I'm a Developer at Master of Malt, a University of Brighton graduate, a 1st Kyu in Kyokushinkai Karate, a video gamer and technology enthusiast. Read more about me over here.
WOA!!!!!!So Microsoft announced on Thursday, through a monstrous eight thousand word blog post I didn’t read, more details about Windows 8. Specifically they talked about Windows on ARM, or WOA for short, because everyone loves an acronym. New acronyms are like a little piece of Christmas in February, which is fitting because there is a metric fuckton of snow outside right now.
One of the curious revelations in this blog post was the news that Windows 8 on ARM would feature the traditional desktop (it had long been speculated that it wouldn’t), but that the desktop would only be available to use Office 15 (slightly modified for touch), Internet Explorer 10 and the file explorer. No other programs will be allowed to use the desktop on ARM. It makes sense from Microsoft’s prospective; they want to put Windows on ARM devices, but they also want everyone to use the cross-platform WinRT (Metro styled apps) to develop for it.
But from a user’s prospective this will be a terrible experience. If you give a non-technical user a Windows 8 desktop PC and a Windows 8 ARM tablet, just try explaining to them why seemingly identical operating systems can’t both run Photoshop. In fact, explain to them why they can’t do anything in the desktop. Want to zip some files to send in an email? Don’t try installing WinZip. Want to listen to music in the media player of your choice? Sorry about that.
Which begs the question; why is the desktop even there when giving users an environment they recognise just gives them false expectations of the product? The answer is obvious, this is a stop gap to allow you to run traditional Office apps and to access Windows features that haven’t been ported to Metro, such as advance settings panels, the file explorer, the registry, etc, etc. The desktop is hanging of Windows 8 on ARM like a cancerous growth because Microsoft is afraid (or doesn’t have time) to go the whole way and ditch the classic desktop.
Microsoft has been touting “no compromises” as the selling point of Windows 8, but so far it’s sounding like nothing but compromises. I understand they wanted to build a single operating system for both desktop and mobile, but if the classic desktop on mobile devices is almost useless and a terrible user experience, and desktop users don’t want the metro start screen (the experience of that is still a question), you begin to wonder if they should be two distinct products.
Microsoft could easily present them as two separate products, one for desktop and one for mobile and have the underlying core OS be the same under the hood. In fact, isn’t that exactly what Mac OS X and iOS is? Both the improvements in the Windows 8 desktop and the Metro start screen for tablets look like they could be successful products, but I just don’t understand why Microsoft seems determined to make an inferior product by making them conjoined twins.
So last week Microsoft took the covers of Windows 8 (still the code name right now) and released a developer preview of the OS so that folks could get their grubby mitts on a pre-beta version a year from its public release. Microsoft's move with Windows 8 is clearly a response to the growing popularity in touch based operating systems, namely Apple's iOS, HP's (now deceased) webOS and Google's Android. While Apple, HP and Google have answered the tablet question by trying to enhance simpler operating systems designed for smart phones, Microsoft is trying to sell the idea of "no compromises", by trying to simplify the mess that is Windows into something that can be run on touch devices.
Their answer to this question is a new interface for Windows inspired by Windows Phone 7 called Metro. These metro styled apps run in full screen, are built in HTML5 and Javascript to support multiple architectures and are designed specifically for touch. Metro apps are displayed front and centre in the new start screen. On a tablet this seems to make a lot of sense and is somewhat familiar. A screen full of tiles, full screen apps with large icons for touch, hidden menus that only appear when required, where have I seen this before?
Where things get a bit uncomfortable is when you realise that alongside this metro interface is the ability to switch back to the classic Windows desktop (Microsoft truly are the kings of backwards compatibility). Here things have been tweaked and improved in places (multiple task bars in multi-monitor mode is particularly great), but for the most part this is Windows 7 as you know it. This may have been fine if tablet users could use metro and desktop users could use classic Windows, but they can't, at least in this build. Your classic desktop experience is all fine and dandy until you want to click the start button and launch anything. Thats when you find out the start menu as we know it is dead. It was taken round the back with a double barrelled shot gun and beaten in the face until its parents no longer recognised or loved it. Clicking that button in Windows 8 takes you back to the metro start screen, even if all you want to do is type a search and launch an application that requires you to go back to the classic desktop. Not everything is even accessible in the start screen. There is now simply no way to launch device manager by hitting the windows key and typing its name, for example.
