Microsoft has been relatively quite in the mobile device
world, even though they have been working on a mobile platform since before
Y2K. Microsoft released the Pocket PC back in 2000, one of the first handheld
mobile computing devices with the ability to browse the web, and send and
receive emails. How and why did Microsoft get left so far behind in mobile
device race, when they were on the front lines in the evolution of handheld
devices? Whatever the answer may be, Microsoft has been revving up and gaining
hype towards a big release in 2012, which might be a game changer. Microsoft
unveiled a new logo today for its upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
Microsoft Windows 8 is a cross platform operating system,
which from what Microsoft has shown will take on the same Metro interface as
the windows phone. This will allow your phone, your tablet and your home PC,
even your Xbox to all be running the same software, same programs, and same
apps. Microsoft said, according to PCworlds, it has created a new kind of app
for Windows 8 using HTML5 and JavaScript. This will help increase the amount of
apps in the market, because developers will not need to learn an unfamiliar
programming language to create native apps, unlike with IOS having to use
Objective C to create native apps, at least before the introduction PhoneGap.
There are some issues with regards to the existing Metro OS
(which is the current phone OS) and Windows 8 not working together. Metro uses WinRT
architecture and Windows uses win32 architecture, which means most of the
existing XNA phone apps with not transfer over to the windows or the Xbox OS.
That may become an issue later, if not dealt with before the official release. No
release date has been set yet, but it’s projected to be anywhere from
mid-summer to early December.
What are your thoughts on having all your devices running
the same OS?
