Microsoft's career website is often a treasure trove of information if you are willing to dig through the thousands of job postings the company currently has available. Often, through these postings, you can see the direction Microsoft is taking internally with its products and this helps the observer, better understand Microsoft's vision.
On this edition of reading career postings, we can see that Microsoft's goal is to get a "lean and mean Windows running everywhere." More so, Windows Phone 8 is the first product that we know of that falls into this category.
It's quite simple really, Microsoft is working to reduce the footprint of its OS so that it can be run on more devices and have better performance, with slower hardware. With Windows now being free on devices under 9 inches for OEMs, which undoubtedly will have lower specs, keeping a lean and mean Windows high on the agenda makes a lot of sense.
Additionally, with the company's new 'Windows on Devices' for the Internet of Things, Windows will have to be a lightweight product if Microsoft hopes to power the next generation of devices.
While these job posting don't offer any deep insights into the company, they do provide a framework of what the development themes are within the organization. Much like how Lotus coined that 'simplify, then add lightness' to a car is a feature, Microsoft is looking to do the same with Windows.
The result of this work, which may not be on the forefront of the marketing campaign, will benefit consumers in the long run as Windows, as a platform, will become more nimble and take up less of a footprint when installed. If you remember when the Surface originally launched, there was quite a bit of negativity surrounding how much space the OS occupied on a brand new device, and with this initiative, they are certainly addressing that feedback.
Source: Microsoft Careers 1 2
