The Windows 8 Thread
- Thread starter MR.B
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Why does the fact that it's Windows 8 make it better than iOS and Android? What power and benefits does it bring exactly? And which features surpass iOS and Android?
It's a full OS, there's lots. Some covered in OP, like split screen, true multitasking, refresh/reset. Others are under the hood, like the apis that developers can use and the incredible power they give. Making it very simple to program for.
iOS and Android are mobile phone operating systems that have outgrown their remit.
Tablet PC's need more than these hacky OSes that are unelegant and lacking in good programming languages, development frameworks, SDKs and toolkits.
Windows 8 on tablets (and in the future, mobile phones too; see Windows Phone codename "Apollo") will offer a thoroughbred OS kernel (Windows NT). It is a kernel that is second to none. No compromises have been made. No hacky incomplete multi-threading implementations. No hacky incomplete I/O strategies. Full logical separation of processes; crash proof OS design.
The ease at which Metro apps can be developed compared to Android of iOS is staggering. We'll be able to choose between C++, C# .NET, VB.NET and even HTML5/JS for creating Metro apps. Whereas Android mandates that you use the obsolete "Java" programming language, which doesn't even support lambda or closures. And iOS mandates that you use the hideous abortion that is Objective-C.
Microsoft is going to utterly blow these rivals out of the water with Windows 8. Suddenly the development of mobile applications will become an everyday occurrence and standard practice. It will no longer be a "special" industry within an industry and which requires specialist skills and >£600/day contractor day rates.
I've been saying it for years: The "iPad" is a prototype product. Apple has shown the world a prototype. Microsoft is the only player that can deliver the real final product to market.
Tablet PC's need more than these hacky OSes that are unelegant and lacking in good programming languages, development frameworks, SDKs and toolkits.
Windows 8 on tablets (and in the future, mobile phones too; see Windows Phone codename "Apollo") will offer a thoroughbred OS kernel (Windows NT). It is a kernel that is second to none. No compromises have been made. No hacky incomplete multi-threading implementations. No hacky incomplete I/O strategies. Full logical separation of processes; crash proof OS design.
The ease at which Metro apps can be developed compared to Android of iOS is staggering. We'll be able to choose between C++, C# .NET, VB.NET and even HTML5/JS for creating Metro apps. Whereas Android mandates that you use the obsolete "Java" programming language, which doesn't even support lambda or closures. And iOS mandates that you use the hideous abortion that is Objective-C.
Microsoft is going to utterly blow these rivals out of the water with Windows 8. Suddenly the development of mobile applications will become an everyday occurrence and standard practice. It will no longer be a "special" industry within an industry and which requires specialist skills and >£600/day contractor day rates.
I've been saying it for years: The "iPad" is a prototype product. Apple has shown the world a prototype. Microsoft is the only player that can deliver the real final product to market.
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In simple terms it means you can use ALL existing PC keyboards, mice, gamepads, printers, external storage, card readers, USB flash drives and the million other peripherals that Windows has.
Which also means you can upgrade things like storage capacity... If you buy an iPad you're stuck with it's limited internal memory, with Android you can sometimes use SD cards and that, but thats about it. All Win 8 tablets will come with USB and Bluetooth as it's a requirement. Wouldn't be surprised if theres also tablets with HDMI output and things like that. So you could simply plug in all your normal devices, connect it to a monitor or TV, and you basically have a full blown desktop.
Theres also more programming languages you can use... C#/VB/XAML and JavaScript / HTML5. Or native code using C and C++.
On Intel and AMD x86 tablets you can run all the existing PC software and games too, so right away you have a larger game library than any other tablet platform. I dont expect them to run Crysis lol, but they will have some pretty decent DX11 GPU's in them that will atleast run most new games on lower settings.
Thanks, good posts.
Surely Apple and Google aren't just going to sit back and take this? No developments from either of them so far?
BTW, I use a mix of Windows (main PC) and Apple (MBP 13", iPhone 4s and iPad 2), so I'm not really a fan boy of either, I get whatever works well for me.
Surely Apple and Google aren't just going to sit back and take this? No developments from either of them so far?
BTW, I use a mix of Windows (main PC) and Apple (MBP 13", iPhone 4s and iPad 2), so I'm not really a fan boy of either, I get whatever works well for me.
Of course they won't, but theyll be very hard pressed to make anything as full.
iOS will more than likely end up like OSX and be a smaller but very profitable group.
