By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
Emerson, The Concord
Redmond-Based Microsoft has done it yet again in a move that I can only describe as a tad strange, gutsy and even foolhardy….but clever!!! A shot fired hear around the world with Windows 8 OS!
Their new Windows 8 Platform, which is optimized for Tablets i.e. touch-centric, made its debut on Wednesday June 2nd 2011AD complete with Windows Phone 7 Tiles as stated in the article “Sinofsky shows off Windows 8 at D9”, published JUNE 1, 2011 4:18 PM PDT by Erica Ogg, CNET News - Circuit Breaker.
President of Windows Development Steven Sinofsky (President of an OS? Wow…..) introduced the new retooled OS at Microsoft’s D9 Conference on Wednesday June 2nd 2011AD. A video entitled “Building "Windows 8" - Video #1” gives a rather hazy overview of what is essential is a touch-centric rebuild of Windows 7 for Tablets!
Thus the words of the President of Windows Steven Sinofsky as he was under the mike of D9 host Walt Mossberg sounds ironic, quote: “We tried with Windows 8 to re-imagine how you work with a PC.”
This is re-imagining of nothing, I am afraid to state! It’s just a copy of concept of Apple iOS, the Apple iPad and Apple iPhone 4 Platform, being overlaid on the Mac OS 10.1 aka “Lion”. Only using Windows Phone 7 on top of Windows 7!
Most likely for the same reasons too: a common Platform for apps! In short, Windows 8 OS can be expressed mathematically: Windows 7 OS + Windows Phone 7 OS= Windows 8 OS.
Guess it IS Microsoft’s intention to compete against the Apple iOS in the Tablet space as stated in the article “Windows 8, iOS 6 set for tablet face off in 2012”, published JUNE 1, 2011 8:20 PM PDT by Josh Lowensohn, CNET News - Apple Talk.
Looks like Microsoft also believes in PC extinction as opined in my blog article entitled “Tablets and the Future of the PC - Jurassic Park and License to Kill” and in the Geezam Blog article entitled “Are we Witnessing Laptop and PC Extinction?”.
Thus, this Windows 8 OS is really for the future Tablet scenario, when Netbooks, Laptops and PC’s are Smithsonian museum pieces and Smartbooks and Tablets rule the roost. Not necessarily for the current crop of Laptops as noted in the article “What Windows 8 means for laptops”, by JUNE 2, 2011 11:18 AM PDT by Dan Ackerman, CNET News – Crave.
Microsoft is essentially combining the popular and relatively stable Windows 7 OS which according to the Consumer Reports article “Windows XP still more popular than Windows 7 or Vista”, published April 25th, 2011 2:07 PM by Consumer Reports, COMPUTERS AND INTERNET, controls about 24% of Global PC usage.
That percentage share will increase as more pirated versions of a more stable version of Windows 7 OS become available, and people feel the need to migrate away from pirated stable versions of Windows XP Professional SP3!
Windows XP Professional SP3 users, the ones that Microsoft needs to get on the Legal Bandwagon on Windows 7 OS, is a whopping 54% of Global PC usage and is still strong a decade on since its 2001AD debut. Mostly pirated copies, no doubt!
Certainly explains the Hardware backwards compatibility, albeit that would not be enough to woo users from Free Linux OS Distributions, which are getting more and more Windows SP3-like in their interface.
Heck, I use Fedora Linux Distribution while online and to diagnose PC’s and Laptops!!
To add further injury to insult, Windows Phone 7 OS is not even significant on the Global phone OS Market in a world that is increasingly loving Google Android and it horde of smartphones as stated in my blog article entitled “Nokia + Microsoft vs HP Web OS - Gartner's Ocean's Eleven Plan to Rob the Casino” and the article “Apple + Android beat Nokia + RIM Globally - Regina Beaver's La Dolce Vita”.
This despite the glitzy launch of Windows Phone 7 OS for smartphones back on Monday October 11th, 2010 as stated in my blog article entitled “Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 - Love Potion Number Nine”.
Nothing wrong with making Windows 8 OS touch-centric and Tablet-ready as the Hardware show-and-tell clearly indicates in the article “Microsoft shows Windows 8 to hardware makers”, published JUNE 1, 2011 9:14 PM PDT by Jay Greene, CNET News – Microsoft.
