Microsoft CEO Wants One OS To Rule Them All
On Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts during the FY14 Q4 earnings conference call that the company plans to merge all of the major Windows releases together into one platform that fits all screen sizes.
This move to one platform is backed by the “Universal Windows Apps” tool revealed during BUILD 2014 back in April, which allows developers to write a single app for desktop, mobile devices and the Xbox One console. A unified store is expected to be launched in April 2015 as part of the “Threshold” release of the Windows platform.
"This means one operating system that covers all screen sizes," Nadella said. "We will streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system for screens of all sizes. In the past we had multiple teams working on different versions of Windows. Now we have one team with a common architecture. This allows us to scale, create Universal Windows Apps."
He clarified that Microsoft will continue to offer different versions (SKUs) of Windows such as Windows Pro, Windows Server and so on, but they will essentially be identical at the core. He also acknowledged that the stores will be unified, as will commerce and developer platforms.
Nadella also mentioned that the company will be talking more about the future of Windows in the coming months, and what the next installment will bring to customers. Currently, Microsoft is expected to ship Windows 8.1 Update 2 in August or September, followed by a possible Windows 9 public beta in Q4 2014. After that, there may be an Update 3 in 1Q 2015 if the Windows 9 public preview isn't available.
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Even Apple doesn't have the audacity to try and merge desktop and mobile into a single platform because it doesn't work.
They're too diverse.
Unless a disc comes with both, and the option to install them is diverse. I'd like to see a Windows disc with the necessary files for both, but three options:
Mobile
Desktop
Both
That would mean you don't waste HDD space on the part you don't need.
But that is 100% incorrect. Apple has a different OS on mobile because they literally can't design an OS to save their lives. This is apparent when Apple dropped the last shred of original in-house code when they ditched OS9 and instead skinned FreeBSD for OSX. They are talentless hacks who put a new coat of paint on existing open source products.
Even Apple doesn't have the audacity to try and merge desktop and mobile into a single platform because it doesn't work.
They're too diverse.
Unless a disc comes with both, and the option to install them is diverse. I'd like to see a Windows disc with the necessary files for both, but three options:
Mobile
Desktop
Both
That would mean you don't waste HDD space on the part you don't need.
Over the next year or so, I believe there's a hard lesson coming, and that is that to become OR remain successful, a business must deliver what the Customer wants, not what it thinks the Customer should have, particularly for the sake of ongoing revenue.
Even Apple doesn't have the audacity to try and merge desktop and mobile into a single platform because it doesn't work.
They're too diverse.
Unless a disc comes with both, and the option to install them is diverse. I'd like to see a Windows disc with the necessary files for both, but three options:
Mobile
Desktop
Both
That would mean you don't waste HDD space on the part you don't need.
<Mod Note: Watch your language>
Even Apple doesn't have the audacity to try and merge desktop and mobile into a single platform because it doesn't work.
They're too diverse.
Unless a disc comes with both, and the option to install them is diverse. I'd like to see a Windows disc with the necessary files for both, but three options:
Mobile
Desktop
Both
That would mean you don't waste HDD space on the part you don't need.
But that is 100% incorrect. Apple has a different OS on mobile because they literally can't design an OS to save their lives. This is apparent when Apple dropped the last shred of original in-house code when they ditched OS9 and instead skinned FreeBSD for OSX. They are talentless hacks who put a new coat of paint on existing open source products.
Apple also basically has one OS... if you say the kernel is the OS. iOS is built on the same kernel as Mac OS X.
Over the next year or so, I believe there's a hard lesson coming, and that is that to become OR remain successful, a business must deliver what the Customer wants, not what it thinks the Customer should have, particularly for the sake of ongoing revenue.
1) Weren't they already doing this with Windows 8? Why on earth were they still working on non-unified core pieces?
2) Isn't this entirely predicated on mobile devices with x86 processors?
3) I'm really hoping they get it right. The day when your phone IS your computer, and simply docks to a keyboard/mouse/monitor are not far away. If MS does things right, my next phone could be a Windows Phone that replaces my desktop and runs x86 applications.
4) The rapid rate of Windows releases puzzles me. Windows 9 is on the horizon already?
