Is Windows 7 the last "real" Microsoft desktop PC OS?

[Wrend]

I have my suspicions, believe it or not, that it might actually be... :shock:

Windows 9 will unify the smartphone, tablet, desktop, and console, but is it too little too late? | ExtremeTech

Et cetera.

Your thoughts? Are we entering the dark ages of accelerating ignorant user placation through "technology for the masses?"

Race issues aside, this ill conceived trend of excessively simplified (and functionally limited) handheld computers (and their OSs) for the masses makes me think of teachers teaching Ebonics in English classes.

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My preference would be for Microsoft to go in the other direction and redefine the handheld OS, making it more like a "real" computer OS. For example, using Windows 7 on my Nexus 7 is very straightforward and intuitive. I use the high resolution touchscreen interface in a similar way to using a touchpad mouse, so I don't have to hover my finger/thumb over what I'm selecting and "clicking" (tapping) on. I then of course have the full functionality of a capable PC OS and its compatible software "on the go" on a touchscreen device that fits in my jacket or pants pocket.

 

[OvenMaster]

My own two cents is that I personally have zero use for mobile, handheld, smartphone versions of Windows.
I'm a desktop-only guy and that means that I need a desktop metaphor so that I can actually get productive work done with keyboard and mouse. I sit at an office desk, not a table at Starbucks or sitting and waiting for the next bus.

A touchpad is not a desktop; they're two totally different ways of using computer devices - mobile is for consumption of data, desktop is for production of data.

 

[Wrend]

Yeah, tablets are for mobility, more so even than laptops, and aren't that well suited to many of the desktop PC workloads/tasks.

However, I would disagree with the apparent general assumption that tablets need to run simplified, and excessively large icon/tile, drag-scrolling, and tapping versions of OSs to be used effectively and efficiently. That a "real" OS is seeming to emulate tablet style OSs to make an across-platform-experience makes no sense to me, and seems to be progressing OS interfaces in the completely wrong direction.

Sorry for the picture being a little blurry.

 

[AddRAM]

I seriously doubt it, after all what operating system will they use on the Enterprise ?

 

[Wrend]

Well, I do use Microsoft's Starfield simulation screensaver still... How could I not?

It did try to access the internet though, but I didn't allow it to.

 

[scr]

I'm a desktop guy as well. I do enjoy sitting in front of my 23" monitor using my keyboard and mouse. I went out of my way to get the dumbest cell phone I could find, it makes and receives phone calls.

I understand the needs and wants for other devices but making a desktop act and look like an iPhone doesn't make sense to me. Looks like Windows 7 will be on my computer for the duration of my existence. Sometimes being old is a good thing.

 

[archer]

I think, If MS wants to survive they will continue making OS for the Desktops. There are many people who still likes to touch the keyboard and mouse rather than the screen itself.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I seriously doubt it, after all what operating system will they use on the Enterprise ?

The original Star Trek Enterprise had a Commodore C64 in the background of the bridge.

 

[Britton30]

The C64 was introduced in 1982, 13 years after Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) was last produced.
Commodore 64 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Star Trek: The Original Series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Back OT, I think if MS wants to continue they should concentrate on what they have done best developing OSes for computers be it desktop, laptop, or netbook. Their foray in to tablets (surface, Surface RT) have been dismal. I don't want/need an OS that needs to be prodded and poked into submission and can't do real productive work without the addition of a slew of add-ons.

I do have an Android phone and the wife a Kindle Fire both of which can do computer-like functions, browsing, reading emails, etc. For video editing, photo editing and creating images, complex spread sheets, I'll still want to use a real computer.

To succeed I think MS needs to create separate OSes for computers and mobile devices or give the buyer/user the option of which to install to their equipment.

 

[jcmsonite23]

How do you know that those guys on Star Trek did not have some remote viewers or the like in their circles, and do stuff like showing off the upcoming tech for kicks. Just look at that SG1 show!. Cheers, enough doom and gloom. I can not wait to see what these quantum computers can do. Supposedly the Chinese have one??

The Tech writeup is not so suprising is it? Has MS ever portrayed themselves as a company with good sense over a god complex. I really doubt if the desktop goes anywhere in the forseeable future, I just keep on rooting for the guys like AMD, who want a more desktop that is made of components instead of one big board.

 

[Wrend]

Unfortunately, the name of the game seems to be "proprietary."

We'll probably end up leasing our computers (not just "smart" phones) along with the software that runs on them sooner or later.

Going the way of "home equity" (mortgages).

It's all about finding the most efficient way to maximize profits and release you of the burden of being able to save for the future.

I know I'm looking forward to shopping on the Microsoft App. store for leasing everything I want to run on my PC...

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For the time being, at least we can stay ahead of the game by being more knowledgeable and resourceful than the average bear.

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Sorry, a bit off topic, but I think it's a relevant factor in this "products and services" movement. I mean, if Microsoft is no longer primarily an OS software company, then where does that leave us and our OSs? Is Windows turning into cross-platform Adware?

 

[SirVer]

I agree with the OP; Microsoft has gone in the completely wrong direction. Windows 7 is the first one I was actually happy with, out of 2000, XP, and Vista, though XP was satisfactory. I was actually hopeful that it would get better from there. Y'know, back when I was young and naive.
When I was maybe 10 or 11, I used to think that since mobile devices were getting more powerful,they would become more like full-blown computers. The thought made me drool - I'm not kidding. Never did I expect this though - the computing world willingly limiting itself to lesser functionality. I think this whole thing is a scheme by Microsoft to subjugate the masses further. After all, if there's less things to control, there's less things for the user to mess up, less solutions to find on your own, which is how I picked up an interest in computers in the first place. And the less people there are interested in how it works, the less people there are looking for something that works better. I realise this must sound insanely paranoid, but would you put it past them? This makes even more sense when you take into account the fact that computers don't come with OEM Win7 anymore - with such a massive overhaul, shouldn't they have kept the Win7's coming for at least a while longer?
I admit that Win8 is by no means bad; if you're running it on a touch screen. If you don't have one though, using it is like trying to draw the Mona Lisa in Paint, using only your mouse.

The guys at Ubuntu have got it the right way around; just look at the Ubuntu Edge. It would be a dream come true, if it could run Windows. And that would probably be made possible soon after its release - if it does release.

So, make the computer more like the smartphone?Hell, no. Make the smartphone more like the computer? Oh, yes please.