MS is back in action

Kashan Osama

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talking generally,I guess they have made some VERY,very giant changes,and actually visionary changes with regards to their development platform and the One windows vision..

I don't wanna type much,So discussion would continue from there...Would point out only a few of them here btw

1. cutting the licensing cost to $0 for Windows and Especially Windows phone software...

2. Microsoft open-sources 'Roslyn' .NET compiler platform - GeekWire

^There were few more things aswell,Couldn;t find the article describing them...

3. Unifying RT/WP/Win apps under a single platform,get ready for some RT apps,It isn't dying IF the customers understand their new move,So MS might have a chance in ARM product
s..

What do you think of it all,and more about it?
 

smoledman

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The big things out of BUILD were: Cortana, Universal apps, open-sourcing of Rosyln and making Windows free on cheaper devices.
 

RavenSword

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Yeah , I agree, they made a lot of strides. This is probably the most excited ive been of the company in years.

I do have a question though. Do we think the one windows initiative is a good idea overal? I've been thinking about it and don't different devices require different things? Can you effectively take the same windows operating system and put it in desktop, laptop, tablet , and phone ?
 

psychotron

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3. Unifying RT/WP/Win apps under a single platform,get ready for some RT apps,It isn't dying IF the customers understand their new move,So MS might have a chance in ARM product
s..

Really glad to see this. They've been talking about it for the last three and a half years. I was beginning to think that it was one of those things that would never actually happen like WinFS.
 

psychotron

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Yeah , I agree, they made a lot of strides. This is probably the most excited ive been of the company in years.

I do have a question though. Do we think the one windows initiative is a good idea overal? I've been thinking about it and don't different devices require different things? Can you effectively take the same windows operating system and put it in desktop, laptop, tablet , and phone ?

They came real close to doing that with Windows Mobile and it worked out pretty well for them then. I guess like most things only time will tell. One thing is for sure - It definitely won't suck to have a boatload of apps available across all platforms.
 

RavenSword

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They came real close to doing that with Windows Mobile and it worked out pretty well for them then. I guess like most things only time will tell. One thing is for sure - It definitely won't suck to have a boatload of apps available across all platforms.

Yeah of course. If it helps apps, I'm for it. I just generally think that a phone requires different things in a OS than a desktop does.
 

Cleavitt76

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... I do have a question though. Do we think the one windows initiative is a good idea overal? I've been thinking about it and don't different devices require different things? Can you effectively take the same windows operating system and put it in desktop, laptop, tablet , and phone ?

Yes, yes, and no.

Yes, Microsoft's "one" initiative is a great idea overall, but your concern about the requirements of different devices is also valid. However, Microsoft's goal is really about having a consistent *user experience* across devices. They aren't really trying to put the same version of Windows on every device or replace every program with a "universal app". There is a reason why they currently have full Windows, Windows RT, Windows Phone, and Xbox One has it's own specialized OS as well. Also, contrary to popular belief, they are not planning to get rid of the desktop environment or programs on devices where that paradigm is useful (laptops, desktops, servers).

The idea is more like a series of OSes that are based on each other (shared kernel and overlapping APIs) and increase in functionality/complexity as the intended target device gets more powerful. The same goes for programs. If a developer is creating a fairly simple app that is appropriate for multiple devices then a modern UI universal app would be a good choice. It could then run on anything from a desktop to a phone or Xbox. However, something like Adobe Photoshop or AutoCAD doesn't make sense on a mobile device like a phone so a traditional desktop program targeted at a desktop/laptop would still be the way to go. There are also situations in between where an app might need increasing complexity and a modified UI layout for different devices, but even those apps will benefit greatly from having a set of related APIs across all the OSes since the logic could be written once and only the UI layers would need to be tweaked and maintained separately.

Of course over time, as mobile devices become more capable and powerful there will be opportunities for MS to merge OSes and APIs to bring things even closer together. For example, Windows RT and Windows Phone are likely to be merged into one OS someday in my opinion. Maybe some day phone hardware will be so powerful that it will be no big deal to install the full version of Windows on it and just not use most of the functionality, but that day is a long way off and MS is well aware of that.

Anyway, Microsoft's "One Windows" concept is about the experience and shared services, but the technical implementation of that concept is going to have many parts.
 

rodan01

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The shortcut to the app store in the taskbar of Windows 8.1 update 1 is a great addition. According to the stats of adduplex, PC users don't use the store much. An increase of usage could have a huge impact in downloads and It would attract new developers.
 

smoledman

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The problem with "One" Microsoft approach to UX is if the consumers hate that UX it's DOA. The fundamental problem with the tile-UI is that it's a big waste of screen real estate and the cut-off tiles are a big turnoff. Not to mention the flatness of the UI elements goes against everything consumers have been driven to love over the last 7 years since iOS came out.
 

