste (but it's more likely that most of them already left again, like Allard), but these days Microsoft is way too irrelevant in tech to lead any trends. Most people use Microsoft products, because they have to, which would be mostly at work. And even at workplaces you see Microsoft fading more and more into irrelevance, with things like BYOD or when most companies use iPads.
"Surface? Isn't that the thing they had a huge write-off on?". Seriously, when was the last time people praised Microsoft's products and recommended them over an Apple product? Exactly.
On the other hand you have Apple, who pioneered the smartphone we know to day and probably even boosed us 5 years into the future. That's something that leaves an impression, you know? So when they decided to switch from their beloved and proven design, accepted by over a hundred million of users, to somesthing new and fresh, maybe even a bit provoking, like iOS 7, then you know people will follow.
You don't believe me? Just look at this list of current iOS apps that got updated to iOS 7.
https://tapfame.com/ios7/
Facebook, Ebay, Twitter, Pandora, Evernote, Instapaper, Foursquare ... All these are apps used by millions of users every single day and they all got to experience this new design from one day to the other. Now that's what I call "setting a trend". Even AdvertisingAge talked about it in their article about Yahoo's new logo.
Despite the design world's ongoing "flat" trend propelled by the look of Apple's new mobile operating system, Yahoo went classical for its typeface. The font would look at home on the banner of renaissance-era jouster or a British soccer, er, football club. That could invoke the larger renaissance Ms. Mayer is trying to incite at Yahoo and reinforce the company's hope to become a solid business like it once was. "When you want to create an image of stability, for something to be taken seriously as a business, you tend to go toward more classical tropes," said Hunter Tura, president of Bruce Mau Design.
Again, some of Microsoft's ideas weren't bad, but it's simply not what people want.
They even had an entire book explaining people why their airport bathroom toilet signage-inspired Metro design is good. When you feel the need to write an entire book for that, I feel like you've failed. People are individuals and as such they're capable to distinguish good design from bad design. They don't need a book to convince them. And judging by the numbers, I'd say people are pretty convinced that Microsoft and their design isn't the right choice for them.
It's more like they put too much time and resources into Symbian. They put
multiple billion dollar into Symbian R&D every year. That is completely insane. Heck, most of their software staff was part of the Symbian team. About 4,000 people, I think. That's four times the amount of people who screwed up the Longhorn project at Microsoft. Apple's not even close with their R&D budget and they stomped them and the competition into the ground with their very first phone.
