Posted on 10/28/2012 6:20:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Microsoft is onto something. With Windows 8 it's better positioned than both Apple and Google to ride the coming laptop-tablet convergence wave.
It might even eventually give Microsoft a shot at the all-important smartphone market. To understand why, let's count the ways in which Windows 8 is best.
Laptops and tablets are converging. And only Microsoft has an OS that's fit for that coming unification of devices.
Apple has no convergence strategy at this time. That's because it fiercely guards product-specific profit streams and just doesn't go in for making things that cannibalise its own sales.
So, Mac Mini is hobbled to protect iMac. iMac is hobbled to protect Mac Pro. And iPad isn't allowed to wander into MacBook's territory.
Likewise, Chrome OS isn't a fully viable notebook OS. And nor is Android. Windows 8 is the only OS that's a genuine goer for both tablets and laptops.
The interface formerly known as Metro and now labelled 'Modern' is quite literally the most modern of touchscreen UIs. It's not perfect. But it's fresh. It's contemporary. And it's polished.
It combines the responsiveness of Apple's iOS with the power and configurability of Google Android. And it looks better than both.
You can argue the toss over the advantages of ARM vs x86 processors. Will ARM continue to have a power efficiency edge? Will the raw power of Intel's x86 chip eventually win the day?
It doesn't matter because with Windows 8, Microsoft now supports both.
OK, there's an x86 compatible version on Android out there, too. But for now it's more of an experiment than a serious play in the market. Meanwhile, when it comes to ultramobile operating systems, Apple's iOS is ARM-only..
Multi-tasking is something that Windows has always nailed, from thread management at the kernel level to the way the UI presents presents multiple apps.
Now it's even better than ever thanks to a choice between old-school task bar application management on the desktop and app "snapping" in the Modern UI.
Microsoft has also added some gesture-driven app switching to the Modern UI. Put simply, Windows 8 is miles ahead of iOS and Android for multi-tasking and app switching.
OK, this bit only applies to the regular x86 version of Windows 8 and not the ARM-compatible Windows RT, flavour. But only Windows 8 offers you a fully contemporary, touch-enabled ultramobile OS that also supports the huge ecosystem of legacy PC applications and delivers powerful multi-tasking.
It really is one OS to rule them all.
Windows 8 isn't perfect. Limitations abound, including the peculiarly neutered desktop mode in Windows RT. Then there's the pitiful number of touch-enabled apps compared with Android and iOS.
But there's plenty of time to get forensic with Windows 8's shortcomings. For now, let's focus on the fact that it's a huge step forward for MS.
For you, it means the prospect of genuine device consolidation. Tablet and laptop combined in one device that's more than the sum of its parts.
If merit counts for anything, here's hoping Windows 8 will make a tangible dent in both Android and iOS.
LOL! Pure geek fantasy. I went to check out the Surface and Win 8 at the Microsoft Store yesterday. I was browsing on the Surface and Explorer too forever to load a page and get to native resolution.
Surface hardware is a bit heavy, plasticy, and cheap feeling — a bigger Kindle Fire (previous version) at an iPad price. Windows 8 isn’t entirely intuitive like iOS or Android either. It’s an interesting concept, but doesn’t seem like it’s just there yet.
Clearly it’s a Rev A product. This version isn’t going to outsell anyone. We’ll see what next enhancement next round brings. But I don’t see a whole lot of consumers buying in just yet at least — if every. Consumers are moving away from the the traditional CPU all together (See falling PC sales) and with the big libraries of apps people already have for their Android and iOS devices, Microsoft is still far back in this race.
The touch experience is different on that Win 8 interface as opposed to using the interface with a mouse. With the ability to slide pages with fingers, slide tabs back and forth one finds Win 8 is much more intuitive then one first would expect. With the mouse though it is horrid and one is resentful that one has to buy a touch enabled screen to to get the full benefit of Windows 8 touch UI!
That super virus will be called Ice Nine!
I’m sorry, but I am not looking forward to Windows 8’s interface, at all.
My wife and I are now considering an Apple for her.
I don’t trust Microsoft to upgrade a dang thing on ANY portable device. Apple gives you OS, security, functionality, and bug fixes for over FOUR YEARS. And all Apple portable devices JUST WORK.
My family went through four Windows devices and none worked as advertised and they consistently crashed with no option to fix the issues short of buying a new Windows device with a new version of the Windows OS.