Before I sound like a complete negative nancy, please don't get me wrong. I'm very excited to see Microsoft doing something entirely different with Windows and I love the look and feel of metro. I can't wait to see what types of apps people build for metro and am even curious to see if I can build one myself. I'm just not entirely sure whether this experience is going to work outside of tablets. Windows without windows on a 30inch monitor makes as much sense as full screen mode in OS X Lion on a large display.
Also, while Microsoft claim they haven't just stuck an additional shell on top of Windows (apparently the desktop is treated like another app and doesn't even load if you don't use it), as a user it certainly feels like they have. The clash between classic Windows and metro is incredibly jarring, as if I'm trying to use a computer that has two operating systems installed that are battling for control.
Using metro is also not a fluid and intuitive experience, especially on the desktop. In metro apps you right click to bring up menus, and press the Windows key to get back to the start screen. Every keyboard on the planet has an escape key designed to "get you out" of the thing your currently in, and yet it doesn't exit a metro app. In fact, press escape on the start screen and it goes back to your previous app. Applications that scroll left and right also make no sense on desktop computers with a mouse that have been designed to scroll up and down. On the start screen the scroll wheel actually scrolls left and right, but in apps where you have panes inside the app that go up and down, you are forced to use the scroll bar to go left and right. And just when I thought we were finally done with scroll bars.
It's clear that Windows 8 has some way to go (it's a year from release) and I shouldn't be judging it now, but Windows 8 concern me as much as it excited me, because Steven Sinofsky has a reputation for only revealing products when they are feature complete, and not making changes or taking feedback. We will have to just wait and see.
On Monday and Tuesday I had two exams, both three hours in length, involving questions about .NET architecture (three tiers, web services and AJAX) and database theory (transaction processing, object-relational databases, business intelligence and data warehousing). The best part of the whole thing was having to hand write the answers (on this antiquated technology called paper) which has the delightful result of making the exams much more difficult to do for someone (like the kind of person that would take a computing course…) who types all day. It also makes life much more difficult for the examiner, as my hand writing is teeeeerrible. I felt the .NET exam went pretty well, but I left the database one feeling my attempt at answering questions about business intelligence and data warehousing didn't go down so well, so we will have to wait and see what sort of final grade I get.
These exams mark the completion of my university degree. After twelve years in compulsory education, two years at college and four years at university I'm officially out of the education system. A real boy you might say. It's kinda scary to think I won't have to do pointless coursework, listen to lectures about subjects I really don't give a shit about or take exams ever again. At the same time its very awesome the freedom that provides. I'm now completely free to work on the projects I want, as long as I have some sort of income at the same time. I do have to pay of that student loan at some point…
Happening at the same time as my exams was WWDC and E3. Apples announcements at WWDC were interesting, with the improvements in Lion and iOS 5 being very much desired, even if most of the later were lifted from Android, Windows Phone 7, third party apps and jailbreaks. Whatever the source of these ideas, as an iOS user I don't really have any complaints. Companies should always be matching features at the same time as innovating, and much of the feature set of iOS 5 seems designed to remove a lot of the arguments (beyond the whole open debate) Android fan boys have. For me personally, wireless sync, better notifications and tabbed browsing are the primary features I'm excited for. Its also nice to see them finally allow you to set the thing up on the device, as requiring a computer to activate an iPad kinda destroys the whole "post pc" spiel they are trying to sell you.
