Should Microsoft, Apple and Linux abandon the desktop operating system market?
I have to wonder these days – does it really matter anymore who’s operating system is running on your desktop?
The only real difference really between the various flavours of Windows, Mac OS and Linux distributions, is the software that’ll run on them. There may or may not be performance differences, minor feature differences and security differences, but those are largely irrelevant, superficial or not really applicable to Vista.
Isn’t it time for a single platform? Most things standardise for the better – VHS, DVD, CD’s, hardware, bank cards, telephones, and many, many other items.
The benefit for a single platform is blindly obvious – one platform to develop for and test on.
At the moment software is developed for all or specific platforms. The problem with that is you either compromise speed for compatibility (Firefox), or you’re optimised and tied to a single platform (Photoshop).
Why the desktop doesn’t matter anymore
The desktop is becoming irrelevant. It doesn’t matter who’s logo is on it, it’s a background feature of computing. It’s like the menu on your DVD player – all it is is a means to an end.
In the case of the desktop, that “end” is simply to run run other software. That’s true for every Linux distro, OS X, Windows and every other operating system.
It’s not irrelevant yet – there’s lots of software that’s specific to Microsoft, Apple and Linux/Unix operating systems – but that’s not going to last forever.
Having said that, it is becoming less and less relevant. The internet is becoming a major part of people’s computer usage and with the upcoming Apollo and XAML/Silverlight shootout between Microsoft and Adobe, even less emphasis is placed on the actual desktop. These new environments shift web applications out of the browser (Adobe’s Apollo) or run in an add-on (Microsoft’s XAML/Silverlight) – and those environments are going to be available on major platforms. There’s rumours that Microsoft isn’t going to port their XAML/Silverlight environment to Linux, but only a fool would think Microsoft’s going to avoid that market.
Within the next few years the platform you use is going to become completely irrelevant, as is the browser you use. Desktop software is not going to die for a lot longer but using these new technologies and others yet to emerge there will be a transition to move desktop software to web based for many reasons - mostly effortless compatibility.
Because the environments are going to be the same across the different platforms there’s not going to be compatibility issues, or even the compromises mentioned before. Software will be developed for an environment, and that environment will be consistent.
Why the desktop will continue being produced
Put simply, money. Not just Microsoft, but Apple and even the more popular Linux distributions, will continue doing it either for the price tag for buying the software, or the price tag for support. Microsoft made absolute assloads of money off Vista, Apple has convinced people to pay a lesser amount multiple times, and corporate support contracts / price tags seem to be doing alright for RedHat, Novell, and if memory serves, Ubuntu soon.
There’s really no other reason to continue producing multiple desktop environments.
Who dares doesn’t necessarily win
I don’t actually care who ends up doing it, but I’d like to see someone create a single, open operating system that leaves vendors to control the interface and user experience.
That sounds kind of a lot like Linux, but I’m yet to be impressed by any distro. Ubuntu is just ugly out of the box. Brown isn’t a colour scheme, it’s yesterday’s lunch.
For all their faults, whether real or perceived, Microsoft is in the best position to facilitate a single, unified operating system environment. I don’t think they should do it alone though – there’s no reason at all why Apple and RedHat couldn’t be involved. Microsoft and Apple really do “get” what users want – whether you like them or not they have unquestionably got the easiest to use operating systems and always have.
Combing their resources could result in a very interesting operating system kernal, and by interesting I mean “one size fits all”. Microsoft and Apple (and anyone else) would be free to create their own user experience over the top of it, and everyone would win – Apple and Linux distros would have great Microsoft technologies available like the .NET Framework, Exchange, and 3rd party applications like Adobe’s product line, and (good) games. Microsoft distros would be able to take advantage of Apple and Linux’s innovations – and as an added bonus, there’d only be one environment between the lot of them to maintain security on.
There really wouldn’t be any losers – and people like me and the millions of other web/software developers out there on every platform would have just one platform to develop for.
The future of the desktop
Just as it is now, the desktop is destined to be nothing more than a portal. It loads, then you load the software you actually want and continue on with your life.
The sooner Microsoft, Apple, the various Linux distros, maybe some other heavyweights like IBM, Sun, Cisco and Google accept that and combine their forces to create a single environment the better.
I don’t think any existing operating system is ideal, I think the best approach is a completely collective work that draws on the ideas and patent libraries of all involved.
To put it in context
Imagine if every car manufacturer had a different idea about how a car should be built?
What if instead of the humble DVD player we needed 30 different devices because movie studios were using their own formats?
Or what if, instead of standardised pc components, when you bought a Dell you were locked in to buying hardware from Dell because video cards for their machine were PCI-DELLxpress, and if you bought an HP or IBM or Sony you had to buy hardware specifically for those platforms?
It’s time to just let it go and standardise the core, if not the interface, of operating systems. They’re just a platform and we’d all be better off if they were just “the” platform.