Microsoft’s whole approach, which actually seems is also Android’s MO by accident, is to have device makers never bother to upgrade any existing device for longer than six months, if at all.
I can’t tell you how much happier we are with devices that have ACTIVE support one year later!!
“I was browsing on the Surface and Explorer too forever to load a page and get to native resolution.”
Did you rule out a slow connection to the router/internet source because too many folks were on line at the same time?
I’ve have Win 8/IE 9 on my 5 year old amd machine and it connects really fast and loads pages quickly. I don’t have the “surface machines” though.
No, it has plenty of interface changes on the default setting which result in a truly inane user experience. This was not a matter of being set up wrong.
Hey ShadowAce, this might be worthy of a tech ping.
That's a matter of opinion. Like I said, the default installation is server core. Your UI is a Powershell console. Somebody had to make the decision to install a GUI on that server, and IMHO, that's wrong.
might just slow Windows 8 down a little!
My biggest gripe with Windows 8: that radical interface, the biggest change to Windows since Windows 95 arrived some 17 years ago. It’s going to take a while for end users to accept and master that radical change.
I don't want to have to buy a touch screen. I don't want to have to move the screen from the far corner of my desk to right in front of my face in the middle of my work area so that I can comfortably touch it. I don't want the fingerprints and smudges on the touch screen taking control of my OCD.
No, the idea that a powershell console is the default UI is your own opinion. It is not the MS standard by any means.
By and large people either hate windows or, at best, tolerate it. Nobody (that I know of) actually likes it. I think any predictions of impending world domination by Microsoft needs to take this into account.
That's why Windows 8 supports Microsoft's Kinect technology.....to soon allow gesture control without touching the screen at all!
Windows 8 is designed with a lot of future enhancements in mind that will cater to all tastes.
Has Microsoft enabled an option in Win 8 to turn off the touch interface or the tiles in what they call the Metro Sexual UI? If I can’t get a classic desktop (and no I don’t mean the workaround where you can get to a desktop but requiring a few key clicks to make it happen). Also is there a classic start menu option? If not I stick with Win 7
RE: By and large people either hate windows or, at best, tolerate it. Nobody (that I know of) actually likes it.
So, the fact that Windows dominates over 90% of the world’s operating system requires some explanation.
Why can’t LINUX dominate? I’ve waited a decade for it to overtake Windows but we’re still in the same status quo.
Yes I have posted that image before referencing the Idiocracy movie scene with the tv showing a crap load of advertisments with a tiny center screen of actual tv content. Windows 8 is the further dumbing down of the populace.
People liked XP, Microsoft hit it perfect
People tolerate Win 7 because it’s more XP like than Vista. Though if it weren’t for programs like Classic Shell more people would really hate 7 also.
The further Microsoft gets away from XP the more people are going to reject their OS
The author of this piece doesn not understand Apple’s marketing.
This idea that the Mac-mini is crippled to not cannibalize the iMac and the iMac is crippled to not cannibalize the Mac Pro may not know that the current iMac is already more powerful than a stock Mac Pro.
Apple likes keeping product lines lean, especially after the Gil Amelio disaster. IN fact, Apple discontinued to Mac XServe, and recommended NOT the Mac Pro, but the Mac Mini as a replacement.
Apple is about profits, and when three cell phone models that are more alike than different carve out a huge chunk of the entire market in a short time, when battling against dozens of Android models of every stripe, the result for Apple is $$$$$. Apple would love cannibalization if they could get Mini and Pro users to use the iMac, and the Mac Book users over to the Mac Air. Apple wants folks in their eco system, and they want to keep the number of devices well under control
The author also hasn’t noted that Apple is trying to make OS X more iOS like, so far without the touch capabilities.
The new Microsoft Windows incarnation, like the ribbon interface before it, is a solution to a problem that people weren’t complaining about. I almost suspect, after Microsoft’s failed Windows Tablet Edition 10 years ago, that the ships are being burned to make sure that Microsoft doesn’t bail out this time. That’s a big gamble.
There is a market for a Microsoft OS tablet in the Enterprise, as Apple is aggressively indifferent to security and user management issues. That doesn’t mean they dominate. Rather than converging all computing into the phone, an absurdity, Apple will be the Toyota, IBM will be Mack Truck, and Microsoft will be GM. Everyone making money, some more than others, in differently defined markets.
Desktops and phones are no more converging than pick up trucks and motor scooters.
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