Kashan Osama

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Yeah , I agree, they made a lot of strides. This is probably the most excited ive been of the company in years.

I do have a question though. Do we think the one windows initiative is a good idea overal? I've been thinking about it and don't different devices require different things? Can you effectively take the same windows operating system and put it in desktop, laptop, tablet , and phone ?

Really glad to see this. They've been talking about it for the last three and a half years. I was beginning to think that it was one of those things that would never actually happen like WinFS.

They came real close to doing that with Windows Mobile and it worked out pretty well for them then. I guess like most things only time will tell. One thing is for sure - It definitely won't suck to have a boatload of apps available across all platforms.

Yeah of course. If it helps apps, I'm for it. I just generally think that a phone requires different things in a OS than a desktop does.

Yes, yes, and no.

Yes, Microsoft's "one" initiative is a great idea overall, but your concern about the requirements of different devices is also valid. However, Microsoft's goal is really about having a consistent *user experience* across devices. They aren't really trying to put the same version of Windows on every device or replace every program with a "universal app". There is a reason why they currently have full Windows, Windows RT, Windows Phone, and Xbox One has it's own specialized OS as well. Also, contrary to popular belief, they are not planning to get rid of the desktop environment or programs on devices where that paradigm is useful (laptops, desktops, servers).

The idea is more like a series of OSes that are based on each other (shared kernel and overlapping APIs) and increase in functionality/complexity as the intended target device gets more powerful. The same goes for programs. If a developer is creating a fairly simple app that is appropriate for multiple devices then a modern UI universal app would be a good choice. It could then run on anything from a desktop to a phone or Xbox. However, something like Adobe Photoshop or AutoCAD doesn't make sense on a mobile device like a phone so a traditional desktop program targeted at a desktop/laptop would still be the way to go. There are also situations in between where an app might need increasing complexity and a modified UI layout for different devices, but even those apps will benefit greatly from having a set of related APIs across all the OSes since the logic could be written once and only the UI layers would need to be tweaked and maintained separately.

Of course over time, as mobile devices become more capable and powerful there will be opportunities for MS to merge OSes and APIs to bring things even closer together. For example, Windows RT and Windows Phone are likely to be merged into one OS someday in my opinion. Maybe some day phone hardware will be so powerful that it will be no big deal to install the full version of Windows on it and just not use most of the functionality, but that day is a long way off and MS is well aware of that.

Anyway, Microsoft's "One Windows" concept is about the experience and shared services, but the technical implementation of that concept is going to have many parts.

The problem with "One" Microsoft approach to UX is if the consumers hate that UX it's DOA. The fundamental problem with the tile-UI is that it's a big waste of screen real estate and the cut-off tiles are a big turnoff. Not to mention the flatness of the UI elements goes against everything consumers have been driven to love over the last 7 years since iOS came out.

The shortcut to the app store in the taskbar of Windows 8.1 update 1 is a great addition. According to the stats of adduplex, PC users don't use the store much. An increase of usage could have a huge impact in downloads and It would attract new developers.


Thanks for the replies...

I would just say As soon as 64bit chips go into Mainstream we would be seeing Desktop level Apps soon on Mobiles/tablets aswell,so it is just a matter of time,Apple has already leapfrogged ahead of other Manufacturers...I hope MS would be the one to catch them,Their robust and well-settled Desktop platform would really do wonders with 64bit WP...Guess the possibilities,full-featured office in each and every respect,Full featured Enterprise Pack or whatever they call it...It would do really wonders...

MS Is doing well " NOW" by "Reportedly" going towards a "Not-so restrictive" approach (though it is just an assumption,we have yet to see the APIs they are going to give to the devs) to the software so it would really help...Lets see what happens next
 

bayanii

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I feel like they waited for the right moment. I know to many it seemed retarded to play catch up. All in my assumption, but let the two burn themselves out. Sue each other to death, while Microsoft plays a watching role. At this point many are looking for something new. Microsoft may be that offering.
 

Xpider_MX

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The problem with "One" Microsoft approach to UX is if the consumers hate that UX it's DOA. The fundamental problem with the tile-UI is that it's a big waste of screen real estate and the cut-off tiles are a big turnoff. Not to mention the flatness of the UI elements goes against everything consumers have been driven to love over the last 7 years since iOS came out.

Too much hyperbole.

1) The "consumers" do not hate the Modern UI, "some" consumers hate it, but not all of them. If the consumers hate the UI, why a lot of people are using "Metro-based" launchers?
2) The Modern UI is perfect for data driven apps, it is not a "big waste of real screen". You can configure each tile for using little or big space, if the app will show a lot of data (for example, news), then you set it as a big tile, if it only is a "shorcut" (for example, Internet Explorer), then set it as a small tile. iOS UI is old, it is "windows 3.0 era", icons arranged on columns, it force you to open the app for look the new information. Android has not a "real" UI.
 

