This is my first post in a VERY long time, sorry about the lack of posts!
But anyhoo... Windows 10.
This has been by far a very contentious Windows release mainly for the Windows Phone crowd as it means much of what was simply beautifully done with Windows Phone is now something almost seemingly generic (not so much really) and for the die hard Windows 8.1 user such as myself, it almost meant what could have launched UI/UX interactions into a new dimension not ever done before; I have to say I for one, am overjoyed with Windows 10!
It's not so much about the Desktop as it is about the Phone and the HoloLens and the fundamental design of Windows 10 at its core. It's the One OS to Rule them All. Windows 8 was much about One UI to Rule them All, and that was nice (but not to everyone, I know) and was just a breath of fresh air. It was what launched Windows into this new realm that 10 fulfills. It's about one singular, familiar experience tailored to every device you use. You see, it's not about being what's better or what's worse, android vs. ios. vs Windows et al, it's about who we are and what we do. It's about Starting new things and new experiences and enabling all of us to achieve the maximum potential we all have. As much as that has probably been said by Microsoft, it really is true when you think about it. So many things are affected by the use of Windows EACH and EVERY single day that we almost take it for granted. Microsoft wants Windows 10 to be the one that people love, but Windows is so ubiquitous, it would almost be making people love breathing air.
But Windows 10, this is something new. This is something so different in every regard, what's not to love?
What excites me more about it is Windows Phone. Now, this doesn't go to say 10 hasn't been well received initially by the community as it's a gentrification of the platform to make it more inline to android and ios UI wise so it's more "usable" than 8.1 for the general audience. While that is true, I don't mourn the loss of that. Windows 10 bring a new experience to the Phone that hasn't been this revamped in literally almost five years. It's metro 2.0 for sure. It's cleaner, it's lighter, Groove Music DOES NOT SUCK on the phone which is something I thought I'd never see in my lifetime, a working music player on Windows Phone that's a first party app not built in the system that actually works. The power that Windows 10 brings to the Phone is simply spectacular, I mean, Continuum, are you kidding me?! Your phone literally can become a lite-PC! That's freaking crazy! The solution for apps on Windows Phone was long expected to be android apps running natively, but that had the issue of abandoning Windows native development, but yet Microsoft pulled another bunny out of their hat and made it possible to copy and paste literally ALL the code from android or ios apps and make minor code tweaks and publish it as a Windows app! Simply shocking!
And that leads off to the core of Windows and development for it. Before, it's always been Microsoft saying to developers, "You should develop for Windows because of X feature and the power of it." Nowadays, it's just simply a question of, "Why not?" There's almost no hurdle anymore for a developer to make an app for all Windows devices.
And speaking of Windows devices: HoloLens. Holy Lord have mercy that is amazing! It's a Virtual Reality Personal Computer. It's not a simple addon that requires a separate device like google glasses that simply doesn't do anything useful other than being a glorified notification system, this is groundbreaking. I honestly believe the HoloLens is going to open up the doors to development and fundamentally alter the way we interact with data and information and objects just like the GUI did with the PC. So much focus for the HoloLens is education right now and design, and those are fields that will benefit greatly by it. But when I first saw that video reveal of it, I immediately thought of all the interactions we do on a traditional PC and how that will be forever revolutionized. Just think about online shopping, the HUGEST benefit brick and mortar stores have is that you can interact and see the item, online you just see pictures. An Amazon app could literally bring that item right in front you so you can "physically" interact with it before you buy it. Online commerce would be forever changed by that. Similar technology could be used in cars to make you more aware of your surroundings. Instructional videos online will become hands on tutorials. Every little thing we use PCs for will be changed by the HoloLens, it's just amazing.
But enough of my preaching, I need to get these builds of Windows 10 installed on the PC and Phone. Hopefully the latest phone build is good enough for daily driver use on the 920!
Glad to be back!
I like looking to the future too but those flying cars we dreamed about 50 or more years ago are somewhat slow to show up. It looked like a good idea at the time but when you look at it now, it seams all we would get is 3D instead of 2D traffic jams. 150 years ago Nikola Tesla was born and more than 100 years ago, he predicted mobile phones and instant communications. Isac Asimov made foundation for all of this robotics and look at the state of robotics now.
Yes it takes science > technology connection on highest level but it takes only few visionaries to get things started. In IT, there were few of them too. There was not too many of them either but what there was, only looking back one can get idea who they are and what they did. Sadly, economists have taken precedence over visionaries as of lately and it shows.
How far back do computers go ? Seems like forever when you look back far enough. It took some combination of science > technology > logic and imagination to get us where we are now. Logic, and I don't mean as a part of philosophy but as in computer programing. Let's take only what become of PC. Remember all of the OSes and particularly DOS > Windows path? Who or what are we supposed to thank for ?
On HW side, I think IBM's "mistake" of letting go of PC started all of this stuff on today's level. Not believing that PC would amount to much and making cheap deal with Billy and he's creed got us here with not so fresh idea but on the threshold of having really unified computing and communications. If MS (or anybody else) succeeds it would be just as much important as the invent of PC itself bringing it all on personal level.
I like looking at wider picture so objections of "Ugly icons and looks of the menus" seem pretty silly to me. On the other hand given that looks may present a stumbling block for wider acceptance, MS should be wise to pay more attention to it even if it means appeasing people concerned about looks only.
