Brace yourself, Windows users. Microsoft’s operating system is poised for stunning, dramatic change.
Developers have had a chance to play with Windows 8 since last
September, but today Microsoft releases its public preview of the OS,
free to download in beta form (we’ll provide a link as soon as it’s
ready). Windows 8 is a radical departure, not just for Microsoft, but
for everything we know about so-called desktop computing.
When Microsoft purchased Skype, it was expected that we would see strong integration of the voice over IP technology within the various Microsoft operating systems. Skype for Windows Phone OS was just a matter of time before it came out.
One of the common gripes levelled against Microsoft and their
operating systems is that there are just to many versions available and
all of this segmentation leads to customer confusion. Take for instance
Windows XP, their highly popular desktop OS that was launched in 2001.
Apple owns a sizable chunk of the mobile market and even though
Microsoft has quite a ways to go before it can complete in terms of
number of devices in the hands of consumers, there is a way that they
can get a slice of Apple’s lucrative market. For quite some time now,
there has been discussion on whether
We’ve seen a number of major online companies working to build up
their cloud storage services over the past year in an effort to entice
new customers into their fold and there is even new rumours that Google
themselves are getting ready to launch their own storage locker known
simply as Google Drive.
Lately, the majority of rumours that we have reported on have
revolved around Apple and what their plans are for the next iPad or the
iPad 3. As a change of pace, it would seem that Microsoft
is making the news today, not because of a new hardware or software
launch, but rather due to a possible new service that they would like to
introduce.
Microsoft has good news for mobile users: the next version of Windows
will indeed run full-sized desktop applications on low-power-optimized
ARM-based tablets for use with a desktop and mouse. But Windows on ARM
comes with caveats for users and developers. The only desktop
applications approved to appear on ARM devices will be those built by
Microsoft: Internet Explorer, Office, the desktop and file explorer, and
other elements of Windows itself.
In an 8,600-word blog post
published Thursday, Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky, president of the
Windows division, offers new information about how Windows on ARM, or
“WOA,” devices will work. Sinofsky positions WOA as “a new member of the
Windows family, much like Windows Server, Windows Embedded, or Windows
Phone” — both like and unlike Windows 8 running on a traditional x86/64
desktop processor.
Some things work in the same way across both platforms, but others will be quite different.
While Windows 8 for x86/64 will be released in a public beta/consumer
preview at the end of the month, WOA is still only being tested by
developers on experimental trial devices. The two versions will be
finalized “around the same time,” writes Sinofsky, but there’s no
guarantee that they both will arrive on the same date.
“Our collective goal is for PC makers to ship them the same time as
PCs designed for Windows 8 on x86/64,” Sinofsky writes. But considering
that WOA demands much more significant integration of hardware and
software, WOA devices themselves will almost certainly arrive some time
later than new PCs running Windows 8 for x86/64.
“It is a good bet that the first devices will not be WOA,” IDC
analyst Al Hilwa writes in an e-mail. “In fact, we may see Intel or AMD
tablets before WOA tablets.”
In fact, overwhelmingly, Sinofsky does not refer to “Windows 8 for
ARM” or “the WOA version of Windows 8,” but simply calls it “WOA.”
“Windows 8,” meanwhile, is either referred to specifically as “Windows 8
for x86/64,” or context makes it clear that various “Windows 8″
references speak only to Windows running on x86/64.
In some ways, it’s been a mistake to say that Windows 8 will run on
both Intel/AMD and ARM processors. Following Sinofsky’s post, it now
appears more accurate to say there will be two new versions of Windows for PCs and tablets — one for Intel/AMD, and another for ARM.
Or, following Sinofsky’s metaphor of family relationships, if Windows
Server is an older sibling and Windows Phone a first cousin, Windows 8
and WOA are fraternal twins.
