operating system has an interface almost nobody expected or predicted.
The default interface for Windows 8 will look almost nothing like Windows 7,
but will look and feel a heck of a lot like Microsoft's cell-phone operating
system, Windows Phone 7.
What's going on here?
Way back in February 2007, I told you about the coming era of touch-screen
desktop computing -- "an iPhone the size of a big-screen TV." I asked: "Will
the desktop version of this third-generation UI come from Apple, or
Microsoft?"
After four years, we still don't know the answer to that question. Apple
could still beat Microsoft to the punch.
But this week we learned that Microsoft intends to ship the first desktop
touch tablet version of Windows next year. More importantly, we know how
Microsoft is going to manage the jarring transition from second-generation
WIMP (windows, icons, menus and pointing devices) computing to
third-generation MPG (multi-touch, physics and gestures ) computing.
To gently-but-aggressively transition the Windows world to the next
generation of computing, Microsoft is going to do something I hadn't even
thought of: Microsoft will get millions of users to interact with their
touch interface without touching. Windows 8 will combine the gestures and
eye candy of tomorrow's touch tablets with the clunky mice and keyboards of
yesterday's PCs.
A proven strategy
When Microsoft transitioned users from DOS to Windows back in the early
1990s, they made Windows a "shell" on top of DOS, but made the Windows UI
the default. (Note that the less aggressive, legacy-friendly alternative to
that would have been to ship DOS with the Windows shell as an optional
application.) Microsoft didn't force everyone to suddenly abandon DOS and
the DOS applications they had invested in. Anyone who wanted to launch and
run a DOS program could do so, but in a DOS window within the Windows shell.
Microsoft's strategy paid off, and Windows adoption happened quickly.
Microsoft plans to do exactly the same thing with Windows 8. The new
operating system will default to the next-generation shell -- the Metro UI,
which first showed up in the Windows Media Center, then the Zune, then
Windows Phone 7.
That's right. When you install Windows 8, you'll be greeted not by a
"desktop" with icons, but to a "personal mosaic of tiles," according to
Microsoft's demo video. These are like icons in functionality -- when you
click or tap them, they launch the associated applications. But unlike
icons, they display data from the applications. In Microsoft's example, the
e-mail tile shows new messages. The calendar tile shows today's
appointments. A "My Investments" tile displays live stock prices. A Twitter
tile shows a recent tweet.
The interface is so new that applications will have to be re-written for it
from the ground up, just like DOS applications had to be re-written for
Windows. These new applications will have interesting qualities. For
example, they'll be written in either HTML5 or JavaScript. They'll launch
full-screen, just like apps on an Apple iPad tablet, but will also
optionally run two at a time, side-by-side. And even if you're using an old
mouse-and-keyboard style desktop PC, the apps you'll use will be "designed
for touch." You can cycle through multitasking applications with a simple
swipe-from-the-left gesture.
But don't worry. Your old Windows applications will still run. Like in the
earliest versions of Windows that ran DOS software in a special DOS mode,
Windows applications will run in a "Desktop" or "Windows 7" mode. Best of
all, you'll be able to run old Windows applications side-by-side with the
Metro UI app of your choice.
Interestingly, the Metro UI handles files like the iPad -- documents and
data files are associated with the application, and will be managed only
from within applications. But in the Windows 7 window, you'll still have
old-fashioned file management, where your data file locations are not
associated with specific applications and can be moved copied, deleted or
modified without reference to specific applications.
Note that these two generations of user interface will exist side-by-side
only on PCs. Windows 8 will also run on devices powered by ARM chips made by
a company called ARM Holdings. Traditionally, these chips power smartphones
and tablets, and the slim operating systems designed for these mobile
gadgets. Windows 8 will run on ARM devices, but the old interface will not
be supported. ARM devices will run only the Metro UI, and the apps written
for that platform.
So both your PC and tablet will run Windows 8, but only your PC will be able
to run your current version of Office or QuickBooks. On the tablet, you'll
have to wait for new, Metro-specific versions to be created.
Why Microsoft is doing this
People resist change. It's just human nature.
Users are going to love the touch-centric computing interfaces of tomorrow.
But today, many Windows users just don't like the sound of it.
Whenever I predict desktop tablets, I get a lot of e-mail from the
resistance. Touch is too limited, they say. An iPad-like interface is
cramped and limiting. The arm position necessary to use a touch screen even
at an angle is uncomforable. I need a real keyboard. I've grown attached to
my mouse. I need hardcore multi-tasking.
Apple's strategy for overcoming resistance was to launch an entirely new
device, rather than immediately replace an existing platform with a new one.
Apple's MPG (multitouch, physics and gestures) interface was first used on
Apple's first-ever cell phone. Because the entire device category was brand
new to Apple, the company didn't ask users of existing Apple products to do
things differently. The company's strategy is to start small and move up the
food chain - first phones, then tablets, then multi-touch laptop and desktop
touchpads, then desktops, which we'll see no doubt this year or next.
What we learned this week is that Microsoft has come up with an entirely
different solution to the problem of user resistance to change: Microsoft
intends to get us all using a touch interface with mice and keyboards first.
By the time we get used to doing that, we'll be happy to get rid of the
peripheral hardware and just use our desktops like iPads, touching the
screen directly. It will be the same interface, but much better because
we'll be able to use multi-finger gestures and because we'll enjoy the
innate psychological payoff of using an MPG device.
I think Microsoft's strategy is brilliant. I had all but written off
Microsoft as clueless about the future of touch computing. But the company's
latest demo changes everything.
Mike Elgan writes about technology and tech culture. Contact and learn more
about Mike at Elgan.com, or subscribe to his free e-mail newsletter, Mike's
List.
■単語
heck
[間]((略式・軽い嫌悪など))ちぇっ.
━━[名][U]((hellの婉曲語))いったい
What the heck do you care?
なんだってくよくよしているんだ.
a heck of a
((話))大変な；すごい，エキサイティングな
I had a heck of a day.
大変な1日だったよ.
What the heck!／The heck with it!
((話))かまうもんか.
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