New
#31
I really don't know how that is going work for developers.
The developers still are going to have to make more than one version of the software. For example you wouldn't want the mobile browser on the desktop or the desktop browser on mobile. Desktop browsers may not even fit on the mobile device. That will also fit other applications as well. The only way that might work which is a little scary. Your app is installed in the cloud, not on the computer or device itself. That would also make the app work for other operating systems if installed in the cloud. There are some problems with that, not everyone has constant internet connection or even has one. Some Internet Service Providers limit bandwidth.
A lot of the current talk is pie in the sky - all Compaines try to differentiate their products from the competitors. Buzzwords drive marketing - "Ohhhh how about Windows as a service - that sounds new and cool". Don't let the hype fool you - until MS actually puts the OS in the cloud - HA! - it is still an OS. It would still be an OS, but your device would be the equivalent of a diskless workstation. These things have been muttered many times, many ways over the past 40 years - nothing really new - just new words.
I think what MS is trying to do is to get the ancillary services off the physical machine. Most of that already exists or existed once (eMail, cloud storage. Exchange, Notes, Groove) now all MS has to do is tie it all together across devices. This seems to indicate to me that the apps, not the OS will be cloud based, or at least have hooks into cloud based cross platform / cross device synchronized user interaction.
Say you're working on a presentation and you have to catch a plane. Instead of saving your work and opening it on a tablet when you're on the plane, you just keep working on the presentation as if you never stopped working on it. It's one smooth transition from your PC at home to your tablet on the plane.
How MS actually accomplishes this is their task. Needless to say there have been many attempts in the past to make something like this work. The reality, IMO, is it will take a few years to get there, if they can get there this time around
Bill
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Last edited by Slartybart; 11 Feb 2015 at 15:06.
I bet is XP would have been named Windows 2001 a lot of people would have gotten rid of it long before they actually did upgrade.