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Windows 8: Do I Really Need a Single OS?
gManZboy writes "If you skip Windows 8, you lose the appealing opportunity to synchronize all of your devices on a single platform — or so goes the argument. If you're skeptical, you're not alone. OS monogamy may be in Apple's interest, and Microsoft's, but ask why it's in your interest. Can Microsoft convince the skeptics? 'If the hardware and software are the same at home and at work, one can't be "better" than the other. It would help if Microsoft convinced users like me that their platform is so good, we'd be fools to go anywhere else,' writes Kevin Casey."
To me, having multiple operating systems on a computer is like having multiple wives--there's no tangible downside to it, but it just feels wrong.
I would much rather have a variety of operating systems or platforms which use common protocols and formats so that I can switch between them. Technology evolves, operating systems change. Locking one's self into one platform at the exclusion of others is not a good idea. At least not for the consumer, it just makes it harder to switch when the existing platform falls to provide the quality demanded.
Single source OSs or anything else. If they manage to get it right, the perfect OS that satisfies every user, meets all of our needs. Then what happens? Does the world stagnate, or do they go ahead and produce something that may be totaly crap, and we are all locked in, so we all adopt the crap. No thanks, I like variety, choice, and options. I like being able to decide what I want, and what I do not want. I hope the patent situation around the world does not kill inovation, and I do not want this, as it would do the same.
You are arguing with a well known "ad troll"... which makes me curious, shouldn't the government be going after this shill for monopolizing the first post on Microsoft related articles? ;)
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
Emacs.
I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
Some kind of devices and activities are better suited for some kinds of interactionl. Screen size, to have or not touchscreen, keyboard, mouse, that you must hold it or use it on a surface, are between the factors that make one user interface better suited than others. In Linux you have a lot of different user interfaces, is not the same playing with Meego, Unity, KDE, Android or Sugar, but is all the same OS (or at very least, kernel and basic toolchain) with different user interfaces that are meant to fit to certain range of hardware.
Notepad.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Well, aside from the obvious risks of everyone being beholden to the same OS if a security hole suddenly arises (but I'm sure that won't happen with Microsoft) there are reasons to build your skills with other OSs on your own.
Where I work I am already the Windows goto guy for light IT support because calling Bangalore is like going to the dentist only less productive.
However recently I changed groups and lo and behold, the designers use both Windows and Red Hat Enterprise. They already have a dedicated Linux support guy who is really good but it's almost a certainty that I'll be doing work in Linux before too long. The fact that I've been using it at home for years will really help me to adapt quickly.
Of course, since you can now run vi in emacs then emacs is not just an operating system but can also be used as an editor.
Have you tried the new Xcode and Eclipse releases? They're fantastic and have won all kinds of awards.
Coincidentally, they're both used to create software for the fastest growing operating systems, iOS and Android.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
What you're spouting on about is what management thinks is ideal. Any real, experienced developed knows that "write-once, run-anywhere" or even "write-once, run-everywhere" is nothing but a massive load of bullshit. Any user of such software knows the same.
How many fucking times do we have to go through this? For crying out loud, it's the same each time we do it! It doesn't matter if it was BASIC in the 1970s, or C in the 1980s, or C++ in the 1990s, or Java in the 2000s, or JavaScript today.
The end result is that the software is really fucking shitty to write, and it's really damn shitty for the users who have to use it. The developers still get stuck dealing with cross-platform issues, even when it's just the same OS running on different devices. The users get a really half-assed experience, because the developers had to cut corners all over the place just to make the software run on all kinds of different OSes or devices.
Yeah, management loves it, but that's only because they aren't actually creating the shitheap, nor are they the ones who get stuck using it day-in and day-out. They see some great cost savings in the short term, but then things get really fucked up in the long term since the existing users and customers will flee as quickly as they can. You can't run a software business when all the customers left because your software became a raging pile of donkey turds thanks to embracing WORA hype.
If I want a single OS platform, I'd go with Apple. For all the handwaving Apple fanbois do, Apple actually does the unified experience pretty darn well. I'd own an iPhone, MacBook and an iMac to keep things concurrent.
If I wanted to, that is. I don't , and will stick with the mix thats's proven to be effective for me
If you skip Windows 8, you lose the appealing opportunity to synchronize all of your devices on a single platform
Linux(Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch/etc+Android)
You know, I have often said that emacs makes a reasonably good OS and all it needs is a good text editor ^_^
Just to point out here the assumption of the question is wrong. Apple is proposing the exact opposite of ubiquitous computing. They instead have two products iOS and OSX which evolve semi-seperately so that data can pass between similar applications but that the applications are quite different.
Microsoft conversely is proposing a shift to ubiquitous computing that applications and devices can alter themselves based on the way they are used, the form factor of the human. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6cNdhOKwi0 ).
What the author is proposing is different from either one of these, the current situation where there are loose standards for moving application data and different applications.
current: loose standards
apple: seamless data portability
microsoft: seamless application portability
Apple's views and Microsoft's views shouldn't be confused.
