Great to see the what most bloggers and traditional media are writing about Windows 8.
BGR - Sorry Apple, Windows 8 ushers in the post-post-PC era
But the iPad was only the beginning.
Apple paved the way but Microsoft will get there first with Windows 8. A tablet that can be as fluid and user friendly as the iPad but as capable as a Windows laptop. A tablet that can boot in under 10 seconds and fire up a full-scale version of Adobe Dreamweaver a few moments later. A tablet that can be slipped into a dock to instantly become a fully capable touch-enabled laptop computer. This is Microsoft’s vision with Windows 8, and this is what it will deliver.
People debate it all the time, but the simple fact is that “real work” is significantly more difficult to do on the iPad or on an Android tablet than it is on a Windows or Mac PC. Debate all you want. Android and iOS apps are dumbed down and infinitely less capable, typing is on a tablet is a pain in the ass unless you carry a Bluetooth keyboard, and the experience as a whole is severely limited.
We are not living in a “post-PC” era today any more than we were on January 26th, 2010, the day before Apple unveiled the magical iPad. Apple would love a post-PC era, of course, since personal computers no longer represent the bulk of the company’s revenue, but Microsoft is showing us that there is a better way. And that better way, as it turns out, is a PC.
Wired - Windows 8 Re-Imagines the Windows Experience
Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 during the keynote at its BUILD developer conference Tuesday morning. Executives showed off the operating system’s versatility on a variety of mobile and desktop platforms, pointing out features like cloud-based photo sharing, streamlined contact management and the Metro UI overhaul. The OS is Microsoft’s first earnest push into the tablet space and it looks, at first glance, anyway, like it’s a true competitor to mobile operating systems like Android and iOS.
My Views:
As expected this is a solid software release. Windows 8 lives upto the great design standards Microsoft set with Windows Phone 7. The Metro UI is very refreshing and even more useful on Tablet form factor. The demos looked neat and everything worked as expected or even better.
But this is half battle won. iPad changed the game two years back and they could do that with a combination of both software and hardware. Microsoft has taken care of the software part, the difficult part for sometime appears to be the hardware. This is the reason, Google (Samsung, Motorola, Acer etc), HP, Blackberry are where they are today with the Tablet devices. All produced decent software but failed in finding the best way to produce great hardware which is inexpensive and also allows them to keep the shutters open.
And that separates Apple from others.
Difficult part is unlike Apple, Microsoft is at the mercy of their OEMs to produce iPad killing competing hardware. If Microsoft have to win the battle of Tablets, it has to get the hardware part right. Something to think about - Can Nokia be that partner?