Windows 8 is a Major Leap Forward, and Here's Why

Credit to Paul Thurrott of the SuperSite for Windows for the images.

Last Wednesday, Microsoft began to unveil Windows 8, the next version of the Windows desktop operating system. However, this version of Windows has promise that the previous versions did not. Steven Sinofsky, the man “responsible for Windows”, according to Paul Thurrott, introduced a very interesting interface for Windows 8 that appears to be all too similar to the Windows Phone 7 “Metro” UI. In Windows 8, they have engineered a special interface designed for multitouch tablets that packs the functionality of traditional Windows and a brand new experience for tablet owners.

As a part of Windows 8, this new interface for tablet devices is a big deal. The new user interface packs true multitouch designed from the ground up for tablets. The first thing you will notice about the interface is that it looks very similar to Windows Phone 7’s “Metro” user interface. The idea of bringing live and interactive content to small or large tiles was originally brought forth in Microsoft Windows Phone 7 platform, and is now coming to the desktop in a similar fashion with Windows 8. With Windows 8, you can have applications that bring interactive content, straight to your tablet. A great example would be social networks like Facebook. You could have a tile on your screen that has live Facebook content that is refreshes at certain intervals. Or you could choose to setup a photo slideshow tile, which displays photos of your family and friends, retrieved from various sources like Facebook and Google, as well as photos stored locally.

It is important to note that the new Windows 8 experience for tablets isn’t the only option. You could still choose to run the traditional Windows desktop experience. I believe that the traditional Windows desktop is the default interface, but you could turn on the new Windows 8 UI. You might ask why someone would turn off a gorgeous new interface. Well, it’s quite simple. The majority of Windows PCs running right now are not tablets with touch screens. Since the new interface is really more designed for touch screen tablets I would like to see Microsoft integrate some of the innovative new interface features of Windows 8, into the traditional desktop experience so that even if you were using the old desktop shell, you could still receive some of the benefits of the new UI. There is no word currently on whether Microsoft will do that or to what degree they will do that.

There were some concerns addressed at this unveiling. Microsoft did address the issue of compatibility with applications and the integration of Windows 8 in businesses. The user will still have the ability to run conventional Windows applications, and you can still run the new tablet interface at the same time. So you won’t be stuck with only the new applications that will be designed for the new tablet shell. The major software giant also made note that they are designing Windows 8 so it will not be difficult for businesses to adapt it. Microsoft plans to offer businesses who subscribe to Windows in their business, the ability to switch their Windows 7 licenses to Windows 8 free.

It wasn’t immediately obvious to me, but the more I think about Windows 8 and the future of Windows on desktops and tablets, I believe this closely resembles Bill Gates’ dream of the perfect tablet PC. Windows 8 seems to have mastered the perfect touch interface for tablets, but still maintains backwards compatibility with traditional Windows applications and systems.

This unveiling of Windows 8 seems to be pretty close to what the final product will look like. And even Microsoft is confident that there shouldn’t be any more major revisions to Windows 8. There seems to be a consensus that Windows 8 will launch in mid-2012. And to backup that up, Steve Ballmer was quoted as saying that Windows 8 should ship in 2012. All we can do is hope! But from what we’ve seen so far, Windows 8 will be a dramatic step forward for Microsoft and for the Windows brand.

Windows Phone 7 is a sitting duck!

Last year, in spring, as you may know, Microsoft announced that they were working on a new multi-touch focused mobile platform. At that point in time, it was called 'Windows Phone 7 Series.' But then later on, they renamed it to 'Windows Phone 7' in an attempt to eliminate confusion.

Back in November, the first Windows Phone 7 device was launched in the U.S. (The Samsung Focus) It was quite an elegant device with all the physical features and appearance of a typical smartphone. The problem was, Windows Phone 7 was behind in lots of areas in which Android and iOS had filled.

Sadly to say the least, Windows Phone 7 is still in the position it was back in November of last year. It still lacks an official update that is compatible with all Windows Phone devices. Even the alleged update that "updated the update mechanism" didn't come to many devices. And even for those devices that got the debated "no functionality" update, it caused major technical problems for those devices.

Since then, Microsoft pulled back that debatable "pointless" update and there is no evidence in the horizon that would suggest that the update is coming back soon. Even if the update didn't provide new functionality, at least it would have paved the way for future updates that would bring new features or would improve previous features.

I'm very disappointed that Microsoft is putting the Windows Phone 7 platform in "the back seat" so to speak, meaning that priority of Windows Phone updates and fixes is quite disappointing. Remember that Microsoft still hasn't dealt with the SD card issue and if they don't respond to the massive problem soon, and if they don't deal with the massive complaints soon, it could spell a disastrous blow to the platform and consumers and developers alike, will lose faith.