Cleavitt76

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The problem with "One" Microsoft approach to UX is if the consumers hate that UX it's DOA. The fundamental problem with the tile-UI is that it's a big waste of screen real estate and the cut-off tiles are a big turnoff. Not to mention the flatness of the UI elements goes against everything consumers have been driven to love over the last 7 years since iOS came out.

Well fortunately most consumers don't hate the UI. There is just a loud minority that can't get over the fact that the old Start Menu was retired after nearly 20 years. Modern UI is designed for relatively simple touch friendly applications. To say that it is a "big waste of screen real estate" is to say that every iOS and Android app is a big waste of screen real estate since those are also optimized for touch. Any program you are going to control directly with your finger tips is going to have to be less dense (more unused space) than a program controlled via mouse/keyboard.

The live tiles are used on the Start Screens which are used only to find and launch a program/menu. Please explain how a user trying to launch a program on the old Windows start menu which was confined to a small portion of the screen and had to use nested folders because it couldn't display much in that space was a better use of screen real estate. Doesn't it make sense to use the whole screen to display options so that the user can make their choice and get back to work? Doesn't it make sense to use the same "icons" to display useful info/notifications instead of using more screen space elsewhere for separate notification icons/messages? Please explain how iOS or Android make better use of screen real estate with their collection of icons approach. Does that not still take up the whole screen or multiple screens?

Thanks for the replies...

I would just say As soon as 64bit chips go into Mainstream we would be seeing Desktop level Apps soon on Mobiles/tablets aswell,so it is just a matter of time,Apple has already leapfrogged ahead of other Manufacturers...I hope MS would be the one to catch them,Their robust and well-settled Desktop platform would really do wonders with 64bit WP...Guess the possibilities,full-featured office in each and every respect,Full featured Enterprise Pack or whatever they call it...It would do really wonders...

MS Is doing well " NOW" by "Reportedly" going towards a "Not-so restrictive" approach (though it is just an assumption,we have yet to see the APIs they are going to give to the devs) to the software so it would really help...Lets see what happens next

64bit really has nothing to do with "desktop level apps". Desktop level apps have been around since decades before 64bit CPUs were common and many current desktop apps are still compiled as 32bit. 64bit also has no real advantage for current or near future mobile devices. As a matter of fact, it has slightly more overhead and would make for less efficient use of memory. Quite frankly, I don't know why Apple wasted their time switching to 64bit mobile processors at this point. There is no near term advantage and they could have focused that energy on more important things until mobile 64bit is capable of actually solving a problem.

The reason desktop level apps (i.e. data intensive and complex) don't exist on mobile devices is because the form factor of a 5" touch screen phone isn't really appropriate for interacting with that type of program. It would be a horrible experience for the user. On a tablet it works to some degree (depending on the nature of the desktop program) which is why MS has made Windows 8 run on tablets, but a phone's screen and a finger tip just doesn't offer enough precision to work with complex programs. Desktop programs are also often used along side other programs when a user is multitasking, which makes even less sense on a tiny phone screen. This is the reason mobile apps exist in the first place. It would have been a lot easier (for Apple and MS at least) to just port or re-compile their existing desktop apps to ARM.
 

Kashan Osama

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Too much hyperbole.

1) The "consumers" do not hate the Modern UI, "some" consumers hate it, but not all of them. If the consumers hate the UI, why a lot of people are using "Metro-based" launchers?
2) The Modern UI is perfect for data driven apps, it is not a "big waste of real screen". You can configure each tile for using little or big space, if the app will show a lot of data (for example, news), then you set it as a big tile, if it only is a "shorcut" (for example, Internet Explorer), then set it as a small tile. iOS UI is old, it is "windows 3.0 era", icons arranged on columns, it force you to open the app for look the new information. Android has not a "real" UI.


Truth be told,the enterprise hates Metro,and it is not like hating "Metro",It is related to a sudden and un-welcomed change towards the OS design,this is why Apple always tries to remain consistant with their UI,even after transitioning from iOS6 to iOS 7,despite from visual overhaul,The key Elements remained the same...The design language,the swipesthebackbutton everything remained intact,Well they included swipe to left to get back but still also included a back button just because People don't have un-easiness with the change,And yes,People require things that "Works" out of the box,and works perfectly,They don't want to learn things,like BB10 or Metro...they just want it to work...on flipside I do not agree completely with Apple's turtle progress,though it is an entirely different discussion...