Just how many sock puppets do you have, Pie?
>new account
>similar to other Pie based accounts like PieDode and PieLala - used and then abandoned.
>used to shill Microsoft
>first post in thread
>buzzword bingo
PieMasters (2751119) is all alone in the world.
Indeed.
--
BMO
How do you know? A friend of mine's colleague has a sister who's done it and from what I hear she wasn't too impressed.
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And it still doesn't. Microsoft has for decades tried to sell us on the idea of one bloated, legacy-crap-filled OS on all devices, it was just a matter of the hardware catching up with their requirements. When they were finally convinced that a KVM interface didn't work on touch devices (giving us wonderful mind-numbing features like a "Start" button and walking menus on a 3 inch phone screen) the solution was obvious -- run a touch interface everywhere, using ideas, rebranded, that have already been successful on other platforms (example, "tiles" instead of "widgets") and convince the computing public that they will love a touch-based interface with huge sliding tiles on a 1920X1200 screen, unless they're some kind of communist.
And a few people will buy into it enthusiastically, as always, and some people will put up with it because it's a requirement for whatever they need to do, and because of Microsoft's lock on PC manufacturers, some people will put up with it because they bought the computer like that and they don't know what to do about it, and that might be enough to maintain their 60-odd percent market. And the rest of us will use something else.
I do have to use windows for some things I do. But I'm just now migrating to 7 from XP, and I have no intention of buying another copy of Windows until I see what 9 looks like. And maybe not even then, if a few companies get off their collective butts and port their products to some other platform.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
So, make it easy for developers at the expense of users? Sorry, I don't have a windows phone, don't like tiles, and don't want to run a shitty tablet/phone interface on my desktop machine.
I write desktop apps for work, and use Visual Studio 2010 instead of 2012, because I don't care about the phone crap. At work, and pretty much everyone I know will be using Window 7 at least until 9 comes out.
I like writing java with vim. :)
This is such self-serving BS. Microsoft needs a single, unified OS, not you. Microsoft did what they needed to do, for themselves, and this argument was invented after the fact to make it look like it's good for the consumer. What I need is an operating system that doesn't have to reboot every month on Patch Tuesday.
Do I really need TWO OS'es?
Unless you're a programmer or a hobbyist, I don't see why anybody would need two. Just pick one and get on with more interesting things.
I don't respond to AC's.
I use VS at work a XCode at home. I've used Eclipse at work back in 2005-2006. In my opinion:
Visual Studio:
This is the best IDE IMO and has been for a while. This could change of course. I develop the fastest with this IDE. This might be biased since I use it the most. Delphi was great in it's day (5) and VS took a lot of cues from Borland's IDE. Microsoft started as a developer tools company, and I think they still have a soft spot for it.
XCode:
XCode was a little cumbersome back in 3.x but is getting much better with every release. It's picking up a lot of cues from VS and Delphi IDEs.
Eclipse:
This is a juggernaut and it shows. I haven't used it really since 2006, but at the time, it was huge and a little cumbersome. I would have liked to see Apache/Tomcat configuration be a little more automated, because when I first set it up, it took too much time. This may be different now.
Netbeans:
As an aside, my GF used it for some MIS class projects. It's not a bad little IDE, but I haven't used it extensively.
IntelliJ IDEA:
We switched to this for our Java IDE when I used it in a previous live. This was a nice IDE when I used it for 6 months.
In fairness, I never claimed that my opinion was worth listening to. I only expressed it.
Long live Edlin.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Butterflies
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I'm sure MSVS is a god dev tool but for gods sake it's not better than sex.
If you're using sex to develop code while you may be more satisfied than me but I susect I'm getting more done. Having used many different IDE's for many different platforms including embedded development I can say that MSVS is a great platform, for developing code to run on windows. Too bad, I could really use an IDE that makes sense to me. My test is how often I need to refer to the docs to do things in an IDE. MSVS just made sense to me, I only had to run to the docs to figure out how to automate things or get a grip on the command line options when I wanted to nmake projects. With Eclipse I'm constantly running to the docs to figure out the most mundane things.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Imagine if Toyota had a near-monopoly on passenger cars. There would be other makers selling specialty trucks and busses, but most people would be driving Toyotas. On top of that, Toyota would be producing a single model every few years, like Corolla 95, Corolla 97, Corolla 2000 and people would feel like getting a new car is a requirement. Now suddenly some smaller maker Kawasaki releases a new model of a motorcycle that everyone enjoys driving and sales go through the roof. The controls are very different than those of Corolla – the shape of steering wheel, how you switch gears with your foot, several brakes, and it is a significantly more fuel efficient than any Toyota. New uses for the motorcycles are discovered – they can be driven on pedestrian walkways, or can even be taken into the offices. There are talks how everyone will be driving motorcycles in the future, how we are entering a post-car era, and how, if you want to be current, you need to make motorcycle-friendly roads.