A unified experience from “Start” to “Store”
Still, Microsoft’s goal is for most elements of Windows on ARM to be
consistent with Windows 8 and earlier versions of Windows. “Using WOA
‘out of the box’ will feel just like using Windows 8 on x86/64,”
Sinofsky writes. “You will sign in the same way. You will start and
launch apps the same way. You will use the new Windows Store the same
way.” And both versions of Windows will support the same range of
peripherals.
The Windows Store element is important because it offers another
major point of commonality among platforms. The only applications
guaranteed to run on both Windows 8 and WOA will be “Metro-style apps”
distributed and updated through the Windows Store.
But what about recompiling x86 desktop applications to run on
ARM-based tablets? Sinofsky says no. “WOA does not support running,
emulating, or porting existing x86/64 desktop apps,” he writes. It’s a
sentence that developers of older software for Windows have anticipated
for months. But it still must feel like a kick to the chest.
And what about sideloading applications, whether they’re new Metro
apps or ports from x86? Again, no. “Consumers obtain all software,
including device drivers, through the Windows Store and Microsoft Update
or Windows Update,” Sinofsky adds.
Even running x86 or alternate applications in a virtual machine,
Sinofsky later explains, would consume too many resources for WOA’s
low-power-optimized devices. No virtualization of any kind is supported
for WOA.
If we enabled the broad porting of existing code we would
fail to deliver on our commitment to longer battery life, predictable
performance, and especially a reliable experience over time… By avoiding
these constructs, WOA can deliver on a new level of customer
satisfaction: your WOA PC will continue to perform well over time as
apps are isolated from the system and each other, and you will remain in
control of what additional software is running on your behalf, all
while letting the capabilities of diverse hardware shine through.
“If you need to run existing x86/64 software,” Sinofsky adds, “then
you will be best served with Windows 8 on x86/64. If you’re already
considering a non-Windows device, then we think WOA will be an even
better alternative.”
Indeed, while you may log into WOA in a Windows-familiar fashion,
this won’t be your father’s version of Windows. Forget installation
discs and the .exe extension. Barbed-wire fences have come to the old
prairie.
Microsoft applications for Windows on ARM
In terms of its own applications, Microsoft is offering two different
kinds of continuity between Windows 8 and Windows on ARM. The first is a
broad class of applications that will work on both platforms. The
second is a small but important set of applications specifically
developed by Microsoft for WOA machines that look and feel like
traditional Windows desktop apps.
The first group is comprised of core “Metro style” apps (for our
purposes here, read “Metro style” as “tablet”). These apps will support
mail, calendaring, contacts, photos, storage and web browsing. These
will work on both Windows 8 and WOA machines.
Here, the continuity runs from the tablet to the desktop. You can use
the exact same apps on both devices, but will be limited to apps built
and optimized primarily for use on tablets and other ARM machines. In
short, you can take any app that runs on a WOA device and run it on a
Windows 8 PC.
WOA machines, however, will not support “desktop” versions of these
applications — i.e., versions whose look and feel are optimized for a
keyboard and mouse and the traditional file-folder Windows visual style.
This is the second group of apps, the second kind of continuity. And
these apps will be Microsoft’s own.
Indeed, only a small number of core Microsoft applications and system utilities will support a “desktop mode.” Examples include:
Windows Explorer, for copying or browsing files in the file system;
running programs in the command shell;
making system adjustements in the control panel;
browsing the Internet and using HTML5 web applications (including hardware-accelerated versions) in Internet Explorer;
and finally, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote in the new Office 15.
Parsing further, for these desktop-capable WOA applications, we can break them into two categories:
on one hand, system utilities for power users that allow for greater control over their machines and the capability to peek behind the scenes of the OS;
and on the other, franchise Microsoft applications that,
while capable of being rewritten for touch, are really still most likely
to be most valuable in situations where users have a mouse and
keyboard.
