Microsoft wants to put Windows 10 inside robots, ATMs and toasters

CNN Money ^ | 03/16/2015 | David Goldman

[SeekAndFind]

Microsoft has already said that Windows 10 will work on a PC, tablet or phone. Now it wants to put Windows on every other gadget you might want to connect to the Internet.

On Monday, Microsoft unveiled Windows 10 IoT (short for the idiotically named "Internet of Things"). It's essentially a tool to let your connected thermostat to talk to your connected car, or for a bank's connected ATM to talk to its network hub.

And if all those things run Windows, they'll play nicely (in theory) with your Windows PC or phone. That means you should be able to turn on your living room lights with Windows, and a company should be able to manage its army of connected nanobots with Windows too.

That's a much better solution that what exists now: A sea of random apps, each of which controls a different gizmo. Your connected oven has its own app. Your connected TV has its own app. And your connected self-watering plant has its own app too.

Not only is that annoying, it's also a missed opportunity.

Imagine if your connected oven could talk to your connected smoke detector. Then your smoke alarm wouldn't go off when you burn your London broil. Microsoft is far from alone in its attempt to create a platform for connected gizmos. Apple (AAPL, Tech30), Google (GOOGL, Tech30), Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and Intel (INTC, Tech30) also want to be the go-to hub for the billions of gadgets that will eventually be connected to the Internet.

The potentially unique proposition that Microsoft has to offer is that Windows 10 IoT won't only control the connected stuff in your house (like Apple and Google are going after), or the connections in businesses (like Amazon and Intel are fighting over).

[hadaclueonce]

I put Windows 8.1 in my toaster. It still sucks.

[Buckeye McFrog]

ahhh....the Good Old Days where all you had to do was walk up to the toaster and say "five!"

[VanDeKoik]

I remember that episode as a kid in the 80s and it scared the crap out of me! My parents had to assure me that it was just a TV show.

Now I’m more worried than I was then at the potential of this stuff become all too real.

[tophat9000]

So the battle-cry for the human race in a hundred years:....Blues Screen of Death to all Cylon Toasters!

[KarlInOhio]

Reminds me of this scifi short story where parents take their children for IQ tests. If a child is found to be TOO smart they are euthanized. (I think testing was at 5yrs old). The government office did it for the good of the children.

That sounds like Examination Day by Henry Slesar

Be careful if you go to the page and read the comments. It appears that a lot of the people posting were allowed to live, and even given civil service jobs, after the test.

[Republican1795.]

Windows 15 will probably be put directly into your brain via a micro chip.

[smokingfrog]

This is nothing new.

[Zeppo]

On Monday, Microsoft unveiled Windows 10 IoT (short for the idiotically named "Internet of Things").

I wonder why the idiotically named "David Goldman" would think such a thing...

[NewHampshireDuo]

Thing of all of the interesting data that your smart toilet, smart bed and smart comfy chair could gather.

[The_Reader_David]

This brings to mind my reaction to one of those advertisements that run on “non-commercial” public radio, from a company which professes that its online meeting platform will allow users to “connect to meetings from any device”: From my toaster? My toaster is a device.

Evidently in the not too distant future if Microsoft has their way...

[Fred Hayek]

Skynet.

[Organic Panic]

Get up to flip light switch, 5 seconds.

Boot up computer, load light switch software, connect to password protected light switch via www, 15 minutes.

The clapper was way ahead of it’s time.

[Zathras]

Maybe MS should make sure it works in PC’s before they put it in a toaster.

[tumblindice]

Hots cakes?

[ExCTCitizen]

Windows inside an ATM?...what could go wrong?

[ExCTCitizen]

CP/M? I used have to program my computer...an old C64...

[ExCTCitizen]

My new computer is a Chromebook...

[ExCTCitizen]

They don’t make TV shows like that anymore....

[ExCTCitizen]

So true... I hate MS since XP...I tried Windows 8... I went back to 7..

[Greysard]

I’m keeping my home automation free. I’ve yet to become so lazy that I need an app to turn on my lights or burn toast.

The most valuable role of home automation is to do things when you are not at home, or when you are asleep, busy, or otherwise unable to attend to the needs of the equipment. A small home - say, a 2BR apartment - does not need automation. A ranch house may need it because there is a well water pump that you run on schedule (at night, when the energy is cheaper) and there is booster pump that you run only when you are at home, and there is water heater and the circulation pump that you run when you need hot water, and there are external lights that you only need when you are walking outside at night, and a pool that comes with a filter pump and a cover pump, and... You can run all that manually, but it quickly becomes tedious.