Thoughts On The Windows 8 UI Rumors, What’s Microsoft Thinking
Windows 7 has now become old and boring. There are no problems to write tutorials about so Windows 8 is exciting and something I can speculate about. Having written about some of the leaked slides and having read the several rumors that followed I have a theory of what Microsoft’s vision is. I’ll try to bullet it out since long essays are boring to read.
The latest rumors surrounding the UI point out two intriguing features:
- 32 bit and 64 bit flavors will have different UIs
- 32 bit will be more focused towards netbooks, laptops; 64 bit will have a 3D UI
The way I see it, mobile computing has two segments:
- Tablets – more geared towards consumption & information sharing with a tweaked mobile phone platform.
- Laptops (and smaller sized laptops aka netbooks) – for working (proper multitasking with a full featured desktop OS) on the go.
The cloud adds an interesting dimension to computing on the go. Tablets and laptops are usually a second or third computer for people with their primary being a work desktop or home server that has all or most of their data. Files stored on services like Windows Live, Google Docs are synced with at least one desktop. Current Windows is not for touch computing or in a more broader sense, for computers with a smaller form factor, some of the netbooks looks really cramped with Windows on them. And here is where I think Microsoft’s strategy for having two different UIs for different specifications might fit in well.
The way I look at things is, Windows 8 32 bit will have a UI that sports bigger icons, bigger text – focusing on smaller screens and being touch optimized. Chrome OS and Android are targeting smaller sized laptops & mobile phones/tablets respectively. Chrome OS’s USP is cloud integration, Android is touch friendly. Microsoft might just be looking to club these into one UI for a cloud based, touch friendly OS for smaller computers – tablets and laptops.
Microsoft plans to achieve instant-ON too with Windows 8 which would make perfect sense for netbooks/tablets and can be achieved if the OS is lighter and less graphically intensive.
As far as the 64 bit edition is concerned, the 3D stuff is about high end and powerful computers, the kind you have at homes, these might double as your home servers with cloud capabilities that make using computers running the 32 bit edition more practical, quick and easy. Better Xbox integration and access to data stored on the PCs running Windows 8 is something I’m certain will happen since Microsoft is positioning Xbox as your gaming console and TV companion.
To round up:
- Windows 8 32 bit – focused for netbooks & tablets (as pointed out by leaked slides); touch friendly OS with bigger icons, text etc.
- Windows 8 64 bit – for the more powerful and capable desktops.
PS: I don’t buy the desktops will be irrelevant within 2 years argument.
Totally agree to the irrelevant in 2 years thingy. I mean irrelevant to maybe the tech bloggers or even some other segments. But it will become more and more relevant to other users. The kind of images I process and the number of GBS I work on, I only see myself moving into higher and higher number of cores and bigger RAMs
Exactly! I don’t see desktops going irrelevant! I need a stable PC to backup all the phones nd laptops in my house & act as a repository for the movies etc.
I totally agree with you that desktops won’t be irrelevant within two years. Big mistake if that’s the thought.
i thought that MS said they wont have 32 bit OS from now ??
actually I did too but apparently the rumors say otherwise.
well considering ms hasnt promoted to their aftermarket(eg. printers, games) hardware/software partners
Desktops will be irrelevant in two years. Everything will be portable in two years. I would drop Atom and embrace other low power quad-core chips by Intel and AMD for netbooks. Netbook form factor is ok, but ATOM HAS TO GO. I would rather have more cores at less GHz than a higher GHz single or dual core.
I would rather be all 64 bit on Intel and 32 bit on ARM. It will put enough pressure on ARM about coming clean about their 64 bit strategy. I do not like convoluted addressing on ARM15 for going beyond 4GB. I want flat virtual addressing.
If ARM announces a 64 bit processor. I will go “64 bit only” for Windows 8.
There is nothing wrong about running a 64 bit OS on a netbook or a tablet or a laptop. Same kind of doubts were there for Windows NT a decade or half ago.
Quad core, 4GB RAM, 64 bit seems too heavy now but not in 2012.
“Desktops will be irrelevant in 2 years” Get real ! Autocad or Photoshop on a netbook or Notebook ? I know it is possible on the latter but some things will only work on a very high end desktop Core i7 with 12gb of ram or more with multiple TB hard drives. I know lots of stuff will work in the cloud but many people don’t trust the cloud enough when developing highly sensitive material. Netbooks, tablets, ipones, android devices etc are just there for casual browsing and some light work or entertainment imho and notebooks for more serious work on the go,
However I don’t see any of them replacing the desktop in the next 5 years or probably a lot longer.
Jim
i still find peripherals that eventhough they pass the ready certifaction for 64 bit windows it wont load properly even with WoW64 example printing something from the internet using a 64bit browser