Defining a standard experience on nonstandard devices
“You don’t turn off a WOA PC.” Whoa. There’s no “sleep” or
“hibernate” mode, either. Pressing the power button or allowing the
device to shut itself off puts it in a low-power, quick-start state,
where defined background processes continue to run. Microsoft calls this
low-power state “Connected Standby.” It’s similar to what we’ve seen on
mobile phones. (In fact, as Sinofsky notes, early builds of WOA were
tested on phones, as they were the only ARM machines available.) But the
new WOA model is quite different from anything we’ve seen on previous
Windows PCs or are likely to see in Windows 8, which doesn’t offer the
same kind of integrated power management. “For end-users,” Sinofsky
adds, “a unique capability of WOA is that you are in control of
what programs have access to background execution so that those apps
are always connected, and information like new mail is always up to
date.”
PCs running WOA “will be built on unique and innovative hardware
platforms provided by Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments.” That’s
the big three in ARM silicon, and it’s just a fraction of the total ARM
licensees. ARM manufacturers not participating in WOA development
include Marvell, Sony and Samsung. Plus Intel and Apple — although you
probably already guessed that.
“Windows 8 will run on every Windows 7 logo PC.” But Windows On Arm
clearly won’t. In fact, there will be no single master or vanilla
version of WOA, nor will a version of WOA designed for one machine
necessarily work on any other. “End-users are technically restricted
from installing a different OS (or OS version) on a device or extending
the OS,” Sinofsky writes, describing the very different ARM design and
platform philosophy.
Microsoft doesn’t want to be the sole manufacturer of all WOA
devices, like Apple is for iOS. But Microsoft also doesn’t want to cede
as much control to device manufacturers as Google has with Android. So,
just as with Windows Phone, Microsoft is trying to split the difference.
It may have to tailor each version of WOA to individual devices, but by
requiring that manufacturers standardize those devices to certain
chassis specifications, it keeps that process manageable. Every version
of WOA can be more or less identical, and every app in the Windows Store
will work on every WOA machine.
But make no mistake, we’re not talking about phones here. This is the
personal computer business. Even post-Ice Cream Sandwich, there really
isn’t a rich, competitive operating system for tablets and cloudbooks
just hanging out there for anyone to use. At least, not anything
offering the range and scope of Windows.
Conclusions
In short, with Windows on ARM, Microsoft is asserting an
unprecedented degree of control over a major computing platform — only
Apple has tighter reigns on its software ecosystem. That’s a difficult
comparison, though, because with iOS, Apple makes only a handful of
devices, and manufacturers all of them itself.
Microsoft, meanwhile, supports a huge range of devices, and works
with three chipset manufacturers and many more hardware partners, where
it sets the standard for the hardware specifications of those devices,
pushes them to be compatible with an even wider range of peripherals, and approves all of the software that can be installed on those devices.
Chips, chassis, applications and peripherals. Add the operating system, and that’s everything.
In return, Microsoft is promising greater security and reliability,
plus an unusual degree of capability in a low-power, “post-PC” device.
But the “no-compromise” machine also calls for compromises everywhere by
the people who make and use it. That’s the bargain being struck by
everyone involved, from silicon partners to end users.
By holding on to desktop compatibility and multiple OEMs, Microsoft
may be clinging to a PC model that’s being overwhelmed in Apple and
Google’s post-PC onslaught. Then again, maybe this is what the post-PC,
post-Wintel world looks like. When Windows 8′s fraternal twin hits the
market, we’ll have a chance to find out.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS is often criticized for lagging far
behind iOS and Android, the other major operating systems in the mobile
space. But on Thursday, a leaked description of Microsoft’s next big
mobile OS, Windows Phone 8, came to light, revealing how the operating
system will improve.
The leak, reported by blog Pocketnow and validated
by Windows insider Paul Thurrott, shows that Apollo (the codename for
Windows Phone 8) will be a major improvement over the current iteration,
Windows Phone 7.5, otherwise known as Mango.
“Currently, we have to work around some limitations with Mango, and
many of those limitations would be removed with the upcoming Apollo
version,” Eric Setton, CTO of mobile VoIP app Tango, told Wired.
