Tag Archives: operating systems

Riskiest thing for Microsoft now : Next Version of Windows says Ballmer

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Windows 7 sold lots of copies since its launch, about 240 Million. The only reason people upgraded was to get away with buggy Vista. Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer was questioned, “Riskiest Product Bet?” and most of us would have expected Windows Phone 7 or almost anything else except what he said. The next version of Windows.

The Next Windows, Windows 8 as we know, is supposedly the riskiest thing for Microsoft now. Why? The whole problem is that question. Why?

Here’s why I think Ballmer called next Windows perilous.

  • We can observe the change. From Desktops and Laptops to Portable and Handheld devices. Its the smartphone era, full of apps. App for almost anything. Windows is all about software and for a common user, sometimes “softwares” are a flop compared to “apps”. The word “app” itself seems lighter. So definitely, the future is Apps because they are fast, light and smart. Softwares are bulky. Spending hours to install softwares, figuring out tools and then finally getting work done. People are fed up of this and they want something faster. Way more faster. Proof : Mac is slowly moving towards the app friendly OS, visible in the new Mac Lion announcement.
  • The current computer concept is boring. Almost every decade we have a new concept emerging, older gets thrown out and people adapt newer ways of computing. From tank sized computers to Desktops to Laptops and now to Slates, Tablets and Smartphone. We expect a refresh and its a fact that every third version of Windows is a risk for Microsoft as it begins with throwing away old concepts. But this time, the whole structure needs to be changed radically as people are yearning for better performance.
  • More businesses are going for alternatives. Will the next Windows be able to maintain its current market share in future? Google, Apple and many other startups are jumping onboard with killer ideas. In about 18 months from now, when the next Windows would possibly come out, will the redmond based conglomerate be able to maintain its dominance?
  • They’ve got something already. They are working on an idea which might be revolutionary. The only problem is that they are not sure, if the users will accept it on the fly or if it would be kicked out. The revolutionary idea could be possibly related to cloud as thats where MS is leading to.
  • They’re just doing it to make some buzz. Almost all companies do it. But I don’t favor the possibility of this one as Steve Ballmer is not the right guy to do it for Microsoft.

We’re surely going to keep an eye for this. Watch out MS.

Apple’s iPhone OS coming to more platforms and devices, mostly AppleTV?

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Here’s some hot news. If you thought iPad was just enough iPhone OS then wait, there’s more iPhone OS coming! Yes, Apple is planning to bring the revolutionary App and home screen OS to many more devices.

Proof? A recent job posting which folks at ComputerWorld found, Apple is seeking a full-time engineering manager for “platform bring-up” part of the Core OS platform team.

Here’s a part of it,

The Core Platform team within Apple’s Core OS organization is looking for a talented and inspired manager to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms. The team is responsible for low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms. The team consists of talented engineers with experience in hardware, firmware, IOKit drivers, security and platform architecture.

This position requires a very technical and hands-on leader, experience in working closely with hardware team and a deep understanding of bare metal software. You must be a highly self-motivated individual who seeks to create a dynamic and creative team environment in which old problems are solved in new and innovative ways.

What Mashable observed points that Apple is looking to poach the product managers for Google Android who have experience Unix OS and to develop mobile phones supporting Unix like operating systems. Most importantly they are looking for ARM based System-on-Chip (SoC) level design too (*Cough* A4 SoC’s – the most recent ones in the iPad *Cough*) which seems to power iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch’s and Apple TV too.

So now you know the relation. iPhone could possibly come to Apple TV too as both are based of ARM SoC’s and that it currently uses a Mac OS X derived OS which could be made better if the iPhone UI is used and it will enable Multi-Touch input too.

Predictions start being made now. Firstly rather then bringing the OS to a current device, instead there might be a idea bubbling up of a newer device? Not a new product line like tablets but a revision to MacBook, or a MacBook Mini which would have iPhone OS as primary OS or a low ARM Based server.

Much more can be developed on these existing technologies as the iPhone OS defines a new era of computing with so called “apps” to perform and utilize all the hardware capabilities of the device.

Image Credit : Devian Art

iPhone OS + Mac OS X = Apple Tablet (iSlate) OS [Rumor]

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There has been a lot of speculation about the Apple’s Tablet’s (Rumored name is iSlate) Operating System. Amazing concepts have been coming up. Earlier it was said that the Tablet will carry the modified version of iPhone OS and will run iPhone apps with a larger resolution.

Another concept was of the Mac OS X running on the tablet computer. This too would be modified to fit the screen size and would support multi-touch gestures.

Here comes the third concept which states that it will be a mixture of both the operating systems (iPhone OS + Mac OS X). There is this short video which gives insight into concept.