Post-Internet era, the future of Windows

One day, I want to take the whole family to travel together. I picked up my cell phone and pressed a few keys and said, "Check out the tourist route of Lijiang." Suddenly a huge picture, appeared in front of the original look ordinary white wall. I use the finger point Lijiang Map of the attractions, beautiful landscape photos and videos are also displayed next to it, as if we have been immersive. Referring to Twitter's reviews, I chose a route and a hotel for my stay. Then I pressed two keys and the route was sent to my car. I know that on the road, the whole family just play online games, as well as explore the future life is good, self-driving satellite navigation will directly drive to our hotel reservation Lijiang.

It's a beautiful, but not empty, or even far-off future. I assert that at most 20 years later, we can certainly do it. The problem is that in these 20 years, who will help us to achieve a step-by-step goal, who to lead the change, who can stand the forefront of technological development.

A familiar voice sounded, saying "I can," and it was Microsoft who made the sound.

A few days ago, at Microsoft's Global partner Conference, Andy Lees, Microsoft's senior vice-president, said Microsoft would eventually have a "single ecosystem", including PCs, phones, tablets and even TVs, Andy Lize. "No matter what kind of product you like, it will have complete PC processing power," he said. We don't create ecosystems for PCs, mobile phones or tablets alone, and they will be ". Leeds went on to say that Microsoft wanted to "seamlessly connect and maintain consistency" between devices, especially with Xbox, which was not just a shared user interface, but also core technologies such as IE.

As described at the beginning of this article, mobile phones, computers, TVs, game consoles, navigators, these smart devices will play an indispensable role in the future life. They all have to have the processing power of the PC, and of course it needs the support of the operating system. For this support and collaboration between devices, Microsoft actually wanted to create a "super operating system", Eminence's ambition is clear.

What sustains such ambition or ambition? How is it going to be, or is it wishful, or premeditated? How do we face it? This article will publish some personal views on this.

The challenges facing windows

From the first sensational product Windows 3.0, Windows accompanies us over more than 20 years, and during this period there have been too many things that we have been growing and striving for 20 years from the moment we remember, and the 20 years of the information age. We have experienced the internet era, the rise of Google, Apple from the brink of bankruptcy to rebirth, Microsoft, in addition to bring us Windows 95, 98, XP to Win7, but also experienced a nearly split crisis.

Windows brings Microsoft to its zenith, which still accounts for more than 90% of its PC operating system share. Although there is a mobile device system for iOS and Android shocks, it seems that the PC market on the Windows status is still not being really challenged. Despite Vista's failure, Win7 saved Windows's reputation, and next year's Windows 8, which will allow Microsoft to secure its position, has the ability to launch breakthroughs in emerging devices. It all seems to be a logical thing, so why is Microsoft planning to reinvent the board and develop a unified ecosystem for all kinds of devices?

No IT company has a longer product line than Microsoft, but the core of Windows has never wavered over the past 20 years, and has built a huge windows-centric industry chain around Microsoft for many years, tying hardware vendors, developers, and users tightly to the Microsoft ship. Microsoft's Office series and development tools can be sold out. Many people say that Microsoft relies too much on windows to develop any new technology to take into account whether it threatens the status of Windows. That's right, as CEO Ballmer said, cut me open, it's all windows. This conservative thought, after sitting big, did suppress a large number of innovations. Microsoft invests billions of of research and development funds every year, far exceeding any other IT company. But missed the golden opportunity of search engine development, suspended the Tablet PC project, on the smartphone for many years without doing.

Is Microsoft not capable of innovation? Not so, but innovation is constrained by the high-level view. Google and Apple, which have sat big in the past few years while Microsoft has been dozing off, have now reached Microsoft's backyard-operating system, in addition to struggling with Microsoft in emerging areas.

For many years, Microsoft has feared that innovation will shake Windows ' core position. However, the only constant in the universe is change, and you will be changed if you do not take the initiative to seek change. Over the past year or so, I have felt that Microsoft is starting to awaken, especially after last year's market capitalisation was overtaken by Apple, which is a big shock to Microsoft's psychology. This year, big and heavy, WinPhone7, Kinect, Office365, some success, some struggling, some are fledgling. There are many bold ideas brewing, and Microsoft's ability to innovate seems to be back in the 90 's.

On the operating system, although it will not be released until next year, but see the pace of the arrival of Windows 8 is travelled day, we are most impressed by the Metro interface and Windows seamlessly combined with the smooth experience. But compared to the next generation of operating systems Andy Lees said, this is not a breakthrough innovation. Of course, from a hardware side, supporting the ARM processor architecture is a big step. What does Windows 8 have to do with this future system from the software side?

