October 17th, 2012
Haave You Met X is a new feature on this blog, introducing new tech for the uninitiated.
If you ever used a computer, you're 90%* likely to have encountered Windows, give or take. Now, or in a week's time to be exact, on October 26th, Microsoft is set to release the next version of its operating system: Windows 8.
Windows 8 improves on the already great Windows 7, with a lighter, faster build, so that it could run with no trouble on fairly old systems. But more importantly, Windows 8 brings with it the early winds of a shift in computing paradigms, also known as tiles. Whenever you turn on your Windows 8 PC, you'll be met with a new Start screen, with flat rectangular icons that allow you to launch new full screen apps that you can get from the Windows Store. Alternatively, you could click on the Desktop tile to go to your familiar, well, desktop.
You might find this change weird, and maybe unwelcome; not so when you see the big picture. Microsoft wants to integrate all your digital devices so they could all work seamlessly together: your PC laptop, tablet, Xbox, and your phone. You would be working on one, or watching a video or listening to music, and you could switch to the other without your workflow interrupted; well at least, that's the dream. But a big part of this dream is getting fulfilled with windows 8 on computers and tablets (haave you met the Surface?), and its little brother Windows Phone 8 on phones.
Windows Phone 8 will be revealed few days after Windows 8, on the 29th. While many of its new features are still kept under wrap, the shared kernel (the bridge between the hardware and software, to quote Wikipedia) would allow for very interesting features. One particular feature I'd like to see, that Microsoft would be amiss not to implement, is telephony services on the pc. You get an sms on your phone, and it instantly pops-up on your PC screen without the need to pick up the phone. Or you could even answer a call directly on your laptop, with the voice routed through your mobile device. Apple has done something similar with iOS and OS X on the Mac, but that is limited to the iMessages app. Whether Microsoft does that remains to be seen, sooner rather than later, but one thing's for sure: the bar is set high. Hopefully Microsoft will deliver.
Note: If you own a copy of Windows XP, Vista, or 7, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for as little as 40$ starting October 26th and until the end of this year.
Windows Phone 8 will be revealed few days after Windows 8, on the 29th. While many of its new features are still kept under wrap, the shared kernel (the bridge between the hardware and software, to quote Wikipedia) would allow for very interesting features. One particular feature I'd like to see, that Microsoft would be amiss not to implement, is telephony services on the pc. You get an sms on your phone, and it instantly pops-up on your PC screen without the need to pick up the phone. Or you could even answer a call directly on your laptop, with the voice routed through your mobile device. Apple has done something similar with iOS and OS X on the Mac, but that is limited to the iMessages app. Whether Microsoft does that remains to be seen, sooner rather than later, but one thing's for sure: the bar is set high. Hopefully Microsoft will deliver.
Note: If you own a copy of Windows XP, Vista, or 7, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for as little as 40$ starting October 26th and until the end of this year.
* At the time of this writing. The stats are estimates.