Mango is the current version of Windows Phone. It launched in
October, bringing with it a slew of new features, including built-in
social media and chatting tools, groups for organizing contacts,
multitasking, and improved Live Tiles. A small update called Tango (not
to be confused with the VoIP app) is slated next, and then the world
will see Apollo, which is rumored to launch in mid-2012.
Microsoft wouldn’t tell us whether Thursday’s leak report is accurate, but offered insight on its OS plans in general.
“We think your smartphone should be smarter,” a Microsoft
spokesperson told Wired. “When I take a picture, a ‘smart’ phone should
anticipate that I may want to share it with a friend or on Facebook and
help me easily do that. With Windows Phone these kinds of things are
just built in, and we think there’s always room for a better way.”
A number of Windows Phone developers (several whom also write iOS and
Android apps) were eager to share their thoughts on this rumored
“better way.”
Microsoft is developing a Social Network..? the answer is yes , all
those rumors you’ve been hearing for the past few months are true.
Microsoft has finally made their move into the social networking with
FuseLabs latest and secret project called, So.cl.
Microsoft is now plotting to enter into the Battle of Social Networks with a brand new social network called So.cl and they made the website as in www.so.cl which pronounces the word Social, when combined. So.cl is still under development but the site is now
open for a limited amount of users as it is currently on a testing
period to get feedbacks from the users. luckily thanks to a friend of
mine, who has sent me an invite, I have managed to get inside of this
social network to get a little peek at it to see what’s this fuss is all
about. Honestly my first impression was like “WOW its Awesome,”
because it really is awesome.
Specially The design and the colors they have chosen for the site is
simply brilliant, it really liven up the whole website. and in
comparison to other social networks, this site has a breathtaking and
easy to navigate design which defeats the Pale and Dull looking design
of the Facebook and Google+. And it also has all the main features of a
social Network along with few new things.
Microsoft describes the So.cl network as a project to deliver new
social, real-time, and media-rich experiences for home and work as a
search and social networking tool, which aims to combine your search
with social and the web to bring you the best personalized search
experience ever. It’s like the Google’s new Search Feature which
personalize your search with Google+ profiles (it is most certain that
Google must have stolen the idea from So.cl)
i have to say content sharing system of So.cl does
look a little bit similar to the Google+ and also its really not easy to
update your Status Update because you will have to go through few
clicks before posting on your Feed. Network still lacks in so many ways
but it is only the beginning of a new era. im sure soon we will be
seeing a new and improved version of this site entering War against
Facebook and Google+.
Microsoft Never starts a Project without a plan, so This site will
definitely end up as a top class Social Network in the future and maybe
considering the features, facilities and the stunning easy navigating
design, this site might overtake Facebook as well. as far as it seems,
the war Between the Social Giants, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ is just
going to get better, when the So.cl hits public.
Anyone can try out So.cl, if you could ask a friend
to send you an Invite. Speaking of invite, I got great news for you
guys, as a reward to all my readers I will send invites to the First 5 People who Comments in this post. so be sure to include your Facebook Email in your comments, as currently So.cl can only be accessed through your Facebook profile.
Microsoft seems to be applying strict hardware norms it placed in
original Windows Phone 7 gadgets to its forthcoming Windows 8 Operating
System. Here is the list of Windows 8 tablet hardware requirements.
Hardware buttons: Power, Rotation lock, Windows key, Volume up, Volume down.Screen Touch points: 5.
Display: Minimum of 1366 x 768 pixel resolution at depth of 32 bits.
Storage: Must have at least 10GB free space offered for the user.
NFC: Must have “touch marks” for indicating where to tap.
GPU: Direct3D 10 GPU with WDDM 1.2 driver.
Camera: Capable of shooting 720p videos or better.
These requirements show Microsoft’s commitment in avoiding
fragmentation amongst its peripherals to have universal experience
amongst all users. Of course, it may also mean that Windows 8 PCs will
be expensive than Android tablets due to required “extra stuff”.
