drbanks
New member
To me, the biggest mistake of RT was calling it "Windows."
Apple successfully started a basically new OS, iOS, that had app incompatibility with its Desktop/Laptop predecessor, OS X. And the relationship between OS X and iOS is very similar to that between RT and "regular" Windows. Same underlying bits, different app shell/API.
Apple made this work, despite the fact that neither the iPhone nor the iPad will ever run Mac apps simply because they never tried to convince anyone that it was a Mac or OS X. People accepted and embraced the new OS (new in quotes) and the new App infrastructure for what it was and Apple's been printing money ever since. Similarly, Android came around, which is at its core Linux, yet did not attempt to convince anyone that "this is a linux system."
But, because Microsoft so over-valued its trademark, they just HAD to put the "Windows" moniker on RT and in the process, confused the crap out of everyone who'd be a possible consumption device consumer. Doing that at the same time they tried to turn "regular" windows into RT, resulting in the schizophrenic UI that is Windows 8 only made the confusion worse. Imagine that Apple decided that from now on, iOS will be the primary app ecosystem for both its mobile devices and its traditional laptop/desktop systems. Well, they were actually making noises like they might do that until Microsoft created a fiasco that was hard to ignore: People aren't ready to give up their trucks.
As a developer and as a user, I actually like Windows 8's schizophrenia, especially on the Surface Pro, since it has the flexibility to be a touch device with modern apps when it's in tablet mode, and a regular windows device with a mouse when it's in desktop mode. And all other things being equal, I find the Metro style to be much more soothing on the eyes. Flipboard for RT is a thing to behold.
I am convinced that over time, the app ecosystem for the RT API will grow, and that the traditional windows desktop will become less relevant. It's just that this is going to take a whole lot longer than Microsoft had hoped. And one of the great things about RT is the not great, but much better security model that it has over the traditional windows desktop. These days, we're pretty much inundated with security patches and updates for both windows and its desktop apps, yet none of those patches will ever fix the basic phishing case of convincing someone, logged into an admin account on the desktop, to download and open/run some malware.
Apple successfully started a basically new OS, iOS, that had app incompatibility with its Desktop/Laptop predecessor, OS X. And the relationship between OS X and iOS is very similar to that between RT and "regular" Windows. Same underlying bits, different app shell/API.
Apple made this work, despite the fact that neither the iPhone nor the iPad will ever run Mac apps simply because they never tried to convince anyone that it was a Mac or OS X. People accepted and embraced the new OS (new in quotes) and the new App infrastructure for what it was and Apple's been printing money ever since. Similarly, Android came around, which is at its core Linux, yet did not attempt to convince anyone that "this is a linux system."
But, because Microsoft so over-valued its trademark, they just HAD to put the "Windows" moniker on RT and in the process, confused the crap out of everyone who'd be a possible consumption device consumer. Doing that at the same time they tried to turn "regular" windows into RT, resulting in the schizophrenic UI that is Windows 8 only made the confusion worse. Imagine that Apple decided that from now on, iOS will be the primary app ecosystem for both its mobile devices and its traditional laptop/desktop systems. Well, they were actually making noises like they might do that until Microsoft created a fiasco that was hard to ignore: People aren't ready to give up their trucks.
As a developer and as a user, I actually like Windows 8's schizophrenia, especially on the Surface Pro, since it has the flexibility to be a touch device with modern apps when it's in tablet mode, and a regular windows device with a mouse when it's in desktop mode. And all other things being equal, I find the Metro style to be much more soothing on the eyes. Flipboard for RT is a thing to behold.
I am convinced that over time, the app ecosystem for the RT API will grow, and that the traditional windows desktop will become less relevant. It's just that this is going to take a whole lot longer than Microsoft had hoped. And one of the great things about RT is the not great, but much better security model that it has over the traditional windows desktop. These days, we're pretty much inundated with security patches and updates for both windows and its desktop apps, yet none of those patches will ever fix the basic phishing case of convincing someone, logged into an admin account on the desktop, to download and open/run some malware.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram