OS X and Windows are two quite different operating systems with very opposite agendas. Similarly however, both are currently nearing a stage of mass transition, with elements and influences from mobile devices playing a key part in the respective futures of each.
Regardless of whether you are an Apple lover, Google guru or an old faithful Microsoft worshipper, the current technological climate represents an excellent time to be involved in, as a user of hardware and software. The majority of the major players in the tech business seem to have some exciting new pieces of kit about to hit the public eye, with Apple set to imminently launch the new iPad and possibly Apple TV, Google looking likely to seed their new Android Jelly Bean in the coming months and Microsoft finally releasing the Consumer Preview of their new Windows 8 operating system.
Windows 8 Consumer Preview Tablet Vs. iPad 2 Running iOS 5 – Head To Head Feature Comparison [VIDEO]
When Microsoft released its Windows 8 Consumer Preview, it was always going to be compared squarely against the biggest, best and some would argue only real competition in the tablet market: the iPad 2.
On Wednesday, Microsoft officially released the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (which is essentially a fancy term for 'public beta'). If you're eager to dabble around with the build in a virtual machine - perhaps due to the lack of a non-production machine, a spare partition, the fear of using it in a production environment, or, well, if you just want to install it in a virtual machine - then you're in luck.
It was only yesterday morning that the Microsoft team held an event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and announced that the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, essentially a prerelease version of Windows 8, would be made available immediately for public download. Windows 8 was described by Microsoft was "Windows reimagined", which sounds awfully familiar to the "Inspired by iPad, reimagined for Mac" tagline that Apple are muttering with their Mountain Lion OS.
Here's a tidbit of news that's been lurking behind the shadows of today's Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Windows Server 8, and Visual Studio 11 announcements: Microsoft has just made Microsoft Flight available for download.
As I noted in my editorial about what Microsoft should do next with SkyDrive, something that the Windows Live set of services are in dire need of is a redesign. I never was a fan of the current design that they have adopted: With design, it's often the details that make a world of difference - padding, margins, text - and all of these things are off, resulting in a set of products that lack finesse. So, what can Microsoft do to solve this problem?
As a generation of people, we should consider ourselves extremely lucky to live in a age which represents the cutting edge of technological breakthroughs and advancements. Rarely a day seems to go by without some new technology-based product being released to the public, whether this is a new smartphone or tablet, a new flat screen high definition television set or hopefully something more out there and unique in the not too distant future like the proposed Google’s virtual reality goggles.
Unsatisfied with the lack of Metro on the Windows 8 "legacy" desktop, one Verge forum user took it upon himself to create mockups that depict what the OS would look like if Microsoft were to ditch Aero in favor of an entirely Metro user interface design.
Remember those leaked SkyDrive features I touched on in yesterday's editorial? Well, much of them remain in rumor territory. However, Microsoft has confirmed two things: One, a major SkyDrive update is in the pipeline, and two, the rumor that we're getting a SkyDrive desktop client is spot-on. In a Building Windows 8 post written by two SkyDrive program managers, Microsoft detailed the SkyDrive Metro app, the service's tight integration with Windows 8, SkyDrive on the desktop, and fetching files through SkyDrive.com.
