iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
No—there is no evidence in the cited coverage that Microsoft formally abandoned Windows. The headline is a pointed interpretation of UX designer Scott Jenson’s criticism of how Microsoft and Apple approach desktop computing. His larger argument, delivered at KDE Akademy 2026, was that desktop design needs room to experiment beyond familiar windows, icons, menus, and pointer conventions.
What the headline is based on
Paul Thurrott’s September 29, 2026 article reports on Jenson’s comments about Microsoft and Apple, including criticism concerning OneDrive use, Recall, and advertising. Thurrott frames those remarks as evidence that the companies have “fundamentally given up on desktop computing.” That is an interpretation of Jenson’s critique, not a reported Microsoft decision to stop developing Windows. Read Thurrott’s account.
The distinction is important: the criticism concerns priorities and the desktop experience, not a documented end to Windows development. The cited coverage offers no independent measurement showing that Microsoft has abandoned Windows or quantifying the state of desktop UX.
Recommended Free Tools
What Jenson said about interviewing at Microsoft
Thurrott reports that Jenson recalled interviewing at Microsoft “eight years ago” for the role of head of UX for Windows. In the context of the 2026 article, that places the interview at around 2018. Jenson said he arrived with ideas for how the desktop should evolve, while recognizing that Windows had hundreds of millions of users and that changing everything at once could alarm them. He added, “It’s not like I wanted to blow up Windows.”
The report does not say whether Jenson received an offer, what the interviewers told him, or why the process ended. His recollection also does not independently verify a user count: the article gives no date or measurement source for the “hundreds of millions” phrasing.
What Jenson wants desktop UX to reconsider
Jenson’s September 19, 2026 Akademy talk was titled “Are we really going to use the same Desktop UX forever?” Its official event description argues that desktop interfaces have depended on legacy paradigms for more than two decades and have not kept pace with modern needs. It identifies richer input, better data flows, and alternatives to conventional two-dimensional window management as possible areas for innovation.
The idea is not simply to rearrange familiar controls. It asks whether users should continue to organize work chiefly through separate windows and the established desktop conventions around them, or whether interaction and the flow of information between tasks can be rethought. These are themes in the talk description, not a tested scorecard comparing operating systems.
Why KDE and Linux enter the argument
Jenson’s case is that established companies such as Apple and Microsoft are entrenched in existing desktop patterns and may be reluctant to risk radical shifts. He points to Linux and KDE’s open-source nature as an opportunity to experiment. LWN’s September 23 coverage similarly presents the talk as an appeal for open-source projects to push desktop design beyond the traditional “windows, icons, menus, pointer” model: Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop.
That is an argument for where experimentation might happen, not proof that Microsoft has stopped innovating or that KDE has already solved the design problem. The Akademy 2026 program announcement places the conference in Graz, Austria, with talks on September 19 and 20 and community events through September 24. The event record lists Jenson’s session on September 19 as a 40-minute talk.
Quick Recap
Best Value
How to read the claim
- Documented: Jenson criticized established approaches to desktop UX and called for experimentation, as reported by Thurrott and reflected in the talk description.
- Not established: that Microsoft made a formal decision to abandon Windows, or that a statistic proves the broad claim in the headline.
- The underlying design question: whether desktop computing should keep evolving within familiar conventions or explore substantially different ways to handle input, windows, and information.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
