Windows 8: The 21st century Windows Me

[Will E Worm]

Windows 8: The 21st century Windows Me

Windows 8 is a mobile- and touch-first OS. There might be only 30 million tablets in the hands of consumers — compared to 500 million smartphones and billions of PCs — and tablet computing might be the most nascent and unproven market in existence, but who cares: Microsoft has made the executive decision that a tablet-oriented interface should be the primary focus for Windows 8; end of discussion.

What if Windows 8 is just the first step of Microsoft’s ploy to capture the mobile computing market, though? What if Windows 8 isn’t, primarily, an earnest attempt at bringing touch to the laptop and desktop?

Just for a moment, change your perspective of Windows 8; imagine that Windows 8, rather than a bona fide, brand new OS, is actually a touch-first re-imagining of Windows 7 — kind of like Windows Me was the stopgap between Windows 98 and 2000. What if the next desktop- and enterprise-oriented OS is actually Windows 9?

What if Windows 8 is in actuality a clandestine operation by Microsoft to grow an active, dedicated developer community for Metro-style C# and HTML apps — and then to use that frothing pack of developers for another, far-more-lucrative market… like smartphones?

You see, both Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 will have very similar development paths using Visual Studio and Expression Blend. C#/XAML apps can already be ported from one platform to the other with just a handful of code changes, and when IE10 arrives on Windows Phone, HTML/CSS/JavaScript apps will almost certainly work without any code modifications at all. In other words, Microsoft has just handed out 5,000 Windows 8 tablets to eager, Windows-ecosystem developers — and the hundreds of thousands of apps that they will write between now and Windows 8′s release in 2012 will all work with Windows Phone.

It’s the perfect ruse. As Google and Android (and BlackBerry and TouchPad) users have learnt, developers follow the money — and all of the money is in Windows programs and iOS apps. In one fell swoop, Microsoft has given its millions of devotee developers a reason to create mobile-friendly, touch- and tablet-first apps; all it took was a new release of the world’s most popular desktop OS.

It really was a stroke of genius: Even if Windows 8 flops on the desktop and laptop — if it doesn’t get picked up by the enterprise — Microsoft still has Windows 7 to fall back on; much in the same way that XP was the failsafe for Vista. If it turns out that the tile-based interface is actually quite useful in the workplace, then great: Windows 8 is 100% backwards-compatible with Windows 7.

To look at this stroke of genius in another light, put it this way: Microsoft already owns 90% of the laptop and desktop market. If Windows 8 was a PC-first, keyboard-and-mouse-centric OS, Microsoft had almost nothing to gain. If Microsoft had ignored the potentially-massive tablet market, though, it could lose everything. To put it simply, making Windows 8 a first-class citizen on tablets was a no-brainer. There really was no other option.

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Windows 8: The disastrous result of Microsoft’s gutless equivocation Article

 

[vodkazvictim]

Derp.

 

[Rey C.]

If it leads to Steve Ballmer (finally) getting fired, then I'll see Winders 8 as a success.

From what little I've read about it, I don't see very many businesses taking the Windows 8 bait. I could be wrong. But from what I've read, Windows XP still has almost as much market share as Windows 7 - and Windows 7 didn't overtake XP for quite awhile. Lucky for Microsoft, it collects licensing fees from businesses whether they move to Windows 8, use Windows 7 or stick with XP. Businesses want and need the Office suite of products, so they won't lose share there. But consumers seem to have fewer and fewer reasons to buy PCs. And Microsoft is offering a rather confusing number of versions of Windows 8, depending on what sort of device it runs on... and even what chip set is in that device.

Ballmer has been a rolling joke as CEO of MSFT. He should have been fired long ago, IMO. If he wasn't Bill Gates' BFF (and if he didn't own an ungodly number of shares), he would have already been fired. Other than X-box, what half decent idea has this clown been behind? He presided over IE losing a dominant lead in the browser war. And he was the one who scoffed at the iPod (then answered with the situation comedy known as Zune), the iPhone (remember the "iPhone funeral" he concocted?), the iPad (then brought us this Surface thingy three years late), Android and any number of other emerging technologies.... and then he tried to jump on the train after it had left the station.

I think he should change his name to Peter Principle and be done with it... in retirement!

 

[Vanilla Bear]

I just finished downloading my copy. I just a new Windows 7 laptop and got Windows 8 Pro for 15 bucks.

But I won't install it as of yet. I'll wait until they fixed the biggest bugs and stuff.

 

[Excision]

I prefere Mac's OS X.

 

[georges]

I am still on windows xp professionnal service pack 3 or 4 at home and at work. I am very very happy of using it

 

[knowone]

I'll stick with Windows 7, don't like it but I've got 3 years figuring work arounds and won't start from scratch on a new interface that doesn't improve anything. Would really like to go back to Windows 95C, with just updates for new hardware (printers, cameras, etc)

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

I tried out out today and I think the adjustment from going from the only style most computer users have ever known to the tile system is going to be too much for most people. It looks like it would be amazing on tablets and I'm thinking about purchasing a Microsoft Surface for that reason, but when it comes to a laptop or desktop I can't see it replacing Windows 7.