Microsoft says it will have a ?single ecosystem? and is ?Windows? dead?

Thisismynext

 

Could be interesting or it could completely kill their business.

 

When businesses talk about a 'single ecosystem' it usually means that they are going to collapse an overgrown marketing organization.

 

The real issue here is that iOS has become such a commercial success because it isn't a full desktop operating system. Less is more when it comes to a touchscreen device. Microsoft still hasn't learned that lesson.

I am glad to hear that someone is finally thinking about dumping the damaged Windows brand, but I'm wondering if it's already too late for Microsoft. It's a big company and still dominant in marketshare, but the complete consumer rejection of Windows tablets and smartphones seems to be a grim harbinger of the future. I mean seriously, 80% of students want a Mac and Apple owns 91% of the the over $1,000 notebook market. It feels like Microsoft has already lost the war without fighting a single battle.

 

Since it's Microsoft's core business I can see them pulling it off and at least they see the technological shift taking place. Smart phones and Tablets are becoming more popular. It's a way to bridge it all under one OS.

I recently bought an Android Galaxy Tab 10.1 and while I really like it I would love to be able to have the choice of running a Windows OS designed for touch based devices.

 

I really hope this does not ruin Microsoft. I do however like the fact that Microsoft is acknowledging the growth of Tablets which is the main reason as to why they are doing this.

 

I remember reading on tech websites what hardware and software makers want to replace the PC with. It was an instant on device that was ready to connect to the Internet and allow you to do what you want wherever you want.

Besides the Tablet we are hearing more about Cloud. The two techs were made for each other. I recently tried it. I backed all my apps and whatnot to the Google server. When I reset the Tablet and entered my Gmail account the Google server gave me back everything I installed on my Tablet. Sounds simple BUT that's where the future is heading. Have a device that you can do what you want wherever you want.

The missing piece is for local governments to implement city wide hot spots that allow you to access your stuff.

 

It's impossible not to see "the technological shift taking place." Microsoft has lost the server market to Linux, has lost the high end PC market to OS X and lacks any meaningful presence in the tablet and smartphone markets.

You don't want to "bride it all under one OS." Apple has succeeded with the iPhone and iPad precisely because it didn't try to replicate the full OS X experience. In contrast, Microsoft is apparently trying to cram a full featured Windows OS into touchscreen devices with Windows 8, while forcing a horrible, touchscreen oriented GUI onto desktop users - the worst of both worlds.

Really? You'd enjoy paying Microsoft $99/year just for access to their apps store? Really? How about the bandwidth overage charges for "Download Tuesday?" How about enjoying the same malware vulnerabilities on all of your platforms? Really?

And the problem with Windows is that it's the antithesis of an "instant on" operating system. Similarly, Windows is uniquely vulnerable to malware, and the vulnerabilities are inherent, unlike Unix derived operating systems. In short, you can argue that just about any current operating system fits those criteria better than Windows.

The Cloud is an old idea that looks set to get killed off by ISP bandwidth caps.

Oh, and forget free municipal wireless coverage. The wireless carriers are getting ready to make obscene 1,000% profits from bandwidth charges.

 

I still don't understand the appeal of tablets. Sure a tablet is less bulky than a netbook (marginally), but it's still too big for a clothes pocket - and it lacks any significant functional advantage over a much more practical device, the smartphone.

I found the tablets from the early 2000s much more useful than the current non-Windows ones, incidentally.

 

I think Microsoft is starting to believe that the future is Tablets, netbooks, and laptops such as the Google Chromebook ( Chromebook)

Why is this the future? No Nemt, your missing the true reason. Its not because it will fit in a pants pocket. Its because its not bulky and lasts very long on a single battery charge. People like the fact that you can carry around this small piece of aluminum with you and do everything you could (or they would) with a regular laptop where they would have to spend more and have the machine be more bulky and have a shorter battery life. Look at the Ipad: light as a feather, 7-8 hour battery life, and I have never heard someone say "my Ipad got a virus!" Tablets: Same thing as the Ipad just more leaks, problems, and I'm not sure about viruses. Although, Tablets will improve and become more widespread.