Had they released Windows 8 like Windows 8.1 update and just would have been quite different,the keyboard,mouse folks and enterprise users wouldn't have complained "That" much about Windows 8,They would be fine with it,they would even have appreciated after getting a hang of it,like the change slowly growing on them,Just like even the Pathetically eye blinding iOS 7 grew on People's eyes,THOUGH i personally hate it,It really hurts,i mean actually physically hurts my eyes...
 

Kashan Osama

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What makes you say that?

The reviews of analysts about how enterprise hated metro ui,general sense about the enterprise,they didn't want a change,they wanted things to work as it is and without much thinking...see most of the enterprise still has old xp,so you think they can adopt with changes easily? when i first installed windows 8...for the first 6 hours i didn't know where was the desktop, though yes it was in left in middle,but the live tiles and everything was just so alien to me....i mean really really alien...well a matter of opinion...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

thatotherdude24

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The reviews of analysts about how enterprise hated metro ui,general sense about the enterprise,they didn't want a change,they wanted things to work as it is and without much thinking...see most of the enterprise still has old xp,so you think they can adopt with changes easily? when i first installed windows 8...for the first 6 hours i didn't know where was the desktop, though yes it was in left in middle,but the live tiles and everything was just so alien to me....i mean really really alien...well a matter of opinion...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

​I think you might be one of the few who couldn't find the desktop. Right from installation it has a giant tile named "Desktop".
 

paulsalter

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The shortcut to the app store in the taskbar of Windows 8.1 update 1 is a great addition. According to the stats of adduplex, PC users don't use the store much. An increase of usage could have a huge impact in downloads and It would attract new developers.

IMO, it will increase the usage as you mention, or it could go totally the other way and reduce usage of Metro/Modern apps

From what I have seen with Metro apps soon to run in a window on the desktop, why would people chose the Metro app over a desktop app

eg, I run the default mail app (metro) in a window on my desktop, what would make me chose this over WLM which is an actual desktop app

I do use Metro apps, as I like the full screen un cluttered view, but if they are running in desktop mode, I might as well use the desktop apps

The idea is good, just not sure if it will persuade people to use the apps
 

Cleavitt76

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The reviews of analysts about how enterprise hated metro ui,general sense about the enterprise,they didn't want a change,they wanted things to work as it is and without much thinking...see most of the enterprise still has old xp,so you think they can adopt with changes easily? when i first installed windows 8...for the first 6 hours i didn't know where was the desktop, though yes it was in left in middle,but the live tiles and everything was just so alien to me....i mean really really alien...well a matter of opinion...

Don't put too much emphasis on what you read on consumer technology websites about enterprise IT topics. Many of those analysts have zero experience in the enterprise IT field. They are tech bloggers and half of what they write is fiction. Their "analysis" is based on uninformed assumptions about an industry they really don't understand.

Windows 8 sales in enterprise environments is going to be almost non-existent for the first few years. This happens with every new OS, but uninformed people (and many so called "analysts") will claim this is because Windows 8 can't be used by businesses. That is not the case. I work in enterprise IT for a large company. We are nearly finished with a multi-year project to transition all PCs from XP to 7. That project started before Windows 8 even existed. It takes an enormous amount of effort to complete the testing of all our applications (internal and third party), security policies, and centralized management systems and just as much effort to roll out updated PCs to all of the thousands of workstations we have to support.

Enterprise IT departments need a consistent user environment in order to make the support of thousands of workstations (some of which are abused daily by technology challenged users) feasible so a mix of Windows 7 and 8 is a no go. We have lots of other projects to focus on and it will be years before we can allocate resources for another company wide workstation upgrade to another version of Windows. I'm using Windows 8.1 at work (and love it) along with many of my IT co-workers, but we are early adopters that support our own systems.

It wouldn't be that hard to stay cutting edge if this was the only project going on, but there are dozens of other projects going on at any given time in any enterprise IT department. Most of it is back end server or infrastructure stuff that end users and analysts never know is happening or even that it exists. Many large businesses also have to support a lot of third party industry specific software. The vendors of the third party software are often very slow to certify (i.e. support their product) on new platforms. We have to wait until most of those vendors feel warm and fuzzy before we can even start our own testing and migration. I see new projects every day where the vendor requires a 10 year old OS to host their server software/database. We recently implemented a "new" system and the vendor required Red Hat Linux 4.6 (circa 2007) on one set of servers, MS SQL Server 2005 32bit on another server, and IE 8 on the clients. The industry I work in (healthcare) has a lot of very specialized and expensive third party software so this issue is more extreme compared to other industries.

Informed IT professional are busy doing real work and solving real problems. "Analysts" have plenty of time to blog about how "Windows 8 is for tablets only" and how "MS just lost all their enterprise customers due to Windows 8", but believe me, the small challenges that come with Windows 8 (and any other new OS) are a drop in the bucket compared to the real challenges that enterprise IT deals with daily.
 

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