Windows 8 = Convergence

[muse108dc]

I have been thinking and reading a bit about windows 8 and for the most part it sounds like a bigger flop for me than Vista ever was. I use a desktop a lot and I do not see metro being anything but a hindrance there. Tablets sure, metro looks quite nice, but anything not touch... `shudders`

But heres what I`m starting to see with windows 8: Convergence. With the next xbox coming out in the nearish future and it already moving towards metro, the talk of windows 8 being able to play xbox games, windows media center. With the fact that the xbox is just a computer with fixed hardware and a focused OS. Why not just have the next xbox run 8? I dont think it would be a huge leap to see the next xbox running a simplified, gaming focused 8. The next xbox would be more flexible, have a shared pool of apps with tablets and with a controller its interface works almost as well as with touch.

If they did this they`d have a fairly unified experience accross their phones, their tablets, their console as well as their pcs and laptops. I still think Metro is going to be disabled on most if not all PCs, I am interested as to where they take it in relation to everything else.

And instead of ports devs could just write games for the pc and then just as any new game running on older hardware does, scale down. This is PURELY wishful thinking, but hey, it could happen or we could just get even lazier ports.

[Supergrover]

I could see them using some form of 8 on the next xbox and wouldnt kinect work well with a touch interface?
Dont have one so cant really say how kinect works IRL.

[Arinoth]

There is unfortunately only one (big) problem when it comes to running say Windows 8 on the next generation xbox. The problem is that the previous two generations were Power PC systems/platforms, meaning the way they address memory at the instruction set level is completely different then what intel/amd does it. This has to due back when Motorola and Intel were coming out with their processors and deciding which would be the better way to write something into memory. Intel went one way, Motorola went the other way, making it damn near impossible to run the exact same software on both as they would have to be re-written at the assembler level to do the memory addressing swap in a sense. This is why until Apple switched to Intel, they couldn't run most software that was Windows or Linux capable (little endian vs big endian as its called).

Flash to now, we have the next generation xbox that should be coming out, the question there is are they going to have backwards compatibility support or not? If they do then they'll either need slightly beefy hardware in it so that it can emulate a Power PC processor while running on a presumable intel/amd architecture or not support it (like newer PS3s). The best route would be the ability for Windows 8 to emulate the Power PC processor as it would allow PC gamers to play Xbox and Xbox 360 games in Windows 8 and allow them to have a stream-lined operating system as you previously mentioned for all their devices.

Ultimately we'll have to wait and see, however what I just said is why we may not see it happen, or if we do, we may not have xbox/xbox 360 support for games in the next version of the Xbox gaming console.

[Snarl]

I think I'll hold on to Windows 7 for a while yet, I'm also concerned about some of the Choices in Windows 8. I'll wait till it's out and have another look at it then.

[bojangles]

Windows 7 will be great for some time. Definitely let Windows 8 pan out a bit so that Microsoft can get some consumer feedback on the OS. Looks like there is going to be a lot of confusion and questions about the new interface.

I'm okay with changing my habits a bit if it's for the better.

[Shadowmeph]

I think that Win8 is built mostly for tab pc which it seems that tech is moving the Startrek way pushing Tab styles instead of laptops I have to admit I am starting to become more curious about tab pc, I think that the things that are holding me back is keyboard and also USB support I am not sure how that works. when I was playing around with windows 8 I had to get some help so that it would boot into desktop instead of the touch style

[Nodscene]

Once you disable to Metro crap it's basically Win7 but a little faster. As long as they don't force Metro down your throat I think it could be a good OS. Time will tell of course.

[Skyllz]

Originally Posted by Nodscene

Once you disable to Metro crap it's basically Win7 but a little faster. As long as they don't force Metro down your throat I think it could be a good OS. Time will tell of course.

I heard the same thing.

I'm not an expert, this is infos a friend who knows way more about this told me when I asked him the question.

Basicly it will be a optimized Win7, smaller, faster, loads less crap in memory unless it's needed then will close it instead of leaving it there. The Metro interface is to attract the iHippies and make it look pretty. He says he likes it so far.

He did not go into details but he said this one will be extremely hard to "not run legit" also.

[JD]

One of the key details is that Windows will no longer be tied to x86 hardware-only. They're finally opening it up to ARM as well. We can make rumours all we want, but it's yet to be seen how MS will take things.

Potentially yes Windows 8 could go onto XBOX, and maybe XBOX will even use ARM? They used Intel in the original XBOX (loosely based on a P3 733MHz). And now IBM's PowerPC in the XBOX360. I know the "update" coming to the XBOX Dashboard has many Metro elements to it and well Kinect works quite nicely with that sort of UI. However, when the XBOX becomes PC-hardware, it opens it up to serious modifications which I don't think MS liked. The original XBOX ran Linux pretty effortlessly...

But I agree, Metro with a keyboard and mouse? No thanks. It just doesn't work. Likewise, Ubuntu 11.04's default GUI is following suit of Metro too with a big app launcher which I also hate using. Hopefully we can retain the "classic" start menu functionality for desktop computing, especially in the enterprise. Although I see us quickly heading to touchscreen AIO desktops and tablets, at least for the general population. The way I see it, society is becoming stupider and doing less and less meaningful work on their computers. Instead they want a small, touch-friendly device, to allow them to check their email, news, Facebook/Twitter and simple games. More of a "lifestyle" device than a "productivity" device or a "gaming" device in most of our cases.

[Shadowmeph]

Thats the name of the thing Metro I hated that thing when I was testing out Win 8 . I think that they should have the option to disable metro either at the sign in or while the install is finish and at first boot.
I do like the idea of the touch screen but not for Laptops or Home PC ( non mobile ).
I am so far behind in techy stuff it isn't funny like I am going to have to do a sear4ch to find out what ARM is Hehe.