Windows 8 It finally dawned on me, what Windows 8 and 8.1 is all about.

MikeHawthorne

Essential Member
Microsoft Community Contributor
Joined
May 25, 2009
Location
Ada Michigan
Hi

I was watching this video in another post...



and it finally became clear to me that the vision for Windows after Windows 7 isn't about running software anymore.

I don't know why I didn't get it before, but the purpose of Windows now is to sell Apps.

Windows will still run all of the normal software, Photoshop, MMOs and things like, they couldn't just dump everyone, but that's not the focus.

And that's why I personally didn't get it.

I don't run even one App, not the Weather Channel, or any other App!
I don't see any reason to run even one app, so that's why the whole thing made no sense to me.

But this is the age of the App, and it's a real boon to Microsoft.
No more do they just sell an operating system and Office, then sit around waiting for you to buy another computer.

It makes perfect sense, you are tied to them for everything you need forever.
It's why they want you to sign in with them to use your own computer.

It's why they thought that they didn't have to cater to the desktop user anymore, Who needs you, we sell Apps!

I finally get it, I'm sure everyone else figured this out a long time ago, but I really didn't understand until now.

Mike
 
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IMO, you still don't get it. It's not so much a money making thing for MS (although they do want to make money), it's more of the vision to have the ability to seamlessly run the same OS and same set of apps on your phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, etc...

Old model is that you need to buy OS and apps for each computer you run. With new model, you buy the OS for each device but you only need to buy the app once, then you can download it to all your devices.
 
Agreed.... apps (applications) aside, it would seem to be more about cross platform Operating System versus single platform Operating Systems going forward.
One size fits all (phone, tablet, PC, etc.,) which I guess looks good on paper but seems to aggravate a lot of people in practical application.
I'm sort of glad they gave up trying to make everybody happy (which is a practical impossibility) and have a vision for the future.... such as it is.
 
Well they have an uphill battle because a lot of businesses are just switching to Windows 7 with the end of XP. It will be interesting to see what Windows 9 is actually like.
 
I agree with strollin, Mike.

Windows 8 is a fine OS. It gives you a 100% choice between using the icon assembly for your tablet or whatever, or, you can almost totally ignore this and continue to use the desktop. What more could be offered.
It is a fact, that (almost) without exception, all legacy programs run without problems, in Windows 8, unless they are really vintage. It has been designed with that in mind. Surely that is not an indication that MS are about to dump old programs and drive everyone to Apps?
Regarding MS trying to sell Apps. Does'nt it have some significance as to the huge interest and introduction of such Apps from third party vendors? MS are taking their cut, agreed. So would I as a business organisation intent on keeping my shareholders happy. But the third party people are also taking their slice of the pie. Maybe not relevant in this context, but on my infrequent dives into the store, I have found many of the so-called "Apps" actually lead to a download site for a plain desktop product. As users may be discovering, it is often quicker to google for a particular variety of programs. The store has become so large and iconic, it is clumsy to use efficiently.
Windows 8 could be the last OS of this nature, so much rumour and speculation, but there does appear to be a leaning toward the "cloud". I don't think it matters - not to me and the average user. Only hardware can improve computers in any significant way from now,, be they tablets up to stationeries, not OSs.

I see the "Store" as a shop. Whether or not i want to open the door and make some purchases, is free choice. Maybe:maybe, in the future it could be difficult to purchase new and up to date third party (Non-App) software, but that day is, for the moment, a long way off.
 
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Microsoft "thinks" from the top down i.e. this is the way we will go now give it to the peons and tell them to make it happen.

To be clear, sometimes this works well.
 
But they only sell one copy of Windows to someone every 4 or 5 years, even a few cents for each of a billion apps adds up.
Over time, they are trying to become Apple who makes a buck off of everything that shows up on a Mac or i Product.

I'll bet the amount of money they will make off of apps will surpass what they make from Windows in time.
 
Agreed.... apps (applications) aside, it would seem to be more about cross platform Operating System versus single platform Operating Systems going forward.
One size fits all (phone, tablet, PC, etc.,) which I guess looks good on paper but seems to aggravate a lot of people in practical application.
The Swiss army knife approach (one tool to do 50 different things, none of them well). Does anyone know of any application that will work well on both a desktop PC and a phone? I don't think it's possible to optimize for both. Each needs a user interface appropriate to the device and scaled to the hardware. Plus the concept of paying for an application once and loading it on multiple machines violates the licensing on almost all software. So I don't get it, either.
 
... Plus the concept of paying for an application once and loading it on multiple machines violates the licensing on almost all software. So I don't get it, either.
That's the licensing model for a typical Windows desktop program such as MS Office but with apps the model is different. There is a max number of devices you can install a given app on. It was originally 5 but later MS raised that number to 81 (not sure where/how they decided on that number).

Android apps purchased from the Play store are the same way. The app purchase is associated with your account and once purchased can be installed on all current and future devices. I'm not sure if Apple uses the same model for iPhone/iPad.
 
Win 8 was optimized for phones and tablets, where the device is super-portable hardware designed around working in the cloud when you have to do anything serious (to the extent you can do serious work on super-portable hardware). Businesses and people who need to do serious work do it on desktops and big laptops, with lots of resources; big, high-res screens; and real, full-sized keyboards. They use software with comprehensive capabilities, not widgets or apps. People pick a device based on their needs and what they want to accomplish. They recognize and weigh compromises associated with that choice. For the most part, developers can't write software optimized for both worlds.

I don't see "universal" applications software driving this. The only thing that makes sense is that Microsoft wanted to develop and maintain a single OS that could be scaled to any platform. Maybe the underlying architecture fits that bill and Microsoft just made a huge blunder with the user interface, figuring they could create a single interface that is scalable across all hardware, too. Unfortunately, it turned desktop computers into big cellphones that don't make calls.
 
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