The importance of operating systems is diminishing

Abstract: Tencent Science and Technology (China Tao) Beijing time July 29 News, the U.S. Science and Technology information website ReadWrite Editor Brein Profett (Brian Proffitt) recently published a commentary, said that, for the moment, the importance of operating systems has been increasingly attenuated, related applications and

"The importance of operating systems has been declining for the time being," said Brain Profette Brian Proffitt, a readwrite editor at the U.S. Science and Technology information website, in Beijing July 29. The importance of relevant applications and the hardware to run these applications is increasingly prominent.

The following is the full text of Profette article:

The days of the desktop OS Wars are leaving us, not just because desktop sales are still shrinking. Today, we are witnessing a new kind of market competition: Application Wars.

Consumer attention is now firmly on the application side, not on the operating system level, which is where businesses need to occupy the commanding heights. But the application wars are much less intense than the desktop system wars. In the desktop system wars, businesses typically invest millions of of dollars in marketing money to eliminate the user's concerns, uncertainties, and skepticism about the latest version of Windows, OS X, or Linux operating systems. In fact, for most applications, it may not be a war at all, but to fight each other on a fundamentally different battlefield.

An application-centric world

The day that I experienced a while ago can be seen as a typical example of the current use of various applications by mobile users. Not only did I have to work in ReadWrite that day, but I had to make an appointment for my child's dentist, find a vet for my cat, and consult and prepare for my child's new semester teaching program. Although my daily work arrangement is not the case at all, this is true for most mobile users. In this state, I will rely on a number of applications, which are much more dependent than I am on the operating system.

To drive this article, I used the IA writer application (written on my imac, MacBook, and ipad device when I couldn't find a Wi-Fi network). I also use HootSuite apps to manage my social media accounts, use feedly apps to read news, use Skype to communicate with colleagues, and use Gmail to send and receive emails. When I do this kind of activity, I change the use of different devices, and what I really care about is a variety of applications, and the different platforms (in my case, OS X and iOS) that are involved in these applications don't really matter much.

The article is written here, readers may say, because I use Apple devices, in fact, the importance of the platform is revealed. To some extent, this view also makes sense: because I love ia Writer's text-editing application, I'm putting myself on the Apple platform. But if I want to use the Windows platform, I can also easily use Office 365, or simply a little bit more to use Google Docs. For me, markdown text editing tools are more useful than rich document tools, and I might be able to use Dillinger on any device.

This is also the nature of the application wars: In any operating system, I'm only looking for apps that really work for me, and you might find that applications in the current platform can actually run on other platforms. If an application belongs to a network service, it can be used on all platforms. In fact, I can not give up at present, but the other platform has no alternative application is a handful. When that number becomes zero, for me, it's the day the desktop system war really ends.

Hardware Battlefield

You may be in a very good position right now. If so, you can switch between different device devices and use your favorite apps, and then publish your creativity and related information online wherever there is an Internet connection.

For operating system makers such as Microsoft and Apple, this will be a nightmare. For Microsoft, which has dominated the desktop operating system for many years, the downside is even more pronounced: Microsoft had no need to worry about the number of Windows applications. But Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO Ballmer, said shortly ago that Flipboard, Facebook and NFL fantasy Football would become the primary application of the Windows 8.1 operating system, and from this statement, we can certainly feel the pressure that Microsoft faces.

Apple also faces a similar problem in mobile services: There are both iOS and Android versions in any service. In this way, Apple is facing the challenge of its mobile device price/performance ratio, after all, the importance of operating system has been put in application. Nokia has also realised that consumers are no longer in the interest of the mobile operating system itself, so they have taken a differentiated approach to their products. Nokia Lumia 1020 Handsets are a typical example of the company's differentiated approach.

All platforms face this challenge, whether it's desktops, tablets or smartphones. All kinds of applications will play the role of equalizer, and the importance of operating system gradually reduced or even disappeared. Of course, the unique features of some operating systems will still be an important factor in attracting some consumers. However, the real user loyalty factors, but these users are favored applications.

Because of this, the manufacturers in the marketing process, will be a big fuss over hardware configuration: Better cameras, lighter devices, faster processors, and so on, because users want to use the most powerful devices to run their applications, regardless of whether they are native applications or web-based services.

Desktop operating system wars were built around applications, while application warfare would be based on hardware configuration.

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