We want to further analyze the challenges that Windows faces in the past and the future, and use some clues to infer the countermeasures it is dealing with.

We know that in the past Windows was based on the DOS engine, and since Win2000, the NT engine has been fully adopted. NT was the next-generation OS/2 system that Microsoft partnered with IBM, but the success of Windows3.0 made Microsoft determined to do its own business and develop a new generation of operating systems. The goal is to overcome the DOS engine file storage, network transmission, security, stability and a series of challenges. For five years, the new NT kernel was born. The first few editions of Win NT are mainly used to occupy the server market, because the NT configuration is high, and the Win9x series market is very good, but Win9x stability and security problems have been plagued by Microsoft and users. Many people should be impressed with Windows 98, its use of a wide range of loopholes, blue screen frequency, so that we hate and helpless, nicknamed it "Plague Bar."

I remember, Gates said in an interview with a small journalist, "Believe me, my computer will always strike." "It seems like upgrading to a stable and secure NT kernel is a natural matter, but if it wasn't for the outside world, Microsoft would not necessarily have to move it right away." This is driving the emergence of Linux, and the main reason is that the internet era is unstoppable, 2000 years or so is in full swing. People have been unable to tolerate an easily broken, flawed operating system. Microsoft seized the opportunity to launch Windows 2000 with the NT core, a combination of Windows Me, and soon introduced a new, well-compatible Windows XP, becoming the most successful operating system ever.

Now, 10 years later, the Internet from the bubble to mature, set off a new climax, that is, the so-called mobile internet era. Competitors, in addition to years of Linux, have come to the threat of Android and Mac Os/ios. Like the situation ten years ago, again, Microsoft is listening to the call of the Times, and the time has come to make a change.

The situation is much more subtle and dangerous than it was 10 years ago, forcing Microsoft to take risks and ask for change, so let me cite the five challenges facing windows today.

1. Android and Mac Os/ios's back-office strength is hard, even less than Microsoft, not disunity Linux comparable.

2. PC market is already near saturation, mobile internet era, mobile equipment has become the main growth point. Before Windows could grow as long as the PC became ubiquitous, it must now be a breakthrough in the new equipment sector.

3. Even on PC operating systems, it's not easy to worry about, even though Windows takes up 90% of its share. Microsoft is now the main opponent in addition to Apple Google, but also has its own WinXP system. Win7 Although the response is good, but the share is still under the pressure of XP. These huge XP user groups, on the surface temporarily stay in the Microsoft Camp, with Android/ios and WebApp a series of shocks, the timing will be cold, this is the Microsoft leadership of a huge heart. If you do not continue to make more innovations on Windows, and do not quickly attract XP users to the new version of Windows, Windows Jiangshan is still in danger of being subverted.

4. Microsoft did not have the trump card of the year, and Vista's failure left Microsoft with the opportunity to develop its next-generation OS engine for years.

5. The impact of the Internet on smart devices has begun to change, and the role of the Internet has become a dominant player. The percentage of work that can be done through the web is getting bigger. Originally as the common software browser to start the upper, there will be forced the palace operating system of the future. HTML5 increased this possibility.

It can be said that the next few years will determine the future destiny of Windows. So how does windows respond to these challenges?

Windows ' response

In the face of severe challenges, Microsoft has seen a huge opportunity: embracing the Internet, from the hands of the Internet to take the initiative to become windows the most powerful weapon, and then unified the world of smart devices.

Or from the uproar of Windows 8, to be honest, the use of the WinPhone7 Metro interface, support ARM architecture Everyone thinks it is logical, there is no exciting features elsewhere. The only thing that surprises everyone is that when the Win8 interface is just showing up in public, the application of HTML5 and JavaScript is the protagonist. This has led some of the Silverlight and. NET developers to panic (Microsoft's silence has caused. NET developers to worry).

In fact, the fear of abandonment is unnecessary for Silverlight and completely redundant for. Net. A little understanding. NET history or a little bit more contact with Microsoft, all understand that Microsoft can not abandon. NET, ten years, it has been integrated into Microsoft's blood, Microsoft's internal most popular development platform, Microsoft is an important part of the future strategy. Indeed, Microsoft has invented. NET, a platform that may be suitable for more than just PCs, in the ten years since 2001, without innovation like NT on the OS. As a. NET developer, I believe. The future meaning of net will even surpass NT, be comparable to C language.

I know a lot of people, including. NET and other platform developers will be skeptical. Let's put this aside and pay attention to a product-ie10 that might be closely related to WIN8: Microsoft says the IE10 support cycle will be 10 years, the same as Windows 8.