Consumers want something that's ultaportable and pretty much, carefree. No antivirus, no viruses, no defrag, no updating, none of those things! You just play some games/apps on the thing, browse the web, read a book, and listen to music and you toss the thing to the side. That's the perfect laptop dream for a consumer.

 

Can't argue with Garfield's logic.

 

A tablet, or should I just say an iPad, since it's the only tablet that's been a sales success, is a great device for consuming content, whereas a notebook is a better device to creating content. In contrast, a smartphone is inherently too small to for consuming ebook and video content, but for consuming audio content, instant communications and the former role of the now dead PDA category. The success of the iPad stems from the fact that it isn't a full fledged PC and doesn't try to be.

Not really. They were heavy, expensive, had short battery lives and typically required a stylus. Remember a stylus? It didn't help that Windows XP, Vista and 7 were poorly attuned to a touchscreen interface. Yes, you can still buy a very expensive Windows notebook with a very complex hinge and touchscreen, but the segment seems no more popular than it was 10 years ago, despite the iPad phenomenon.

 

So it's not any more portable than a netbook and gets the same battery life with greatly reduced functionality?

Yeah great reasoning there. Tablets all the way.

 

Thank you Rodster.

If people had more knowledge about the internet and that not every site is safe and just because you pay for an anti-virus does not make your A/V more superior to the free ones (I'm talking to you McAfee, you're installed on maybe 1/4 of every laptop at my school.) Than the interwebz would not be dangerous. Common sense about the interwebz is neither for sale nor for trade but rather acquired through these forums. I feel like one of the major parts as to why Tablets are selling and Ipads is because there are no major viruses since they are relatively new products with very small communities compared to the laptop community. People just can't seem to wrap their head around unsafe sites no matter how much you tell them about it.

 

I've never heard security touted as an important feature in any tablet advertisement, iPad or otherwise. That being said there isn't any greater security on a tablet than you'd get on a smartphone, obviously.

I think people forecasting a massive upswing of tablet sales greatly overestimate how many people are willing to be the nerdy guy who carries a backpack with him everywhere to transport his "very portable" computer - meanwhile everyone else leaves the PC at home and just carries a smartphone.

 

I never said Apple or Android used their security protection additons as advertisements. However, I was looking up the security features on the Ipad and got these following quotes:

"Apple’s iPad memory design is cleverly crafted to dramatically minimize the damage that could be done by viruses or malware."- Brian Reed, CEO at security company BoxTone

"There is inherent app isolation.”-Brian Reed

"Apple genuinely has done a very good, meticulous job of inspecting apps for toxic payloads before allowing them into the Apps Store"- Brian Reed

"Apple signaled it was serious about security when it updated the iPad OS many months ago with a range of built-in enterprise-level security tools such as remote management and remote data wipes."- Read site below in next quote

"iPad also allows for device-level encryption and password protection. Out of the box, the iPad offers robust security that is dramatically higher than anything presently offered by Android tablets, say the experts." - Everything was found here: Top 10 Fun Facts About iPad Security - www.esecurityplanet.com

Now, do smartphones have that kind of protection?
I specifically used the Ipad as the example here due to it being the most successful tablet currently and "Android, by contrast, has had well-publicized problems with bad apps in its Marketplace."- Same site as above

And no, tablets are not always the same in terms of security. For example, the Ipad and the Android. And a lot of smartphones would be better in terms of security than an Android. I also read that Android and a lot of fans have said that the new Android tablet is for people who want to test it out and give feedback. Its certainly not near an ideal tablet but its getting there with the help of Android fans.

App isolation and "cleverly crafted memory" do not seem to be present in any type of phones to my knowledge. Than again, I'm no expert in phones.

