When you look at today’s technology, it seems that phones are becoming tablets that are becoming laptops that are becoming workstations. That distinction gets even fuzzier now that Windows 8 is on its way to consumers. The new interface for Windows 8 appears to be very similar to the one on the Windows phones.
Windows 8 Screenshots on ZDNet
What does this mean for users? It’s great news if you like the push button interface like on most smart phones and tablets today. If you don’t have a touch screen interface, it would seem like a lot of visual clutter for not a lot of benefit. Will users embrace this new look? Or will this be the Windows ME debacle all over again?
It appears that Apple is not jumping on this bandwagon with their new Mountain Lion release of OS X expected to come out this summer. Apple is betting on the cloud to be their big draw, not the single interface. They are taking your information that you have on your desktop and making it available to you on your tablet and also on your phone using iCloud.
It is yet to be seen which will draw the most users, but it seems to me that Microsoft has forgotten that the real reason we use devices isn’t for the interface, but for the data we can reach.