IE10 itself is also an intriguing product, IE9 official version just released a few months, IE10 preview version on the debut. It is almost certain that Win8 will integrate the IE10 kernel, and those HTML5 applications in Win8 should also run on IE10. For a browser to provide ten years of support is very unusual, if the IE department Director is not a word, that IE10 will not be a common software, the status will be second only to the operating system itself, under one person, million people above.

As we all know, since IE6 flourished, IE has been losing users. IE9 technology is not outstanding, strategic failure, it seems that IE will become dispensable chicken. Why is it possible for IE10 to roll over?

It is conceivable that Microsoft is adapting to the trend, and repositioning the relationship between the browser and the operating system. Faced with the surging application of web trends, the future of IE browser will be a real core component of Windows system, if the name of IE and Windows is still in use. Try to start with Win8 and IE10.

We naturally ask, since the application gradually web-based, the operating system is weakened, and the browser has a lot of choices, why should users stay in Windows and IE platform it? The answer is that the Internet is not able to take users away from the Windows platform if the HTML5 can bring a different, full experience to Windows. Then there are problems, how to bring, by what other platform can not replace the experience?

I think the only thing Microsoft can rely on is. NET. Let's go on. NET and look back at what it's about and what it does.

As early as 2000, some of Microsoft's internal foresight, it was proposed that with the advent of the Internet era, the focus of PC work will be transferred to the Internet, the status of the browser will be a cloud straight up, until the role of the operating system to replace. Ambitious. NET strategy is on the agenda of creating a new generation of Web platforms, or windows in the Internet age. Future windows include wireless communications, smart appliances, but also a new generation of human-machine interface, and more terminals will be able to achieve the function of the Internet. A considerable scale has also been established for this purpose. NET department, the goal is to develop a "super browser" that integrates Windows applications with Web applications. We found that this "super browser" app is now a hot cloud computing concept, now Microsoft is aggressively promoting the Office 365 is only part of this browser program (see Lee's autobiography "The World because you are different").

We understand that Andy Lees's single ecosystem is not a new strategy for breaking, but a dream that had sprouted as early as ten years ago. Perhaps for ten years, this dream has been rooted in the hearts of Microsoft people.

Unfortunately due to Microsoft's internal struggles, the main Windows department is strongly opposed. NET plan soon died. Only the new development techniques designed for this project have been retained and developed, which is what we are today. NET technology.

Actually, this. NET plan even today is too far ahead, when the internet bubble has not burst, the Internet fever caused many people believe that leap is only a moment. Of course, this is not the wrong direction of the plan, but the timing is still immature. The strategic vision of the net plan still makes people that awe. Ten years later today, regardless of the internet,. NET technology or hardware is not the same. With HTML5, Firefox and Chrome, there's a new smart device.

There are signs that the dream of slumber ten years ago is beginning to awaken slowly. Today's Microsoft, though still plagued by infighting, was more humble and open ten years ago. Not only is there a strong support for Web standards-HTML5, but also HTML5 's unique experience as the goal of future IE browsers, not just support, from IE9 can see.

Even though IE9 is not very successful now, it seems that Microsoft's confidence in IE does not reduce, I think IE10 should bring more different things. IE9 does not support the XP,IE10 does not support Vista, it seems that Microsoft is determined to take the new features of the browser to improve the market competitiveness of windows.

If the future IE really sublimated into the kind of "Super browser" envisioned 10 years ago and integrates in Windows, combining Web standards, for users and developers, will be the convenience of Web applications, the performance of Windows applications. NET development, such windows should be the "super operating system" that Andy Lees describes to unify the world of smart devices. In the next generation of browsers to take over the work of most operating systems, browser-driven operating system sales, it is not an empty word. Windows will, like the current NT engine, take a back seat, become the bottom of the core, mention it will be less people, and silently support the next generation of browsers become the protagonist, standing in the e-era of the cusp. If this succeeds, I'm afraid Microsoft can lead the IT world with Windows for 10-20 years.

This is the future of Windows envisioned by Microsoft. As to whether this wishful thinking can be played, look at the executive power of Microsoft today, and. NET to the degree of force. We're going to be right. NET have confidence, anyway. NET will continue to develop, even if there is still a gap, the future will be more to force.

Talk a lot, thank you have time to read this article. In the next step, let's talk about the legendary "Super Browser", which can bring something new than the current mainstream browser. NET can do it? In addition, Silverlight fans do not worry, this great plan, Silverlight will also find their own location.

Post-Internet era, the future of Windows