The iCloud stuff is also interesting, as if nothing else it makes MobileMe free. It also adds universal syncing between your devices, so if I download a song, app or book on one device, it syncs to the others. The same is true for documents made in iWork and photos taken with an iPhone camera, which will automatically sync with iPhoto on my mac. The iTunes portion of it is what everyone is making the biggest deal out of, and they certainly have an interesting offering (for $25 any song in your library will be upgraded to a high quality iTunes version and they will upload anything they don't have), particularly because they are basically providing an amnesty for any pirated music as long as you pay the yearly fee. What sucks is no streaming option, and the fact it wont be coming to the UK any time soon. That makes all three cloud music solutions (Google, Amazon and Apple) US only for now…
Of the E3 presentations, Nintendo was certainly the most interesting. They have Kid Icarus, Luigi's Mansion 2, Star Fox 64, Mario Kart and Super Mario coming to 3DS, which alongside the soon to be released Zelda remake almost makes me want to get a 3DS. Unfortunately the machine is kinda bulky and the battery lasts four hours, so I think I will hold out for a revision, as I was pretty badly burnt by the DS Lite (which came out a couple months after I purchased a DS Phat).
The Wii U announcement obviously gained the most attention and aside from its horrific name the concept is interesting. I played Zelda Four Swords and Crystal Chronicles on GameCube using GBA's and the experience was actually pretty fun, so I can see how the new controller could be used. Its just a shame Nintendo once again opted for a cheap single touch capacitive screen. I think the Wii U will have a pretty successful launch, and will use the fact its in line with current hardware specs to its advantage to get 3rd party support, but I can see problems one or two years in when Sony and Microsoft's next machines are released and leave the Wii U behind. You have to give Nintendo credit though, for once again trying to innovate while Microsoft and Sony are still demoing their wiimote ripoffs. Motion control is so last year dude.
Speaking of Sony, aside from some impressive looking PS3 games (Uncharted 3, Resistance 3, inFamous 2, Dust 514 and Starhawk), multi platform titles (BioShock Infinite) and some terrible move games (NBA on the Move and Medieval Moves: Deadmund's Quest), their big announcement was the PlayStation Vita, another God awful product name. The Vita looked nice and all and the price point was right for once, but I feel Sony is really making a mistake here. Everything they showed for the PSV was a big, epic, cinematic, console experience on a handheld platform. They sold this exact concept when the PSP was released six years ago and guess what, no one (outside of the Japanese who love monster hunter) play their PSP. Why? Because you can't play epic console experiences on the bus. The end result of this is you play these portable games at home, on a tiny screen, with shitty controls, when your TV and console is sitting right next to you. Some of these games even let you transfer the experience between the console and handheld, which kinda proves my entire point.
Speaking of transferring, perhaps my favourite part of E3 was this video from Konami (starts 35 minutes 10 seconds in)…
The PSP was released before the iPhone and Android devices took over the handheld market. These days if you want a quick, portable game you buy one for a very low price on your smart phone. Nintendo may still have some chance because they make unique games that will never come to smart phones and because they actually make games suited for portable play. Sony however, is trying to sell you a portable PS3, and no one wants that…
As for Microsoft, their presentation was probably the most disappointing. Beyond another dashboard update, Gears of War 3, Halos and some multi platform franchise like Call of Duty and Tomb Raider, all they showed was Kinect bullshit. This demo of Ubisoft playing a Tom Clancy game where you shoot by doing jazz hands describes how I feel about the whole thing (starts 1 minutes 30 seconds in).
And while we're on the subject of Ubisoft, their press conference is probably the winner of the most bizarre award. The guys at Giant Bomb probably explain it best (starts 8 minutes 35 seconds in).
So yeah, a week of highs and lows to say the least.
WOA!!!!!!So Microsoft announced on Thursday, through a monstrous eight thousand word blog post I didn’t read, more details about Windows 8. Specifically they talked about Windows on ARM, or WOA for short, because everyone loves an acronym. New acronyms are like a little piece of Christmas in February, which is fitting because there is a metric fuckton of snow outside right now. 
microsoft, 
;)
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