Posted on 12/13/2011 2:53:20 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Windows 8 is on the horizon. Microsoft has designed the next-generation flagship operating system with a split personality that straddles the line between the familiar Windows 7 desktop, and the flashy Metro interface used with Windows Phone 7. Can Microsoft successfully tackle desktop and mobile with one OS?
Microsoft is not new to mobile devices. It had a smartphone before the Apple iPhone revolution came along, and it was pushing tablet PCs before the Apple iPad made it cool. But, as long as Microsoft’s history with mobile devices is, so is its stubborn desire to make everything about its Windows OS.
The original Windows Mobile was--as much as it could be--Windows ported onto a much smaller form factor. Windows tablets were more or less Windows laptops, but with the physical keyboard removed and replaced by a stylus for input.
What Microsoft failed to realize, and what Apple and Google have since proven, is that the mobile experience is different than the desktop experience. But, Apple has been moving in a direction to converge iOS and Mac OS X in some ways, and Google seems to blur the line some with Android and its Chrome OS--so Microsoft apparently wants to double down with an OS that can simultaneously run desktops and tablets.
Fair enough. The Windows 8 developer preview version I have now is pretty rough around the edges, but it has some pizazz, and definitely shows some promise. It still seems sort of “Jekyll and Hyde”, though--it can either be a flashy Metro UI tablet, or it can be a Windows 7 desktop.
The allure of having one cross-platform OS is the applications.
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
Not again.
This will either be pretty cool, or massively suck. I don’t see how it could be in between.
Given their recent history with their flagship products, I’m betting this will work out pretty well.
Perhaps there will be some kind of mode switch between the two kinds of layouts.
More likely that the OS will detect the type of hardware and adjust screen size, font size, etc. accordingly.
With one OS? Probably not. With a common UI paradigm and API set? Absolutely - they did before, in the 2000-2007 timeline when Windows ruled (and still does) the PC world, and Windows CE/Windows Mobile was the dominant smartphone OS.
that would be cool
There is. You do not have to use the Metro UI if you are on a desktop/laptop.
The cool idea is that Win 8 is far more flexible, allowing a modest version to run on phones, a more feature-rich version to run on tablets and a full-feature version to run on desktops/laptops. Even the XBox is going to use Win 8 as its OS.
The absolute merger of platforms and familiarity it will bring could be huge for MS....if they get it right.
The head of Windows Phone just moved over to Windows 8, a sign that more convergence is taking place.
With Apple's iOS restrictions and Google's Android bloat/fragmentation, there is an opportunity here for MS.
MS will set hardware requirements (similar to Apple) but allow for variations. Small tablets, large tablets, laptops, desktops, etc of all sizes/shapes/flavors will be available. All will upgrade at the same time, just like Windows does. No left-behind hardware until they reach Windows 9.
Actually it will be the same OS. I recently read an article about it.
Its a major leap foward.
I'm kinda hoping they hit it out of the park. The more these guys battle for domination of the integrated "cloud" universe the more we, as the consumer, come out. Plus, it would be cool to have a universal interface across all my digital devices.
I want the kinect on my desktop.
so i can slide windows around and even have just plug and play beyond four screens.
I see my self moving to a game console in the near future for home use. $250 for a PS3, a $20 USB KB, a $20 USB mouse, a wireless connection, Gmail and Google docs: I don't need much more. Plus, it'll play new games far past a point in time where upgrading a PC to run new games can be done.
I design some powerful applications using Excel and VBA. Having Excel on a tablet will be amazing.
So in most ways that count, Ubuntu is already there, doing this, and it stinks. The basic OS is great, it is the UI that has problems. Ok, the "unity" interface isn't bad on my Asus eee PC 901. But on my desktop, it is less than satisfactory. I've got everything backed up, and an old test system running Mepis Linux (with KDE 4.5) and I'm about ready to switch my main desktop over to Mepis - the unity thing is that bad.
I wish MS luck - it is a modest technological challenge, but a huge human-factors challenge. Win 7 isn't too bad (just not my everyday OS). Hope they don't blow it with 8. But then, lately they've been running about every other major release toggling between good and terrible so I'm not holding my breath.
There’s some other cool stuff in there too. I’m looking forward to Powershell running as a web service, for remote system administation.
We used to have a saying around the office, “Excel is not a programming language”. It came about because a few folks in the office, that were pretty good with Excel, would compare their Excel abilities to the work of the software developers that created the software for the equipment we sold or proprietary software used internally for inventory control, warranty tracking and other purposes. Then one day the IT guy sent around an Excel workbook that was actually the game Pac Man recreated using VBA in Excel. Even though Excel isn’t a programming language, it took all the fun out of saying it…
Now phones and tablets are powerful enough that it’s certainly a possibility that you could be using Windows 8 on all of them.
I’m uncertain about the need to do so. If I’m using my phone and want to word process, is it really necessary that I am able to do more than just type at that point?
It’s bound to happen sooner or later, it’s not a certainty it will be Microsoft. Could be Android moving to PC machine.
I'd like to see that.
Probably not, but you might want to be typing into a Word template you developed on your desktop.
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