 

^^^ Agreed, Google needs to make the Marketplace a safer place to download stuff. As it stands now for me I carefully read the permissions and read the reviews. I tend to stay with the big name apps.

 

You misunderstood my point about security. You apparently fail to realize iOS, Android, WebOS, etc. are largely identical on tablets and on phones - and as such, have similar security on both types of devices. Differences in security between the platforms isn't relevant. An iPad isn't any "safer" than an iPhone.

That being said, a Windows 7 PC with MSE and UAC on is very unlikely to be compromised. I don't think I've ever heard of someone buying a tablet because they're safer than traditional PCs - which is probably why tablet makers don't use it as a selling point too often.

 

I notice this has similar tones to when the PC first came out. People said Server and Mainframes would dissappear!!!!!

"The days of rooms filled with banks and banks of computers serving people on terminal clients is over!!!"

Now we move back to data centers and mobile devices.

The people who talk about tablets and mobile devices are missing the big picture. It isn't about smaller or less or mobile.

It is about commodity. User state virtualization(roaming profiles, terminal servers, laptops) use to be a feature only big companies could afford. Now it is a commodity. Those of us who use Exchange and Outlook have had "cloud computing(and this isn't even cloud computing. . .)" for over a decade. My calendar, emails, filtering followed me to whatever computer I went to. This even existed on the old Windows Mobile phones (gasp!). It's called User State virtualization. Nothing new here.

It's the reality that the PC is no longer the only player in the game. Media players (XBOX, PS3), mobile computers (laptops, tablets), cellphones, and more importantly, datacenters. The Kinect/PS3 camera is a device that changes information based on spacial displacement. Was only available to the big boys 5 years ago. Data center storage and processing power use to be a resource only the big boys could access.

People only talk about tablets and mobile phones are missing the big picture. . .

 

That's just the thing. You, me and everyone else don't have the knowledge about the internet like some of us would like to think we have. Websites become very clever and after so many years on the web and I'm a power user I still find newly disturbing things on the web but only because I read about it, it wasn't because it was blatantly obvious to me on the site in question.
Even torrent sites try and fool the most astute internet surfer with positive comments about the software being downloaded and such.

IMO your assessment about the tablets being popular is far from correct. Most people aren't walking in stores and getting tablets and saying, "I want a tablet because it doesn't viruses". That does happen in the world of buying a Mac, but a tablet? No way.

 

The reason why the netbook market has collapsed is because a low wattage X86 processor just isn't very energy efficient in comparison to an embedded ARM processor. Blame the Intel Atom family for the death of the netbook.

The surprising sales performance of the 11 inch MacBook Air indicates that there is a market for a small form factor, low powered notebook, albeit one that costs 4 to 5 times as much as the typical Intel Atom powered plastic netbook. It will be interesting to see if Windows Ultrabooks sell nearly as well as the Macbook Air. Probably not, since it's hard to sell a $1,000 Windows notebook. Maybe Intel should have pushed MeeGo as part of the Ultrabook concept....

I think that the point is that Windows is perceived as being uniquely "unsafe," regardless of platform. The real question is whether Microsoft can alter that perception, and judging by the complete commercial failure of Windows Phone 7, it's far from clear that the brand can be saved.

I don't place very much faith in either the UAC or MSE. That's not to suggest that users should turn off UAC or go without even the rudimentary protection of MSE, but that any Windows OS suffers from fundamental vulnerabilities that are absent in OS X, iOS or Linux.

I'm not criticizing Microsoft for offering MSE. Truth be known, MSE is better than the worst paid Internet security suites and worse than the best. Similarly, UAC is a weak, inconsistent substitute for a true root login, but it's better than nothing.

The real issue is that MSE and UAC are mere bandages for a gaping, bleeding wound.

I'm not sure that tablet makers have to point out the fact that Android and iOS are more secure that Windows because the consumer perception of Windows unique vulnerability is so well established. Name another operating system associated with nearly universal malware paranoia?