We need an update Microsoft! I believe we're not putting high expectations on the company. Since, we, as consumers (hopefully), are only expecting an update that will fix the updater problem and possibly fix the SD card issue.

These are serious issues, and unfortunately, Microsoft is not taking the complaints and technical concerns seriously or to a literal extent. This could potentially permanently injure the Windows Phone 7 platform, which in my opinion, and in the opinion of many other, is a great platform and that Microsoft just needs to clean up their act.

Windows Phone 7: It’s not a market stealer, it’s a precedent maker.

The headline says it all. Windows Phone 7's goal is not to steal market from Android or iOS, it’s real goal is to take market away from feature-phone makers. Eliminating feature-phones will give WP7 a more competitive edge against iOS or Android. So rather than Microsoft aiming at Android or Apple users, Microsoft aims the rifle gun at feature-phone makers like Nokia. Who still make an ungodly amount of money from feature-phones because “they’re cheap”. Microsoft shaped Windows Phone 7’s user interface at those who are new comers to the smartphone space, those who came from feature-phones. Some rumored, unconfirmed reports claim that Samsung Focus, which is the first major WP7 device to go on the market, sold approximately 40,000 devices on launch day. Some people dawn on this and think, “Shame Microsoft, shame.” When in fact, this is an unconfirmed report, this is great considering this is one day sales, and the fact that they’re comparing it to iPhone 4 which in my opinion sold in ungodly amounts. They think that Microsoft was aiming it at Apple. But they are wrong! Unfortunately, because Microsoft poorly, and I mean poorly communicated to their users what their intent was with Windows Phone 7, the general “techies”, if you will, were conceived that this was a good attack at Google’s Android, which is a great mobile OS. Windows Phone 7 is aimed at ease of use because of it’s intuitiveness, and great “tile” UI design.  Point is, Microsoft wasn’t aiming their attack at Google or Apple, they led their attacks against feature-phone makers to allow smartphones to consume the whole space.

My next iPod will be a Zune! And why I think the new iPod lineup is a flop!

After the Apple Event, I found myself disappointed with the reality of the new iPod lineup. The iPod Shuffle only got buttons back and a smaller, lighter design. So what?! The new iPod Nano has eliminated the click-wheel, but now is just a small 2-inch LCD touch-screen wristwatch! And it's important to take this into consideration:

• The iPod Nano now cannot play video! :(

• The new Nano can't run iPhone apps!

• And the screen is too small!

The iPod Touch may have gotten a "nice refresh". I disagree completely!

Understand that the iPod Touch:

• Has the weakest camera I have ever seen! Not even a megapixel! And the resolution that the camera takes is incredibly poor. My question is: Why the heck did Steve put a camera in the iTouch in the first place?!

• It has a front-facing camera. But hold on a second! This camera only works with FaceTime (Apple's incredibly unsuccessful video conferencing software!). You can only call other iPhone 4's & 4th gen iPod Touches! If your friends one of the two devices, you can't call them! It's completely useless! Again, why did Jobs bother putting a camera in the device!

• The 8GB iPod Touch is now $30 more expensive! Steve, you have disappointed me greatly! You give us a crappy camera and charge us 30 extra bucks for a camera that may cost 5 bucks to manufacture!

I'm not going over the positives of the iPod Touch. Let me make myself clear...I hate the iPod! All iPod models! Proprietary software, you have to sync to iTunes to get content, and it's just plain flat too expensive for some very bleak functionality!

So, why do you like the Zune so much?

Not to be a Microsoft fanboy, but the Zune is much more compelling! The Zune HD gets you 16GB for less than the price of an 8GB iPod Touch! A Zune HD 32GB for a little more than an 8GB iPod Touch!

The Zune HD:

• Offers Zune Pass, a music service from Microsoft that gives you unlimited songs for $15.99/month! And every month you get to keep 10 songs in download form! That is so much more economical than buying songs by the dozen on the iTunes Store!
• Gives you an HD-Radio receiver!
• Works with HD video!
• Offers Wi-Fi (duh!)
• And something that the iPhones & iPods need...Wireless syncing! Allows you to sync to your PC wirelessly!
• And unlike iTunes, the Zune software for the PC is not "crapware"! It works well without bugs! The stability and performance of the Zune PC software is an order of magnitude better than iTunes!

By the way, the library of music on the Zune store is comparable to iTunes. The Zune store has a nice library of music & videos!

Allow me to summarize this with one simple equation.

Steve Jobs + greed + poor product quality = New iPods are terrible!

Microsoft Zune software + convenience + price of content & hardware = Zune rocks!