Microsoft & Apple rejoin the os battle
These opponents are expected to roll out
upgrades affected by mobile for Mac OS and Windows this year
This year is becoming a repetition of 2009, when
Microsoft and Apple have the last facing with competitive operating system
upgrades.
3 years ago, Microsoft released Windows 7 when Apple
released Snow Leopard, also known as Mac OS X 10. 6.
Earlier this month, surprising many observers, Apple
released a preview version of Mac OS X 10.8 for the developer, or Mountain
Lion, and said it will release the final code into "late summer 2012.
"
Most analysts are expecting Microsoft’s Windows 8
releasing this year, almost certainly in Q4. The company plans to publish
something called the "Consumer Preview" version of Windows 8 on 2.29.
Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business
Research, said the desktop operating system upgrades of the two suppliers were
strongly influenced by the mobile operating system. "It may seem that both
have a reverence for the mobile operating system."
"The two companies are placing big gamble this
year," Gottheil added. "They both realized that the shape factor has
been deleted, tablet PCs and smartphones require an upgrade from the 25 years
old graphical user interface which had dominated the PC".
In the case of Microsoft, Windows 8 has a completely new
open interface - called Metro - borrow much from the look and the tile style of
the mobile Windows Phone operating system.
While Microsoft will retain the traditional desktop in
Windows 8, the Metro interface is the basis not only for the Start screen, but
also for a new generation of applications focusing on touch rather than the
mouse and keyboard.
Mountain Lion is not a shift of the Apple, simply because
companies have started incorporating IOS’s elements into a desktop operating
system when it released Mac OS X 10.7 or Lion last year. "Apparently this
is incremental upgrades rather than major feature upgrades," said Michael
Gartenberg, Gartner’s analyst.
Mountain Lion will include many IOS applications and
services, such as Notifications and Reminders, as well as new names for the
long-standing Mac applications like iCal and Address Book, to match the names
of the IOS.
Both Windows 8 and Mountain Lion will push customers
toward their manufacturer’s online distribution centers.
Microsoft said Metro applications will only be available
through Windows Store, although the company will be able to give staff the
Metro applications internally generated which was not disclosed to the public.
The traditional 32bit and 64bit Windows applications can be downloaded and installed
from any source.
A new feature in Lion, called "Gatekeeper",
allows users to decide where to buy Mac software. The safest setting only
allows installing programs downloaded from the electronic market of the Apple’s
Mac App Store.
Two other options allow Mac owners to install any
application, regardless of source. limited installing softwares retrieved from
the app store or the digital signature by a developer accepted by Apple.
Apple and Microsoft store are advertising their
application store as a safe place to distinguish malicious fakes with genuine
legitimate, the fact that sales of the app store is a source of revenue for
both companies.
In 2009, Apple beat Microsoft about a sale on the market,
when Snow Leopard released in late August, two months before the Windows
launch.
If Apple made the "late summer" promise for
the Mountain Lion, it will be able to defeat Microsoft again. Unless Microsoft
makes substantial discount for Windows 8, Apple will definitely beat the back.
