Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Windows 8 vs Mac OSX Lion
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 by Michael Lewis
It's a rare opportunity that we get a preview of next
generation of PC operating systems back to back. Last week at the
D9 conference, Microsoft previewed Windows 8 for the press. A
full roll out is expected in September. This week Apple
rolled out the next version of the Mac OSX. For years the two
software giants have been leap frogging each other as they bring
new versions of their operating systems to the market.
For more than a decade, Microsoft and Apple have been at
odds over what consumers and small businesses want from an OS.
Since Windows XP was released in 2001, Microsoft has based their OS
on the Windows NT architecture. This core code has been at the
center of Microsoft's server and enterprise level OS since 1993.
They have made it clear that they have no intention of deviating
from this core. They believe at a philosophical level that they
must continue to support applications and services reaching back
over two decades. If a business is running some mission critical
Line of Business program from 1998 it should still run in 2008 and
2018.
Apple sees things differently. When they launched OSX in
2001, they dropped support for all previous versions of the OS.
They did this again with the release of OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) in
2009 by dropping support for Power PC based Macs. While this might
lock small businesses into old hardware by eliminated upgrade
paths, Apple believes that the only way they can be allowed to
innovate their product is if they do not tie themselves to
decade-old software.
What they do agree on is Mobile. Both Microsoft and Apple
see the mobile computing space as the future of computing. But that
is where the agreement ends. Both companies are borrowing heavily
from their mobile OS's (Windows Phone 7 and iOS respectively) for
design inspiration. Microsoft is adding a new interface layer that
looks and feels very similar to Windows Phone 7. This is meant to
allow hardware makers to use one OS across touch-based tablets,
laptops, and workstations. In other words, Microsoft sees no
difference between these devices. This really is nothing new.
Windows Vista and Windows 7 services level support for touch
interfaces. The difference is Windows 8 will be designed for touch
screens as a primary input. The rub? This is nothing more than a
skin over the classic Windows design. It still has 20 years of
legacy support under its hood.
OSX Lion, on the other hand, borrows many of the design
elements and interface cues from iOS, but that is about it. iOS is
for mobile and OSX is for workstations and notebooks. In Lion,
Apple has introduced a full screen view mode that looks and feels
like an iPad's interface, but it's not meant for a touch screen.
Apple has expanded its repertoire of track pad gestures. When Apple
was designing iOS a few years ago, their goal was to strip away the
complications while reducing functionality, whereas Microsoft has
not made this compromise.
In our next post, we will be looking at how each of these
next gen OS's can benefit your small business.
Until next time -
Mike Lewis
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
DC IT Support &
Consulting
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