Rumors are swirling that Windows 10 will be based in the cloud; this is fantastic news for Linux! Xbit has details about what Microsoft might be planning, based on purported leaks of a Windows roadmap posted by a user called WZOR (a source of previous Microsoft leaks). As always take these kinds of rumors with a grain of salt. Still, this is quite intriguing if true.
According to several posts on forums made by the owner of Wzor web-site, a well-known blog dedicated to Microsoft’s new products and unofficial news about the company with excellent track-record, over past several weeks, Microsoft plans several major changes in the coming years. First of all, the company will cease to release service packs, but instead will offer brand-new operating systems with fixes and new improvements every year; the next major improvement is called Windows 9. Secondly, the firm will merge Windows RT and Windows Phone platforms into one hybrid operating system. Thirdly, the company will reconsider the very nature of “big” operating systems for desktops and notebooks.
A Cloud Based Version of Windows? Goodbye Windows, Hello Linux!
Given the tepid reception of Windows 8, can you imagine what the reaction will be to a cloud-based Windows 10, particularly in light of the NSA spying scandal? How many Windows users will trust their data to Microsoft’s cloud? Not many I’d guess.
This is fantastic news for Linux. The horrific touch-based interface of Windows 8 on the desktop has already gotten quite a few people to give Linux a try. Can you imagine what the reaction of some of the remaining Windows users will be to a cloud-based version of that operating system?
I see a stampede to Linux and OS X ahead for a lot of current Windows users.
Windows 10: Eyeball Control?
The bit about controlling Windows 10 with your eyeballs…is THAT going to be the “secret” Linux and OS X killer? Seriously, do any of you have an interest in controlling your computer with your eyes? I don’t, I can’t imagine a more inefficient way of using my computer.
Perhaps I’m just a luddite on that sort of thing, but if I was a Windows user it certainly wouldn’t make me stick around that platform longer. I suppose I wouldn’t mind it if I could turn it off, but I’d never use an operating system where it was forced on me.
Plus, eyeball control in Windows 10 may require the purchase of new hardware. Ugh. I can’t imagine spending money for a new computer for something like that. I know that Microsoft and PC manufacturers are desperate, given how PC sales have declined in the face of mobile devices, but I doubt a lot of people will fork over their hard earned cash for new machines for eyeball control.
The Blending of Windows Phone and Windows RT: Too Little, Too Late
I can’t skip commenting on the combining of Windows Phone and Windows RT. Duh! It looks like Microsoft finally figured out what Apple and Google already knew. It’s amazing that it took them this long to do it though, who among us believed that having different versions of mobile operating systems would actually be a good thing for Microsoft to do?
It sounds like they are smartening up, but I don’t see this having much effect on the popularity of Android or iOS. The users of both of those platforms have long since moved on from thinking about a Microsoft mobile OS. And now we have Firefox OS phones available, with Ubuntu phones on the way.
Who would switch to any kind of a mobile Windows device instead? Not many people that I can think of; heck, I can’t think of anybody I know who would do it.
Windows 10: Thank You Microsoft!
Seriously, if this is what Windows 10 is going to be then I think we all owe Microsoft a huge thank you. They’re doing Linux (and OS X too) a huge favor by desperately grabbing at the cloud as a solution for their self-inflicted woes.
It really is a mark of how badly things have gone wrong for Microsoft that this is what they’ve been reduced to over the last few years. They’ve fired their CEO, and now they are doing everything…anything…they can to try to keep their Windows franchise alive for a little while longer.
Sources: Xbit, WZOR
Tags: Microsoft, Windows RT, cloud, cloud os, cloud-based Windows 10, Windows10, windows 9, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 9, Windows Phone 10
