Apple CEO Tim Cook questions how one operating system can accommodate numerous form factors.
During an on-stage interview at the AllThingsD conference on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook poked fun at rival Microsoft and its upcoming operating system, Windows 8. He openly disagreed with Microsoft's current philosophy that tablet and PC is a continuum that can run on one operating system. Just like Google, Apple believes that one focused OS should reside on one form factor.
"In my view, the tablet and the PC are different," he said. "Products are about trade-offs. And you have to make tough decisions, you have to choose. The fact is, the more you look at a tablet as a PC, the more the baggage from the past affects the product."
Of course, Apple should know this: it seemingly created the "tablet" sector with the launch of the original iPad. And while there have been many Windows-based slates on the market for quite some time, Apple seemingly got the mixture right and hasn't looked back. The only real contender thus far has been Amazon's Kindle Fire Android-based tablet.
"If you force them together, the PC is not as good as it can be, and I think the tablet is not as good as it can be," Cook added. "If you look at [a hybrid] as a notebook, you're not going to come out of the design of the product and have it be a kick-ass product."
He also went on the criticize Windows 8 -- without actually naming the product -- for pulling all the leg weight of the PC market into the tablet space. "You wind up with something that's very similar to what tablets were 10 years ago," Cook said.
Cook's criticism seems to echo previous complaints about Microsoft's Windows 8 Consumer Preview in that its interface is more focused on the touch-based experience rather than the current base mouse-keyboard audience. Navigation has reportedly been annoying, and the company even yanked out the Start menu. So far we haven't heard any feedback about the just-released Windows 8 Release Preview.
On Wednesday Google said that Chrome OS and Android would never merge into one OS, but will converge instead.
"The use cases in technology stacks on phone and tablet are very different to desktop and laptop, as are the user expectations, and the types of things you do are also very different," Google's vice president of engineering Linus Upson said. "Apple doesn't try to smash the two together and we're not trying to do it, but in time there will be a seamless user experience across all the devices."
With Windows 8, Microsoft believes it's a "no compromise" operating system that can be used on multiple form factors including tablets, smartphones, desktops, hybrids and other devices. Manufacturers are currently cranking out said devices that offer both touch-based capabilities with the standard mouse-keyboard setup.
But Cook muses that you can blend anything together -- even a toaster with a refrigerator -- but in the end will please absolutely no one.
To see a video of his interview during the AllThingsD conference, head here.
To try Windows 8 for yourself, download the latest Consumer Preview.
You stick in slices of bread, it gets frozen. You attach tubs of spread (jam, honey, butter, etc.) and that gets refrigerated too. When you press a button the fridge makes you a toasted warm sandwich like a vending machine but better. Great for midnight snacks.
Silly Tim Cook.
I don't want downgraded interface in my PC, yes DOWNGRADED since i use keyboard/mouse, i don't need HUGE start failure.
Previous start Vista/7 was/is crappy: set size of menu, messy tree, lots of scrolling ... so now they went over heads and it is full screen and no start button.
The idea of getting the same programs working on different platforms isn't bad, but execution is crappy.
Another annoying thing is forcing single look of interface in system, if M$ is using ideas from Linux, they could at list give more options to to change interface to our needs.
Gnome 2 is like that, you CAN change it entirely and that is the future !!!
You stick in slices of bread, it gets frozen. You attach tubs of spread (jam, honey, butter, etc.) and that gets refrigerated too. When you press a button the fridge makes you a toasted warm sandwich like a vending machine but better. Great for midnight snacks.
Silly Tim Cook.
Judging by the sales of ipads the consumer wants touch devices and easier interfaces. Think about it
Perhaps, in theory, a company comprised of incredible design geniuses could innovate an OS that works flawlessly on both desktop and tablet. But Microsoft is not that company.
This is not the way to go MS.
If you only knew anything about what attracts customers to a product.
Yup... he probably did not realize that.. he's still in the Apple Limbo...
Yep. That's why Windows is so unsuccessful. Because you can put it on laptops, desktops, tablets, and so on.
/sarcasm
the same company, who uses the same interface for both its tablets and smartphones
Windows 8 metro may not be great, but one patch that lets u start up in the old windows 7 like desktop... and windows 8 will be fine