Microsoft unveils a new logo

Microsoft has decided that it’s time for a new logo – and it’s certainly been a while since the MS logo was changed. A quarter of a century, in fact…

So the new logo comes ahead of the launch of Windows 8, and Surface tablets, with Microsoft making a big push to bestride both mobile and desktop with its upcoming Windows operating system (and tie it all in with phones, too, via the tile-based UI-formerly-known-as-Metro interface).

Microsoft calls it a new era for the company. In a press release, the firm announced: “From Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8 to Xbox services to the next version of Office, you will see a common look and feel across these products providing a familiar and seamless experience on PCs, phones, tablets and TVs.”

“This wave of new releases is not only a re-imagining of our most popular products, but also represents a new era for Microsoft, so our logo should evolve to visually accentuate this new beginning.”

As for the logo itself, well, you can see it above, and it’s not exactly a major innovation. It has clean, simple lines, though – the designers resisted the temptation to go all “Olympics 2012”, that’s for sure.

It’s designed to look new, yet familiar, and it does the job in that respect.

To get technical, or about as technical as you can get regarding a logo, it uses the Segoe font for the word Microsoft, and pairs this with the familiar coloured squares that are supposed to embody the company’s diverse product portfolio. Smartphones, tablets, PCs and… game consoles, perhaps?

Wait, we forgot software… and the cloud, and – well, that’d be too many squares.

Anyway, all this marks the importance of Windows 8 to Microsoft, which really is a make-or-break OS for the company.

Early reaction from non-touchscreen users has been shaky, and if that theme continues, then Microsoft could have another ME or Vista on its hands. Not that those operating systems killed the company, obviously – but as we move forward rapidly into the mobile and tablet arenas, now really isn’t the time for a Microsoft misstep.

And some critics are still complaining that the company hasn’t taken feedback from mouse and keyboard users into account enough.