Yesterday at the Microsoft Build 2011 event, the world was introduced to the latest Windows operating system, Windows 8. Mind you, this was a developer preview, and thus no doubt will have its fair share of bugs and improvements to come out in the months to come before it launches what is slated to be fall 2012. Regardless, Windows 8 looked pretty awesome, and it showed the world first how to combine the traditional ‘desktop’ Operating System with the ever expanding and demanding ‘mobile’ operating system.
The reason this is a big claim for Microsoft is because Google claimed this was a probability for Android OS to converge and combine on some levels with Chrome OS. Many people were confused why Google would create a desktop OS when Android was clearly doing so well, and thus thought it would be a waste of time for Google to explore a piece of the market that Microsoft has, and still ultimately dominates with a commanding 90%+ market share.
On the flip side, Microsoft entered back into the mobile operating system market early last year with Windows Phone 7, a huge improvement over their earlier Windows Mobile 6 OS, which died as soon as Android started gaining popularity. Windows Phone 7 however is a major improvement, and some may say is actually the best mobile OS on the market as it combines the stability of iOS, but yet offers customers choice as its partnered with several different manufactures for devices, while maintaining a hardware standard for Windows Phone 7 devices (something Android has lacked). There also, Microsoft was asked the same thing of its move into the mobile OS space, when Apple and Google command 75%+ of that market share.
After watching the demo of Windows 8, I quickly realized that this is truly a leap ahead of other software OS developers, as Microsoft has literally combined the best parts of Windows Phone 7 OS with the latest and greatest features of Windows 7 Pro OS, merging them and making them, work simutaniously, allowing the user to choose either or both launchers to interact with at anytime, whether you’re on a tablet, desktop, laptop, or netbook. Google Chrome OS was supposed to be the innovator here, but alas, Microsoft has beaten them to the punch, and we all know what happens in technology land when you’re the first…”you have the bridge”.
[Image Source - Microsoft]
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Article comments
1 - TL
Great article....
2 - Jesse
Thanks TL!
What's your take on Win8 versus Google Chrome?
3 - Eric
Not really sure 'how' Windows 8 'beats' Chrome OS? How do you know? Metrics? Any kind of benchmark or proof?
4 - Jesse
It 'beats' it by uniting desktop operating system functionality with mobile OS features, which is what Eric Schmidt admitted is what Google intends to do with Android and Chrome OS. Not meant to be taken as 'beats' in performance metrics, but rather, beat Google in showing it off.
Thanks for reading!
5 - Sean
Perhaps the title should read "Windows 8 copies Ubuntu 11.X"
6 - Praks
Where are we? Stonage!!!
Still talking about Ubuntu..
Admit it man..Linux is dead
7 - simon
Linux runs on something like 95% of servers worldwide, so its not even close to dead.
8 - lember
Just get real, Microsoft Is utterly on its
own way of extermination.
9 - hkd
It is interesting when people are soo blind to still talk about Linux and Linux and Linux... 95% of the servers worldwide are on Linux? Check this is official: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems#Servers (see the progress Microsoft makes from 2009 to Aug 2011 - +16% in market share!)... So, when commenting, either put facts or stay silent.
10 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
"Admit it man..Linux is dead"
And, yet, if you're using an Android phone, in essence, you're using Linux.
11 - Igor
100% of my 6 laptops have linux as the primary OS (this X60s is running ubuntu 11.04 flawlessly for several months), and they also have a Win XP in a partition, just in case, but I seem to never require it.
12 - Jesse
ah, the never ending battle of which OS is the best. I enjoy linux, but I often have a use for a windows machine in some form or another, usually work related with managing Exchange Servers and AD. Thanks for commenting everyone!
13 - YeomanDroid
I don't buy the smoke and mirrors video. What about all the bloatware that has to load up?? What about the anti-virus scanner pre-load?? I see this thing getting slow real quick, just like every Windows based PC I have ever owned.
14 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
@9,
MS may have more market share for desktops / servers but their smartphone is tanking. So, now, they are going to drop this ugly mess on their loyal, unsuspecting Desktop users. I guess this will be more job security for IT. HA! Who says the US isn't creating jobs?!
15 - Joel
Their is something about owning a chrome os net book that makes me feel afraid of this blog. Can anyone tell me what that might be?
16 - themaster
getamac
17 - Jesse
Hey Joel, This article isn't to smash Chrome OS, but rather to show that Microsoft is still fighting the OS fight. How do you like your Chromebook?
18 - bug
@hkd, thanks for the "facts." The facts are that comparing two numbers both from different sources and different times is not a statistical measure of market share gain. If those sources had multiple yearly measurements, we might be able to compare and eliminate the sampling bias, but simply pointing to Wikipedia with sparse data is quite useless. I'm not even sure the point you were trying to make! The topic here is not servers, but netbooks, a market which has already been significantly infiltrated by Linux-based OSes. Most estimates (i.e. not the unverified 3rd-party ones that Microsoft has thrown around) show that the market share of Linux on netbooks is over 30% and growing.
@Jesse, what Joel means is that this article makes an unfair assumption that Chrome has been "beaten to the punch," when Chromebooks have just been released and Windows 8 likely won't see the market until next year. What I am more interested in is specific differences between the two platforms and how Chrome OS will evolve in the next few months.
19 - Sarmad
I cant figure out why people keep saying that windows is slow and unstable have they ever used windows 7. iam using windows 7 since the beta came out and to me its the most stable and fast os i have ever seen. plus every app is first make for windows then other mac or that bullshit ubuntu.
20 - Jesse
Here's a video to illustrate how Windows 8 dev preview booted much faster than Ubuntu. check it out and be the judge. :)
21 - Tyler
How can you compare a full featured OS against a micro-linux distro built into a web browser. Chrome OS is improving very quickly as well. It's just a weird comparison. Chrome OS isn't designed to run a business, let alone manage your home theater media server.
22 - Pat
You see a lot of these Microsoft trumpet bearers. However, just look at Microsoft's stock chart for the past 10-12 years and you get the real story. They made people's lives hell with the disgusting products like IE and Vista. Viruses have been their proprietary property. If it was not for open source, their stock prices would have soared.
23 - chris
I have been using a chrome book for 3 weeks. Although it is not perfect it works and will get better. It loads in 8 seconds, requires very low spec (could windows 8 run on an atom processor well?), the battery is really good and its cheap.
I can run chrome in windows on mac and ubuntu and come back to the chrome os and its synced (this is the real killer feature).
I am moving my company of 50 people mostly to chrome os (as it will bring down my costs) and they mainly use email.
It's not for all but it is perfect for my needs and that's the important thing.
24 - Rob
Amazing how people are still talking about "Linux rules" or "Microsoft is gonna die" and stuff like that. Really guys, Microsoft's business isn't JUST operating systems. Microsoft OS's and Linux OS's CAN work beautifully together and both have their own weaknesses and strengths. Keep an open mind, play with all OS's you can get your hand on and see the similarities and differences. But most importantly remember that while one uses a tricorder, the other will want to use a light sabre. Thank god for differences, choice and the liberty to use all of these options!! yay geekdom!!