Seppuku – self inflicted cutting
Wikipedia defines Seppuku as the following:
Seppuku (切腹?, “stomach-cutting”) is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honour code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by….
You get the picture..pretty gruesome stuff…
What does this have to with Microsoft, Windows 8.1? Oh and yes, you are on the right blog, you didn’t stumble onto something else on the web.
Seppuku seemed like the most appropriate analogy for what Microsoft would be doing if they allowed Intel to…
OK, I’ll start from the beginning.
Intel has a great idea
So at CES 2014, Intel decided to announce an old-new idea. They are working on creating processors that can be used in PC’s to power up Windows and Linux in a “Dual OS” type situation.
I thought that would mean a dual boot situation but it’s even better – it would be at the press of a button. You could simply switch between Windows and Linux at will on the same PC.
Linux and Windows 8 on the same PC?
Some of you reading this might say “hey that sounds great!, more choice is a good thing” and I usually agree with that sentiment except in this case.
Microsoft would be absolutely CRAZY to allow this to happen and I’ll tell you why.
But first,
This has been done before
Yeah apparently Samsung did this in June of 2013 with their Ativ Q. That device dual booted Android 4.22 and Windows 8 in a 13.3 inch tablet running a display at 3200×1800. It offered a virtualized Androind experience that seemed to live within Windows.
You can see the video the Verge did here…
Windows and the existential crisis
It seems to me that Windows is more vulnerable now than ever before.
More and more people are starting to question the wisdom of paying $119 for a piece of software that allows you to basically do several simple functions.
Most consumers browse the web, check email and maybe run desktop apps and games.
While Windows is absolutely the most sophisticated Operating System on the face of the planet, I have said (often) that for the first time ever, because of the Windows 8.x releases, Windows is looking less and less relevant.
Paul Thurrott seems to agree in his post here (I’m immunizing myself proactively from flamers).
With more and more people using mobile devices running non-Windows software, why would Microsoft want to allow Intel to throw Android in the face of consumers? What could be the possible upside of that move?
Possible reasons Microsoft may let this happen
Mary Jo Foley’s readers over at ZDNet have some interesting theories regarding why Microsoft would tolerate a dual boot OS.
- To allow users to play games that aren’t available on the Windows platform yet with their friends on Android.
- To allow OEM’s the OPTION to dual provision the same hardware for either Android or Windows Phone (making it more convenient for the vendors basically).
I don’t know if I agree with those theories but I can tell you this.
Why pay for the milk if you get the cow for free?
If People are able to dual boot Android and Windows on the same device, under the current model, logically at some point it would be time for a PAID Windows upgrade. If Windows needed a paid upgrade and Android never ever did, it’s not hard to see which OS would eventually be ignored on the device.
As long as people could browse, check email and do the basics in Android, the need for a paid Windows upgrade would eventually go to zip, zilch nada.
It would be the slow death of Windows.
That’s my ramble but it’s time for you to tell me what you think. Should Microsoft allow Intel to support a Dual Boot OS?
Use the comments below and let me know….
All Comments
Dude its much ado about nothing.
I would love to see a dual boot device! Fuck Windows! I’ll take Android anyday.
Dude its much ado about nothing.
I would love to see a dual boot device! Fuck Windows! I’ll take Android anyday.
they still get enterprise market, i hate android ux, its just not friendly… would prefer windows and linux
GET A COMPUTER WITH A SHIFT KEY.
LOL
How many times have I seen this idea over the years, always a fresh idea like nobody’s thought of doing it before and each and every time it falls flat on its behind. The only way I personally think it could ever work is to make a kind of super interface which works seamlessly with both architectures so that you can run windows programmes along side Android and swap info freely between them, not just using some super clipboard. Having two different modes means in the end you’ll just stick to one and the other one will get forgotten about.
Still means Windows is fucked though!
I am running Oracle Virtual Box on my two HP Intel i7 tablets. Now it’s just horsing around but I can run Hexxeh’s Vanilla Chrome OS and Androidx86 4.3 with both Android Play Store and Amazon App Store. I can run Windows XP for some old games I like and Ubuntu or any other flavor of Linux when I am in the mood. Virtual Box has been steadily improving and about all that is left is an upgrade to the graphics. Some future machine where UEFI is finally used to its full capabilities might not care what OS you want to run.
The scary thing for Microsoft could be the STEAM BOX running a tweaked version of Linux where STEAM is now probably 90+% Windows users who might all escape with a lot of high powered hardware away from the Windows ecosystem forever.
I don’t care what operating system is running on my Computer as long as can run my programs, and that are three operating system at this moment, Apple for working with movie software, Windows for office software and some other programs that are not running on Apple, and Android for pictures on the fly when I am on the way for sending them to my cloud for safe keeping.