Or even using Windows Phone 7 Tiles Interface and all its features as wrapped up in their juicy Mango Update as stated my blog article entitled “Microsoft's Mango Update and Windows 8 - License to Kill in the Real World”.
All opinions neatly summarized at the end of CNET News Editor Seth Rosenblatt’s article entitled “Windows 8 premiere raises more questions than answers”, published JUNE 1, 2011 8:09 PM PDT by Seth Rosenblatt, CNET News - The Download Blog.
Microsoft does INDEED have some serious balls, in what to me is a suicide run.
I am just upset that there is no confirmed word of Windows 8 OS being Cloud-Based, as I had been pinning my hopes that it would have evolved in that direction.
My hopes of a Cloud-Based Windows 8, which were based on my speculation about Microsoft going that route with Office 365 as noted in my blog article entitled “Windows and Cloud Computing - Audia Resident Evil After-Market Taste-and-Buy” and the article “Microsoft's Mango Update and Windows 8 - License to Kill in the Real World” are clearly dashed.
Office 365 is fully Cloud-Based, like Google Docs. Possibly more apps are to be developed by Developers.
But with no word of Windows 8 OS NOT being Cloud-Based via a IE10 Client, I am STILL holding out for Windows 8 OS in this form as opined in my blog article entitled “Microsoft's Mango Update and Windows 8 - License to Kill in the Real World”.
So it remains to be seen if the other apps that will operate in the Touch-centric take on Windows clearly made for Tablets but not quite for PC will still be Cloud-Based as stated in the article “Windows 8: Nice for tablets, but what about PCs?”, published June 2, 2011, 6:33am PDT by Mary Jo Foley, All About Microsoft - ZDNet.
In short, copy Google Chrome OS on ChromeBooks and make Windows 8 Cloud-Based!
Then again, why should I have expected better?
That is what Windows 7 was, as it was basically the finished version of Windows Vista with the Service Pack updates built in. My idea (or do you prefer the word “suggestion”) of a Cloud-Based Windows 8 OS is more future-proof, as most countries already have Basic Broadband Access.
By July 27th 2012AD London Olympics 2012 time, Broadband Internet Access would have not only improved worldwide, but most Developing and Developed Countries would have also had Cloud Servers set up to provide their services to clients.
That is, if the Cisco statistics projecting traffic levels of 966 exabytes of traffic and nearly fifteen million (15,000,000) UE (user Equipment) being connected to Broadband Internet as stated in the article “Cisco: 15 billion Internet devices by 2015”, published June 2, 2011 By Geoff Duncan, DigitalTrends.
Jamaica, being a Developing Country, would be no exception, as SME’s (Small and Medium Enterprises) can now afford Cloud-Computing instead of footing the bill for their own Local Server Hosting as stated in my blog article entitled “Digicel Cloud Backup Service and future Cloud-Based Services - V.S Naipaul's A House for Mr Biswas” and my Geezam Blog article entitled “Digicel’s Cloud Backup Services – A Deep Analysis”.
Plus, a Cloud-Based Windows 8 OS would have made it easier for Microsoft to protect their OS from Piracy, as valid copies would be authenticated and validated at the Hosting Server and access to Windows 8 OS would be tied to thirty (30) day License contracts!
Not to mention reduce the cost of Windows to almost zero by making it only a downloadable Client program that runs exclusively on the popular Windows 7 OS and loads itself from the Cloud-Based Servers via IE10 (Internet Explorer 10).
Thus, it would increase the adoption rate of Windows 7, broadband Internet Usage and Cloud-Based Server Usage as a Platform for Windows 8 OS via IE10, seeing as how Microsoft says that Windows 8 OS would be backward compatible with Windows 7 OS programs.
Literally free or ad-supported, like Linux OS Distributions or Freeware software with advertisements respectively for Home and Professional Users!
Higher versions such as Professional and Home would be maintained via traditional licensing arrangements where users’ pay for access to the Window 8 hosted on Cloud-Based Servers in thirty (30) day License contracts.
Most of the Windows 8 OS would reside on Cloud Servers and be easily updatable! For their sake, I hope the product name “Windows 8” is really just a codename and the final product is a complete rebuild of the Windows OS retooled for Cloud-Computing, modeled more on Google Chrome OS.
Call it Windows C8, with “C” standing for Cloud….?
As this Windows 8 show-and-tell at the D9 Conference is really just a trip Back to the Future (1985) in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)!
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