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Kiss Your Browser Goodbye - Windows 8 to BAN Firefox and Chrome

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vlastimil:
Yes, Microsoft's position is understandable, but I still do not think it is a smart move from them. At this moment, Win32 is still the biggest competitive advantage Microsoft's Windows has over any other OS. Microsoft is victim of its own success. Yes, Win32 is old, it is sometimes painful to use, but it gets the job done and there are countless developers knowing how to create Win32 applications.

Microsoft feels they are slipping behind, because the API of other OSes look so much more modern. They are desperately trying to create a new platform/API to replace Win32. The .net experiment did not succeed, it is now 10 years since it was introduced and there is still no .net-only OS for .net apps. Almost every larger .net desktop application is PInvoking something and would not work in a Win32-free environment...

And now, Microsoft gives the new API/platform another shot with WinRT. While I applaud them they do not want to force a garbage collector on everyone anymore, and WinRT may be a good API, I do not believe they have a good position and marketing power to push it through this way. Developers would have to learn a new API in order to be able to write applications for ARM Windows 8 tablets. If I want to learn a new API, why not make something for Android instead? The Windows brand is strong, but without Win32 backing it up, it may not be enough.

wraith808:
The .net experiment did not succeed, it is now 10 years since it was introduced and there is still no .net-only OS for .net apps.
-vlastimil (May 17, 2012, 04:49 AM)
--- End quote ---

This, I don't get.  I don't think there is a failed experiment there, nor was there the intent for a .net only OS.  They never made that push like they are for WinRT.  Not so sure it is just about the API either; it seems more a function of the functionality of the OS, and how they see that to have a successful tablet, they apparently need to go the Apple route.  They tried the Linux/Android route several times, and Windows just isn't meant to be a tablet OS.  Having never used an Android device, I'm not even sure how they pulled it off as Linux is very much more keyboard oriented than Windows, so hats off to them.  But if Microsoft has tried it twice and failed miserably both times, then why would they try the same thing again?

vlastimil:
Owning platforms in in Microsoft blood, it is their core business. Microsoft more or less owned the DOS platform and made a successful switch to Win32 in the nineties. When the computing power reached the threshold to make windowing OS possible, Microsoft was there with a decent product.

In 2002, Microsoft introduced .net and decided to push it very hard (I was attending a conference back then and it was obvious). They even used the Visual Studio.net name instead of Visual Studio 7 confusing many developers. It is my understanding that their goal was to make another switch, this time from Win32 to .net and then own the .net environment. But that did not happen, there is no obvious advantage of .net over win32 (and some people, including me, still consider Win32 a better choice due to compatibility).

And now, we are seeing another attempt to introduce a new API and replace Win32 with WinRT. If Android and iOS did not exist, Microsoft would have a good chance of succeeding and establishing WinRT as the next API. But they missed the right time. When the computing power and efficiency allowed feasible tablets, Microsoft was not there with the right product. Someone else was.

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