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, this ought to be good.
While I have not touched a Windows 8 machine, I have touched servers running Server 2012 which uses the same interface. What a train wreck. Whatever genius decided to slap a touchscreen type interface on a server OS should go back to serving fries with that.
A primary reason Windows made the grade 20 years ago was the ability for programmers to create applications and load them with ease. Visual BASIC made that happen, followed by Borland C++ and Turbo Pascal. With all these “stores” Apple and others created, it makes loading apps difficult. Developers must ask permission to publish their works and it takes months to get that done. Toss in Microsoft .Net on Visual Studio to easily develop apps and it is a no brainer which development platform developers prefer.
I will not use it. Until they make a Windows 8 “specifically” for the desktop, and ONLY for the desktop, I’m staying with Windows 7. If they try and push out Windows 7, I’ll go back to XP.
I think the author isn’t thinking far enough ahead.
The four basic hardware types out there are phone, pad, notebook and desktop. I think in five years all but the phone will have largely disappeared as “computers.”
The formats will still be used, but will be only dumb data wireless entry and display platforms for your phone, within which all data manipulation and storage will take place, with auto backup to the cloud. So a pad will be only a display device that allows you to read or do other stuff more efficiently than on your small phone. Cost, maybe$100?
Think about it. You always have your phone with you, and the phone AFAIK has the potential to handle internally all the processing and storage, though perhaps not now. So why would you want to use three or four platorms and OSs instead of one, or spend time manually syncing them?
The OS that allows you to move seamlessly from one platform to another, espcially with effective backwards compatability, wil dominate, probably as much as MS did in its heyday.
W8 is not this OS, but it looks like a step in that direction.
I’ve been using an original Transformer for the last year. Android with a keyboard and touch screen is a user experience superior to the iPad IMO, my iPad goes unused now.
I spent a little time on the the Asus RT tablet this weekend. It uses hardware a generation better than what I have and has twice the RAM. Frankly, it was laggy. The UI didn’t make me happy, but I could get used to it, but switching between apps, it would stop accepting input and feel like it was frozen up.
It felt like an android phone circa 2009-2010.
The default installation of 2012 Server is server core. If you touched a 2012 server with that interface, then somebody had to install it. What genius did that?
"Wow! Okay, wait a sec."
"Bring up the news."
"I am."
"Go to the news."
"Wait a sec."
"Did you turn it on?"
"The pad, yes, it's still booting up."
"Can't you boot that thing any faster?"
"It's microsoft, hold on a sec."
"Never mind, I have a Droid." (((click, fob, fob))) "Thanks for trying anyway. Good luck."
"Wait! Don't go. It's up now'oh crap, it's updating a patch."
Agreed. I have used Windows 8 a little. It is horribly designed and unintuitive.
I cannot imagine how the average office worker is going to use that interface. Even getting to the “start screen” is done in a strange way...no clicking...move the mouse to the upper right-hand corner. Then you can click on the window icon to get there.
What are they trying to do, drive away their core business users?
Yup, sure.
And GM will build better cars than Toyota and Honda, too.
/s
Don’t fall for it. The phone will get more powerful but will always have compromises to allow it to run off of a battery. I want the bigger processor that runs at higher voltage and has more gates.
Ask businesses that run on the cloud how that worked for them last week when Amazon’s cloud service went dark for a good part of the day. I like the cloud and use the cloud but work I depend on exist on a drive I can touch with a backup and a backup of that on the cloud.
I think Apple will stick around. What I am hoping for is an eventual demise of Android. It is still a poor mans iOS ripoff. I am using it right now on my phones and tablets, and its just not a great OS.
Windows Tablet/8 etc is an interesting addition to the field.. As a non-fanboy of anything, I like the competition and hope it leads to better products.
...where have I seen that interface before?
Didn’t say the cloud is a good idea, said that was where we are heading. I foresee somebody building a super-virus that take the whole cloud down. That will be exciting.
You can’t do art work, sound editing and pictures on a phone. Keeping databases on a phone...forget it. PC’s and laptops won’t go away, they’ll simply act as the mobile phone computers’ home bases.
You think I want to save all my data to the cloud without my own personal hard back ups? What with Obama’s ability to shut the internet down? Nuts!
LOL! Pure geek fantasy. I went to check out the Surface and Win 9 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.
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