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Microsoft unveils new UI prototype - Windows 8?

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Lashiec:
It's telling that the company that develops that OS for idiots is smart enough to keep their desktop and tablet/smartphone OS offers separate instead of offering everything and the kitchen sink. And Lion won't include as many tablet-inspired features as Windows 8.

But then again, Windows 7 was highly flexible, and you could add and remove a great number of components, so I expect Windows 8 to follow its example, making the above problem a non-issue. And system requirements are said to be even lower, which is highly impressive on its own.

I would pay to see someone developing software with a tablet, though. Using Eclipse. Or doing software modeling with Visual Paradigm. Or using a virtual machine running any other operating system. Again, seriously guys, do you really think someone is going to force users to run tablets? Now, high-end tablets with their own monitor and peripherals is another matter entirely.

Renegade:
I just about died when I read this title:

Microsoft becoming Apple with Windows 8 control freakery?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/02/tablets_go_closed/

But my panic was short lived:

Microsoft is becoming more like Apple by bringing some hardware discipline to Windows 8 tablets, to the annoyance of OEMs who've had decades of freedom.
--- End quote ---

That's probably a good thing.

steeladept:
We are not all going to jump to using tablets, forsaking our desktop computers. We are not all going to move all our data to the cloud. We are not all going to live in our browsers. We are not all going to stop being productive producers and switch to being happy little idiot consumers that just need a few icons we can select with our chubby fingers to view what someone else has created (most likely created on a different OS designed for productivity).
-app103 (June 02, 2011, 04:01 PM)
--- End quote ---

I wish (and hope) that that were true.  However, if industry pushes in that direction by making apps that only work in that area, then tablets are going to become prevalent.  As they become prevalent, traditional machines will become stagnant and slowly fade away.  People will stop programming them, electronic manufacturers will stop producing the parts, and they will just slowly become a relic of the past.  It won't be soon, but it will happen if the majority of "the masses" do. 

You can already see the decline of the desktop PC as laptops become as powerful.  There are fewer available, and they have fewer options.  The parts are becoming more expensive such that laptops are quickly becoming the preferred alternative for equal pricing (not there yet, but very close).  If tablets become the new "laptop", I can see laptops quickly taking place of desktops for the occasionally mobile.  That will drive prices lower for the laptops which will then make desktops even less desirable for most people.  This, in turn, will actually drive the prices up for desktop equipment (the manufacturers will generally just leave the market for niche players that will be the custom makers of today) and make it the enthusiast piece of equipment.  As it becomes more antiquated, mainstream manufacturers will start to drop these lines as marginally profitable and so components will become scarcer and the updates will be fewer and less innovative.  This will mean enthusiasts will have to come up with solutions or abandon the market for more mainstream alternatives.  As that occurs it will only be the richest enthusiasts, niche market players, or the corporations that absolutely REQUIRE the equipment that will pay the big dollars for the custom equipment that will then be required.  Soon after that, the companies will migrate to new platforms as it becomes cheaper to replace than to maintain the legacy at which point even the niche players will move on because there is no business left to maintain.  At that point the richest enthusiasts will have moved on because that is the way it goes.

Will this occur in our lifetime?  Probably not, but the drop-off of the general enthusiast to something else probably will, and that is when you will be living in your browser with touchscreen everything even if you don't want to.  Well that or give up on computing altogether.

Renegade:
I would love to have a tablet that has the power of a desktop. With ports for external monitors (4), a keyboard, mouse, printer, speakers, etc.

I think that will happen relatively soon. Give it a few years. Manufacturers will realize that in addition to cute icons, people want productivity and portability. Laptops are marginally portable. Tablets are very portable.

Deozaan:
I would love to have a tablet that has the power of a desktop. With ports for external monitors (4), a keyboard, mouse, printer, speakers, etc.-Renegade (June 03, 2011, 12:38 AM)
--- End quote ---

I agree! I'd love to be able to carry my computer around with me wherever I go and then connect it to a public (or private) docking station for bigger monitor, keyboard and mouse.

If computers were the size of mobile phones, or rather, if mobile phones were as powerful as desktop PCs, with a docking station port, it would be awesome! Imagine all the places that would most likely provide keyboard, video (monitor), mouse, and internet. You could have your PC anywhere you wanted, no need for cloud.

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