Not sure how android will fair, it all depends on the mobile phone market and price points.
iOS will more than likely end up like OSX and be a smaller but very profitable group.
Not sure how android will fair, it all depends on the mobile phone market and price points.
I would hope Apple had a skunkworks team setup at least 2 years ago working on bringing OSX kernel to the iPad, along with a revamped touch UI.
If they do not, then they're screwed. I mean they're screwed anyway, because they seem to insist upon everyone using Objective-C which just ain't going to happen.
Google/Android is a mobile phone OS. It has no place on Tablet PCs. It isn't powerful enough. Java programming is dying a slow death. Google themselves admit they were caught off guard by the success of Android and that it presents them with a massive engineering problem (because it was only ever designed as a lightweight mobile phone OS, hence is hard to scale up). That's why they're looking at taking it to TVs because yes it would fit quite nicely there. But Microsoft is already working on future Xbox concepts in that market (see Dave Cutler, the creator of the NT kernel, moving to the Xbox team last month, and Microsoft only moves this most senior of their engineering fellows to a new department when they're planning something BIG).
If they do not, then they're screwed. I mean they're screwed anyway, because they seem to insist upon everyone using Objective-C which just ain't going to happen.
Google/Android is a mobile phone OS. It has no place on Tablet PCs. It isn't powerful enough. Java programming is dying a slow death. Google themselves admit they were caught off guard by the success of Android and that it presents them with a massive engineering problem (because it was only ever designed as a lightweight mobile phone OS, hence is hard to scale up). That's why they're looking at taking it to TVs because yes it would fit quite nicely there. But Microsoft is already working on future Xbox concepts in that market (see Dave Cutler, the creator of the NT kernel, moving to the Xbox team last month, and Microsoft only moves this most senior of their engineering fellows to a new department when they're planning something BIG).
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Apollo is meant to be q3/q4
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IMO Android will fair very well simply because it's open source, so is used on a large amount of low end and niche devices.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Windows 8 ahead of iOS but behind Android overall, and ahead of both in the high end market.
Also pretty excited about the potential of an Ivy Bridge tablet, assuming I can afford one of course....
Wouldn't be surprised to see Windows 8 ahead of iOS but behind Android overall, and ahead of both in the high end market.
Also pretty excited about the potential of an Ivy Bridge tablet, assuming I can afford one of course....
Android isn't going anywhere, and Microsoft don't want it to as they make royalties from every device sold.
Android will become the new "Symbian" though. The low of the low end market. Highly hackable, customisable etc. But as we all know that is also a flaw when it comes to distributing updates.
I can't imagine iOS will be around in another couple years. Apple will need to respond at some point by bringing OSX to their mobile products. The question is whether OSX is adaptable enough to put onto such products.
Android will become the new "Symbian" though. The low of the low end market. Highly hackable, customisable etc. But as we all know that is also a flaw when it comes to distributing updates.
I can't imagine iOS will be around in another couple years. Apple will need to respond at some point by bringing OSX to their mobile products. The question is whether OSX is adaptable enough to put onto such products.
Oh, me silly. I had no idea there was going to be such a thing like Windows on ARM and the way it worked and the differences between Windows on ARM and Windows 86/64.
This thread + some online reading cleared up everything now.
It almost puts me off from buying an Ipad 3. Shame those tables will not be available anytime soon.
This thread + some online reading cleared up everything now.
It almost puts me off from buying an Ipad 3. Shame those tables will not be available anytime soon.
I know this is pre beta etc so I cannot expect 100% compatability etc BUT has anyone tried teamspeak 3 on windows 8 dev prev? I works perfectly except if i have another app currently selected teamspeak will not receive my PTT presses I need to have teamspeak selected for it to work. Its a small thing and obviously its early days but wondering if anyone has any ideas if there is a possible work around?
The millions of people who have bought and will continue to buy iPads disagree with that. There's a mentality going around where in order to survive Apple must do what the other company is doing. That's not how the this stuff works.
For those that don't want the full meal ticket, which Apple have proven, is a large number of people, the iPad will be fine for them, as will iOS.
Android is the OS that people should worry about. Why would anyone who isn't some enthusiast hacker buy it over either Windows 8 or iOS? In a few years, I see it as having no reason for being.
Both Apple and Microsoft can have products in the high and low price categories, meaning Android has no usp.
Android is no where near on the same level as Symbian, if anything it will be the main platform for mobiles. Windows have shown many time there dreadful when it comes to mobiles/pdas etc.
I hope they smash it this time, but how many chances do they need?
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