Windows 8 as part of a new personal computing device concept

Using the "week of Windows 8 on Habré" I want to share my findings.

The topic began as an answer to this comment, but as a result I grew up, and I decided to publish it separately.

For those who do not want to read the commentary and background, I’ll let you know that one of the commentators was asked: “And what, in fact, is the Metro UI concept? Flying multicolored bricks? "
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From my point of view, this is the concept of a tablet (do not carp at the word only - it can be a smartphone, a clock: i.e. anything productive and small) as a single device. Out of the house - took a tablet with him. I came to work, in one motion I connected a monitor to it, Claudia, a mouse (by the way, it’s not a fact about a mouse, maybe without it) - you work. I went somewhere further - I took it with me and at the same time I constantly had the same functionality .




Yes, I agree with the probably loud exclamations that earlier there were already such ideas and devices. But then there was no main thing: applications (and the interface especially!), Which would support all this usability.

Very important: until now everyone was afraid to touch the PC. Played with tablets, communicators and PDAs. And at first they tried to bring similar - mobile - devices to the ideology of the PC interface, did not work - they began to experiment further (and, by the way, they achieved quite good success, but this is a separate story). But the PC did not touch, it was something holy. Fundamentally, nothing new in the mainstream interface has been done since the advent of graphical environments - with Macs, and then Win. Those. for almost 30 years of operation of graphical interfaces on the PC, nothing radically changed. Similarly, with the guts of the software, but I don’t even want to go into it - they will surely catch hold of the words and carry the holivar. I am not writing this to argue.

But just think about the idea itself: modern small “computers” become so powerful that they are able to exist independently, not supported by the power of the “big brother”. You will say: “well, and that, I already insert the name of the device on my device without a PC”. Yes, by itself! But try on these devices to seriously work with the accounting program, write a large text in a text editor or work in a tabular processor - I am sure you will fail. They are not designed for this, although their performance often allows all this to be done! They ... I do not know ... as if they were unfinished! As it was correctly noted in the article , “Windows 8 makes personal computers from tablets, and not decorated web browsers for five hundred euros” (almost a quote, the word “five hundred euros” doesn’t sound very). Coupled with software changes (for example, the source code will be compiled immediately under x86 and under ARM, and Metro applications with minor changes can be compiled under Windows Phone 7; there are many more changes, but, as I mentioned, I don’t want to this is now stop in more detail) it combines two types of devices.

I do not know if Microsoft will shoot this idea, what will be the practical implementation at the time of release, and the like. There will be a lot of cries about compatibility, there will be shouts “And my favorite toy is 3% slower, Windows 8 suxxxx (x), Microsoft must die!”. But one thing I know for sure - for the first time an attempt was made to combine desktop and mobile operating systems in one bottle. For the first time, not a temporary bridge will be prokinut, but a quite decent bridge to replace the PC in its modern form with a new type of personal computing device, new in terms of usability. When you do not need to choose between mobility and convenience of work. And no matter how much I love Microsoft sometimes, they did it first. And they put a lot on the line. Of course, if they do not have this idea, the company is unlikely to die, there is too much vitality, and there are no alternatives on the PC-compatible computers market, but they will lose a lot.
However, in any case, such a concept is a concept of the future. 100%!

That is my opinion.

A small "disclaimer".
Personally, I’m not particularly excited about Win8 on my old laptop: it’s bad with firewood, it’s hard to touch, etc. - but this does not change the main thing. At one time, Apple took a serious step by releasing MacOS X and emulating the environment for executing old code in it. Microsoft went further - it retained the ability to work win32 applications and gave a new toolkit. And now it's a given - with Metro UI, with the Metro API and with Metro Applications now live for everyone, and win32 is already past. No options.

PS I hope, it is not necessary to mention that Metro is not only UI, but a full-fledged concept of application execution?
PPS Desktop Interface, you can turn off the Metro UI as the main screen, but you cannot get away from the Metro applications. And where applications are, there is an interface.
And the last postscript : there is nothing revolutionary in the idea voiced above — it has existed for a long time. But the practical implementation of this concept on such a large-scale level and the company of this level is the first.

UPD. People! Identical comments on the same topic force you to write again: Windows 8 and Metro UI are not just a new interface! It is also a new WinRT runtime environment !