At the same time Toyota remembers how it tried making motorcycle in the past with a round steering wheel and no one bought it, so it needs a new plan. It develops its own version of Corolla-Moto that has a new set of controls where you switch gears with your elbow. Some people saw a test model and had different opinions – some liked it, some hated it. Toyota plans to start producing motorcycles that mimic the Kawasaki, but it first needs to teach users how to shift gears with the elbow and other oddities of motorcycle controls. Since nearly everyone is driving Corollas, Toyota comes up with a plan to install motorcycle controls in the new version of Corolla alongside with the regular controls. And it allows switching controls while driving! Yes, the shape of the steering wheel changes, the gear shifter moves from the right hand to the left elbow, etc. All that while you drive!
Since everyone already knows how to drive Corollas, Toyota needs to make the existing car controls a little bit more inconvenient so that users are forced to use the motorcycle controls. For example, the only way to start Corolla-Moto is to rev up the engine by twisting the right handlebar. No one ever needed to twist anything on any car model before. So the plan is to beat Kawasaki, and has nothing to do with making the car better for the driver. Many start blogging that “motorcycle is the future” and if you don’t buy new Corolla-Moto (which gets renamed to Corolla-Toyota-Style in the last minute) you will be left in the past. Very few question true Toyota’s motives and quarrel about little details of the new interface and discuss how they intend to skip the Corolla-Toyota-Style and keep driving their existing Corolla-2007. Once enough people learn how to shift gears with their elbows, Toyota plans on introducing more motorcycles with similar controls and driving Kawasaki out of business. That’s the nature of business.
There's no such thing as "illegal download"
What does typing java have to do with what co-workers think of my ass? I work out its actually doing pretty well. I hope they enjoy the view of it.
When you actually get paid to code, sometimes the people signing the check pick the language.
"Oh man, you mean you hate being required to learn how things work?" Why do you say that (at least I took it as such) in a sarcastic way? If I'm being employed by COMPANY XYZ to make a product, they don't want and I don't want to spend 3 months trying to figure out all off the bullshit to get my job done. Software is one of those unique things that can be molded into a tool that is BOTH functional AND easy to use. I've never quite understood why the FOSS crowd (and I do love FOSS so we're clear on that) INSISTS on making things stupidly complex. WYSIWYG and "Point-Click" Wizards are not bad things, even for those of us who CAN sit down and figure everything out. There are days that I look at a piece of FOSS and go "that is so cool", but if it'd take me 3-4 hours to set it up JUSt to get it working I might just be turned off on it. FOSS should be more than just "you can customize it", it has the capacity to BE better than Commercial software from a non-technical standpoint. All too often I feel like developers forget the human element of your target audience.
The logic being presented here is very flawed. The root of the argument is this quote:
"There's a productivity gap when [users] come into the workplace and have to switch operating systems to work with 'in house' software versus 'mobile' software. Windows 8 bridges that gap. Same device at home as at work. Same software. Same cloud back end. Same identity system," wrote reader "moarsauce123."
This post is wrong on so many levels.
- Odds of most large corporations upgrading to Windows 8 any time in the next 2-3 years is slim to none. Windows 8 is a huge paradigm shift and there is simply zero reason for them to endure that kind of re-training cost.
- Odds of most large corporations allowing you to cloud-sync your work machine with your home machine is also slim to none. I can't even plug in my own USB thumb drive at work, you think they are going to allow me to cloud-sync my OS? Crazy town.
- Your company does not want you using the same 'identity system" at work as at home. You think my company wants me logging into Windows with my hotmail address?
Wow, stating a reasonable opinion based on personal experience. No wonder you posted anonymously.
#DeleteChrome
Except for the battery life... I get 5 to 6 hours on my Thinkpad convertible tablet, so the new device should hit at least 10 in order to make the upgrade worthwhile :-)
I'm hoping one of the Windows 8 based tablets will fit the bill, even if I'm not actually looking to run Windows8 specifically ...
-phone: linux with android on top
-desktop: linux with kde on top
-laptop: linux with kde on top
-tablet (hypothetical): linux with android on top
-settop box: linux with enigma on top
-server: linux
In my case linux just works fine as OS, the actual interface to is is use case specific. Only use case for Windows in my case is games but haven't felt the need since getting a console and finding out Civilization actually runs fine with wine. YMMV.
Most of your points sound rather in favour of syncronization [sic].
True, but I'm talking about the computer definition of "synchronization", not the literal definition, like plugging your iPod into a computer with iTunes to merge changes between the two devices. Why should I have to plug my iPhone into my laptop to download a damn song from the marketplace? Why can't I just download it directly?
Sounds more like he's saying that learning *an* assembly language does wonders for your perspective on other, higher-level languages, which I would agree with. Does it really matter which chip you learn the assembly for?
Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
A poor workman blames his tools.