In the past week,
both Microsoft and Apple laid out their visions of the future of computing, and
the message is clear: it's all mobile, all the time. First Microsoft revealed Windows 8, borrowing heavily from Windows Phone to be
friendly to tablets and touch interfaces. Then yesterday Apple took the stage to
show off its Mac OS X "Lion" system software, which owes a lot to its mobile
platform, iOS.
Whose vision is more compelling, though?
Apple
appears to have the advantage of having been focused on mobile for longer. Sure,
Microsoft had a mobile version of Windows for years before Apple got into
phones, but Windows Mobile is as far removed from current smartphones as a
Walkman is from an iPod touch. Microsoft is making the bigger bet on the
mobile-centric philosophy, though, as it appears to be all but throwing out the
familiar Windows interface in favor of the touch-friendly tiles, simplified
menus, and full-screen modes that are the norm on smartphones and tablets. (I
should point out there is a "legacy view" in Windows 8, which brings back the
folders and Windows, though it's certainly not the emphasis.)
For all of
Lion's iOS roots, it's still primarily made to be used with a keyboard and
(non-touch screen) monitor. I imagine this is because of Apple's general stance against "vertical" touch screens like the
HP TouchSmart line (even though those aren't vertical in the
strictest sense). It appears Apple draws a line in the sand between traditional
personal computers and anything portable. Beyond here there be
Lions.
Microsoft's
approach is different. While Apple scales up its iOS mobile platform for the
iPad's larger touch screen, Microsoft plans to give Windows tablets the same OS
as desktops and laptops, in fact architecting the new OS from the ground up to
be friendly to both. Smartphones are stuck with the scaled-down version, Windows
Phone. At least, that appears to be the approach, based on what Microsoft showed
at last week's All Things Digital and Computex events.
Why would
Microsoft go this route, when Apple has clearly shown that a "lite" tablet OS,
centered around showcasing media (music, video, and photos), is enough for
consumers? The simple answer: for Microsoft, it's not all about consumers.
Business and enterprise have always been a big factor in whatever Windows does,
and with tablets it needs to appeal to customers who want to do more "serious"
things than watching Netflix and posting tweets. Certainly there are companies
itching for Microsoft to release a tablet worth buying, as a Goldman Sachs study from earlier this year found that 32 percent of
Chief Information Officers (CIOs) surveyed were planning to buy a Windows slate
for their businesses (though, tellingly, 42 percent were planning on getting an
iPad).
There's
something more fundamental fueling Microsoft's approach here, though. By
revamping Windows to more closely resemble Windows Phone, the company appears to
be trying to make the OS experience more consistent across all devices; even the
new Xbox 360
dashboard is starting to look more
like a mobile OS. It's now clear that when Microsoft announced in January that
it was re-engineering Windows to run on ARM processors (heavily favored in mobile devices) it was not
some kind of "let's wait and see" side bet. It's going all-in on Windows being
on everything, come what may to the OS itself. The company hasn't given any
details on exactly how this will affect Windows Phone 8, but I suspect that when
it's revealed, the lines between it and full-on Windows 8 will be blurry—much
more fuzzy than the line between Lion and iOS 5.
In the end,
I think Apple's approach will win out. While I admire the ambition and holistic
approach of Microsoft's Windows 8 master plan, it appears too ideal. People
don't use all devices in the same way (it's actually why we have different
devices in the first place), and drawing the OS line between portable touch
screens and keyboard-and-monitor setups seems sensible—at least for now. At
Computex, when Microsoft demonstrated that its touch-friendly Windows 8
could still be operated by keyboard and
mouse, it almost sounded like a
workaround or worse, an apology.
Someone
needs to remind Microsoft that there are still many displays that aren't touch
screens, and, more to the point, that it hasn't shown a compelling Windows
tablet yet. Having a touch-centric OS is certainly a key part in creating one,
but taking the entire Windows environment down the same road is either
brilliantly forward-looking, or premature.
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