If all this can be done on one computer quick and easy I would be happy.
Anyway all those Apps are bringing me back to Commodore and Atari from 25 years ago, only a little smoother and bigger in byte’s.
This makes no sense. It’s not going to happen. It makes sense on a phone or tablet as long as Microsoft’s share is under 20%. They’re trying to break through in those markets., it makes no sense in PC at all. What they need to do is make a low-cost RT laptop that undercuts Chromebook. I just don’t understand why there is no device on the market that beats them on price.
I agree with that!
simple it should be the choice of the person buying the computer/tablet/phone or whatever to decide what system they want on either by asking for those systems to be installed by the manufacturer or by doing it yourself. I’ve had Dual. Triple, and Quad boot systems at times but that’s for my reasons not anything else. so yeh it should be offered as a option by manufacturers or as option to load yourself
simples
I agree with you 100% Onurora! If you have a device you have a system. To have a Windows based OS factory preloaded on a device and an Android based OS loaded on the same device would have drastic ramifications for Windows. To use an analogy, this, in my opinion, would be like (as a hypothetical example) having two different car manufacturers set up their management systems through which they design and build their products for the retail market using the same system wherby one day management might say ” OK today we are going to design all our products using Company “A”‘s design parameters and then in the next quarter we will switch and use Company “B”‘s parameters and then going forward our policy would be to alternate the design parameters from one fiscal quarter to the next. This, in my opinion, would be a fiscal disaster for the manufacturer and the retailer! My basic premise is this. In my opinion business must not alter their fundamental system and go all over the place to accommodate interfacing with other manufacturers but must all such interfacing only from the platform of their system with safeguards so that one system does not try to wipe out the other system. If may further comment, this whole kerfuffle stemmed from the invalidation of the patent originally held by Sperry Rand and IBM as regards the Einiac computer. I make allusion to the famous lawsuit by Honeywell in the early 1970’s by Honeywell and the story of the Atanasoft computer.
I get where you’re coming from – however, this is possible for consumers already, and at the cost of free. There are several different ways to run Android on Windows right now, and most of them cost nothing. The very reason that OEMs/ODMs are exploring the idea at all has more to do with developers choosing Android over ModernUI for casual gaming (or, just as often, iOS over ModernUI). If anything, casual gaming (or even casual apps) are the Achilles heel of ModernUI, and I’m not alone – most of the critics of ModernUI are saying the same thing. Developers of Android and iOS casual apps and games are writing lame ports to ModernUI – when they write games and apps at all; all too often, they don’t write a ModernUI app or game whatever. (Example – how many ModernUI games has EA subsidiary PopCap written? Two – one of which is a port from XB360. Zynga and Plarium *combined* have NO ModernUI casual games. KING? Also none. All four developers have major presences on Facebook, Android, and iOS – but next to no or no presence at all on ModernUI.) The lack of casual non-browser-based games is a major problem for ModernUI, and OEMs, not to mention Microsoft itself, are getting the heat and the blame over it.
I see your point but I don’t really agree. You’re talking about the casual user, just browsing and mailing basically. And you say that this casual user will one day or another face the choice of paying for an upgrade of Windows, or not to pay and using only Android. Why ? Today this casual user doesn’t pay for an upgrade of Windows, usually he upgrades when he buys a new computer and that’s it. Why would he suddenly realize he absolutely needs the last version of Windows but he will have to pay so he would choose to switch to Android for good ? Once he is used to his computer, the casual user tends more to stick to it and doesn’t like the change in my opinion (a big upgrade, with big consequences on the UI, would scare him). By the way, even without the last version of Windows you still get upgrades for quite a long times : at OS level but also the browser, etc. (and the casual user will mostly spot that kind of updates). Finally, for me your point can be more easily applied to an advanced user, a little geek, who would always want the last thing on his device (but this advanced user would probably need the power and advanced software available only on desktop OS for now, so he wouldn’t stick to Android either).
I prefer windows OS on the PC. My wife prefers the windows phone (although windows is a very STRONG point in my life of computers, they are CRAP on the phone. I use android phones and will N E V E R get a windows powered phone for myself. Unless you give me $1 million to do so, but then I would buy it and throw it into the ocean as fast as possible. So, the luxury of having a dual system, would be fantastic for me. Although, I do see the point of the Paid upgrade theory, and it does worry me that that could be a reality. Hopefully, MS can find out how simple it is to make money WITHOUT the paid upgrade, like everyone else has done. Hell, you got RedHat, Firefox, Android and the list goes on, that have NEVER charged for the OS. Why does MS still charge?
RedHat has always been one of the “Pay for” Linux Distros, actually one, if not the, original ones!?!
At this point you cannot run a business on an Android, Tablet, Smartphone, etc. device. And probably never will be able too!