Maybe I'm misinterpreting something, but I find the Windows 8.1 flow to be quite coherent. I have a Windows phone, desktop, xbox one, surface RT and Pro. My work and personal emails and files are all available to me whenever I switch between devices. I can be doing something on one device and continue with it on another. I've consolidated and centralized my emails/calendar/contacts with google, yahoo and outlook and the process was not complicated at all. My wife's phone is a moto x with the android versions of outlook, one drive and office apps and they sync just as perfectly with all our devices, giving her the same seamless experience. Yah I guess setting all of it up would require a little more effort, but the end result is fantastic. If they can improve on this then I'm all for it. The biggest challenge will definitely be adapting to/unifying the x86 and ARM programming but that's a hell of a challenge. Probably easier to just push for x86 on all devices since x86 is pretty much on par with ARM in power consumption now and more powerful.
An OS on a phone needs to be light weight, you cant carry all the baggage from a desktop onto a phone.
A GUI on a small touch device needs to be vastly different from a GUI on a large desktop. Touch on a desktop isnt good enough for any serious work, keyboard and mouse will still rule the roost.You cant try to shoehorn either onto either and have it work.
One core is just fine. But they need separate guis(they can be similar, but different). And you cant have every DLL from back to windows 1 in the mobile version. They need to clean out all the old crap from way back to windows 1 that they keep including into the modern versions. Backwards compatibility is good, but it should be on demand, dont install it if you almost certainly don't need it.
Windows biggest problem in my opinion is it has SO much baggage from the past. I would love a clean version designed for the desktop, no touch crap. This is what windows vista SHOULD have been, and what windows 7 SHOULD have been. And what windows 8 SHOULD have been. But they still haven't done it. When they went to 64 bit, it was the perfect time to do this. There shouldn't have been a shred of old 32 bit code in windows 7. They should have taken the time to clean the slate, and port only what they needed to 64 bit, and dumped all the legacy crap. It should have had a virtualized version of xp for backwards compatibility, with all the old stuff. That way they would have had a light weight os for mobile and the heavier desktop with the backwards compatibility.
And yeas this has been the direction that MS has been going. It is not easy to combine all features to one kernel, so it takes time to make and bring different platforms closer to each others, but it is happening.
I'm not greedy. I don't need full 3d at the beginning, just a regular winamp and firefox would be a great start. None of these watered down, same-in-the-name-only, android ones I'm using now.
Have they learned nothing!?
MS, had the chance to dominate the mobile market with an OS, their engineers wanted to make a separate OS for mobile and Ballmer vetoed it, he was hot to trot on getting the same version of windows on everyone's devices.
Satya Nadella, must not keep up with current events, but Ballmer stated it was one of his biggest regrets, not letting a separate mobile OS come into being.
If I was an MS stock holder I'd be demanding for Satya to resign or get fired, you got another one with their head up their rear. Glad I'm making plans to migrate my business to Linux in the future.
My god, how do these people get hired and paid?
Also, drop the price of Windows to no more than $30 US dollars. For those of us who need to install on more than one machine, offer us a discounted price for a volume license. Make us happy and we'll make you happy, Microsoft!
Even Apple doesn't have the audacity to try and merge desktop and mobile into a single platform because it doesn't work.
They're too diverse.
Unless a disc comes with both, and the option to install them is diverse. I'd like to see a Windows disc with the necessary files for both, but three options:
Mobile
Desktop
Both
That would mean you don't waste HDD space on the part you don't need.
But that is 100% incorrect. Apple has a different OS on mobile because they literally can't design an OS to save their lives. This is apparent when Apple dropped the last shred of original in-house code when they ditched OS9 and instead skinned FreeBSD for OSX. They are talentless hacks who put a new coat of paint on existing open source products.
"Talentless hacks" don't make the sort of money they do simply by copying. A good part was integrated, and you know, it makes sense: if someone has done the work, why reinvent the wheel?
That said, Apple has clearly made significant improvements because FreeBSD is about as far as you can get from a consumer-level OS. OSX, on the other hand, is the epitome of one.
As for my other comment, it's 100% accurate: form factors are way too diverse. How in the hell does a desktop UI make proper sense on a tablet? There has to be flexibility, but my hope is it's flexibility without bloat - take what you need and leave the rest to rot by the curb.