Say what you like about Windows 8
(and who isn’t) but it’s embracing new technologies like never before.
This got me looking at Apple’s desktop operating system, OS X, and
asking myself if Windows 8 might leave the Lion trailing far behind in
its dust. First things first though, I’m not going to assume that
Windows 8 will be a tablet operating system, as that would be unfair
given that Windows in its various forms currently runs on about 1
billion desktops and probably about thirty or forty tablets worldwide.
I’m also not anti-Apple, as OS X is a very polished and accomplished
operating system that almost nobody has a bad word to say about. What I
want to do is take each operating system on its merits and compare
these two operating systems as they will stand, shoulder-to-shoulder
this October when Windows 8 is expected to launch.
This means we will still be using OS X Lion on iMacs because Apple’s
desktop OS release schedule usually means they release something new
every eighteen months to two years, and with Lion coming out in the
summer of 2011, that means the next big cat will lag from a few months
to as much as a year behind Windows 8. So where will these two
operating systems stand and why, do I think anyway, Windows 8 will be
ahead of the pack?
Let’s
start with touch, as Windows 8 is centred around it in a way no desktop
operating system ever has been before. This is significant because
when you look at it objectively Windows is the only desktop
operating system to ever feature touch. It’s never been in OS X or
GNU/Linux and, although most people expect the next generation iMacs and
Macbooks to be multi-touch enabled they might not appear for another
year or more. Touch is important as any new way to interact with our
computers opens up opportunities both for existing users and people who
are new to technology. This can include the elderly, disabled or very
young children, all of whom can have trouble with keyboards.
Touch brought with it handwriting recognition to Windows, which has
now been with us in some form or another since around 2005 when
Microsoft first introduced the concept of the tablet PC. The
handwriting recognition in Windows is really quite mature now and far
ahead of the competition. Apple, by contrast doesn’t even offer the
feature on the iPad and it has to be added via a third-party app. Again
this offers new ways to interact with our computers and opens them up
to new people and new markets.
While we’re on the subject of interfaces there can be little doubt
that Microsoft’s Kinect sensor will revolutionise the way we use PCs in
the same way it has done for gaming. It may only be useful for broad
swipes but imagine the fun people will have playing with it on a new
laptop, or the benefits it can bring to the physically handicapped?
It’s not just in interfaces that Microsoft is leagues ahead of
Apple. Data encryption is another area where they still rule the
roost. No matter how secure people might tell you their Macbook is,
it’s still vulnerable to being dismantled and having the hard drive
removed. Microsoft’s Bitlocker drive encryption technology has now been
with us since 2005 and is widely considered as the business data encryption tool. This is at a time when data protection and data encryption are more important than ever before.
Add to this new technologies such as hard disk storage pooling, new
advanced file management features and the Windows To Go feature, which
will allow you to load your entire copy of Windows 8, including all it’s
installed software onto a bootable USB pen drive and Windows 8 is
clearly well in the lead.
If you want to come back now and say that the average desktop user
doesn’t need any of these features then I would say this to you. Each
one of the very few technologies I’ve listed here is either currently
making a big difference in the world today, or is set to do so very
shortly (such as Windows To Go). There is nothing here that can be
considered frivolous or useless in any way. In short I could suggest,
if I dare, that Apple have spent so long concentrating on the
smartphone and tablet space that they’ve simply taken their eye off the
desktop and when they had chances to import some of these technologies
into OS X, remember that OS X and iOS run on the same core kernel, they
missed the opportunity.
There are also, and this is important to say, areas where OS X is
ahead of Windows. While some of these areas have been historically
significant, such as user security, OS X doesn’t currently lead in any
meaningful way, and with the technologies that are making a big impact
in the world today.
The reason I say this is because, while the focus of Windows 8 might
be on it’s funky new Metro front end, many people will be comparing
Windows and OS X and wondering why the precocious Metro upstart is so
far ahead. Apple clearly has some catching up to to, and they’d better
hurry because I do actually want to buy an iMac, but until they begin to support touch they can forget it.
