I was at the BUILD conference last month and spent a lot of time chatting and debating with many of the attendees and also with some Microsoft employees. In the end I think Windows 8 is beyond the tablet with ARM CPU support and better kernel features. I know these are not sexy but they will get Windows on all devices and across all platforms. The key to this all is that we will have one kernel to develop against for everything from phones to the XBox on our TV’s. We will have the ability to develop great UX without the issues of different OS’s like in the past with Windows CE.
We will see a future where this one kernel will be in all places where we need it: from cars to the Cloud. In the short term, the key is to fight off the iPad and Android tablet competition but we all need to look beyond this current consumer buzz and look at where Microsoft is taking us for the long marathon. Do I think there is a vision that Microsoft is not vocalizing yet? I do and this has been discussed with Windows on 3 Screens. Not much is heard of this decree these days but if we look at the OS for each screen in the past it was Windows (desktop), Windows CE (embedded and mobile) and finally a custom OS for XBox360. This will be streamlined into a new kernel that will appear with Windows 8. The Windows 8 kernel will allow developers, OEM’s and ISV’s the ability to exploit all types of device features and capabilities to the same software.
In 10 years do I think people will look back and see Windows 8 a great Microsoft release? Yes but I think it will be looked at the day when a single kernel unified the developer and hardware makers under one banner.
