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Apple’s Lion versus Windows 8

• 26/06/11
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It has been a very interesting couple of weeks in the computer industry, with both Apple and Microsoft showing their development communities and the general public what they see as the future of their operating systems. I’m going to start with Apple's Lion because basically I’m a Mac user. However in some ways the things that Microsoft is showing and trying to achieve with Windows 8 are even more exciting!

Apple’s Lion

Apple will be releasing their new computer operating system Lion in July 2011 for a price of only $29.99. You will be able to put this version on as many computers you own as you like. Unfortunately you will only be able to download this version of Apple’s new operating system from Apple’s App’s online software store.

However, for you to do this you need to be updated or have a copy of Snow Leopard ($29.99).

What are some of the key features of Lion? I’m going to just outline what I see as the three key main features that I feel are the most interesting. Apple lists 250 new features.

Full Screen Apps

Windows users have had this for years but for us poor Mac users it has been a different story. There have been some Mac applications that have given you this functionality, however they been very patchy. However with Lion it is going to be built into the operating system which should make this function much more effective.

Mac App Store

As I said earlier, in order to upgrade to Lion you need to be able to access the Apple store. However there is a lot more to the store than just a place to buy products. It is the central place for your applications. Apple will update their own and third party developer’s applications automatically if the applications are bought from the Apple store.

If your computer crashes and you can’t recover you will be able to go to the Apple Apps store (once you have go OX Lion working again) and with just click a button you can download all your applications back onto your computer and start working again.

 Window’s 8

Microsoft recently made public some information connected to it’s new computer operating system, which in 2012, will replace its very successful Window’s 7.

After the terrible Vista “a dog’s breath” of an operating system Window’s 7 has been, in commercial terms, a big success, but also it has put Microsoft back in the game as a central player in the computer industry.

Versions

Versions really look really interesting. Basically if you were working on a Word doc and you made changes that on reflection were not a good idea, you could go back in time to a previous version of the document this will be offered automatically by the operating system

It seems that Google, Apple and group of lesser known players are going to dominate the computer industry in the second decade of the 21st century. Microsoft will still make a lot of money, but may end up being a kind of IBM; a company that makes a great profit but doesn't really influence the future of the tech industry.

Window’s 8 operating system is a really big gamble on Microsoft part. Many in the computer tech industry have been very critical of Microsoft’s insistences that all the different type of devices that run Windows, from tablets to high powered desktops computers, should basically run on the same underlining up to date version of Windows.

Many have said that this is what is wrong and that Microsoft should do what Apple decided to do and develop a semi separate operating system for it non-traditional computing devises.

Many tech writers/bloggers have publicly said it is not possible to have a really effectively central operating system for all these very different types of computing devises that the world will use in the next couple of decades. That by doing this Microsoft would always be making too many compromises, and because of this, Microsoft will never really be an effective player in the non-traditional computer device area.

With Window’s 8 it’s becoming pretty obvious that Microsoft intends to try and achieve what the tech industry sees as the semi impossible; a modern operating system that will work 100% on all types of computer devices.

On the other hand, some tech writers/bloggers who I highly respect, (see Paul Thurrott’s  web site) are saying that they think Microsoft might have something really revolutionary with Window’s 8.

Conclusion

2011 & 2012 looks like they are going to be great years for new computer operating systems. I personally see Apple’s Lion offering some great and powerful new features to the Mac user. However, it’s not revolutionary. What Microsoft is trying to do is! I thought I would never be saying that in 2011.

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