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This is not a thread bashing the Xoom or Android. I love them both.
I have moved my company to Droid (1's) and Incredible, and fought the IPAD in the enterprise at every turn.
I have also worked hard to install Linux on every desktop I can, where ever I can.
My question is, where are we going?
Android is perfect for a small pocket device. Small screen, limited resources, touch, and hopefully extended battery life. Tweaking and Developing Android allows us to squeeze even more functionality out of our powerful pocket computers. Adroid makes our phones cool. It is the hackers switchblade.
However, with the tablet form factor, we are all attempting to take an embedded device, with a purposefully designed lean Linux installation, and patch it back to a full fledge desktop operating system. We are slowing undoing Android on Xoom and turning it into a Linux Desktop without a keyboard.
Some very skilled devs have placed Ubuntu on the Xoom. I was thrilled when I heard the news. My very next thought was... Wait. Full Chrome, Full Codec Support, full everything! Its all ready to use, in a small Xoom shape and size. However, Ubuntu has poorly designed touch interfaces for most apps, and most things require a keyboard. (or right click mouse)
So. My question is. Why not continue to develop Linux, any flavor, ( I like debs) and create great user interface, that runs on X, and a great GTK with big touch buttons, et, so that we can run already developed software?
Why are recreating the wheel? Isn't Android going to simply develop into a full Linux Distro fork, that diverts talent away from the whole?
….And Discuss....
Plain and simply.. Linux is not Android. Android is not Linux. One does this and the other does that. One is Google owned one is not. One is made for handheld devices while one is not. Comparing apples and bananas never works no matter what the situation may be.
Each has its own purposes.
I somewhat agree. I think its more like a comparison between Red Delicious Apples and Granny Smith. They are both apples.
Comparing a Windows 7 Phone and Android is Apples and Oranges because have a different underpinning.
Both run the Linux Kernel. Both run several GNU packages. It is true that they have different interface layers, and Android relies alot of Java (Although Linux (GNU) can and does run Java as well.
I guess that is my point. Most of what needs to be written to run on a Linux kernel (Like Android's) to make a great terminal device (Which really is what Android is) has already been written, and vetted, some software since the 1970's. Why rewrite it in Java, using the Android framework, making it incompatible with the larger Linux Ecosystem? Or, if Java is key to app portability between architectures, why change the java engine so that it isn't compatible with the Java we already run on our desktops?
Again, I'm thinking out loud, not argue, but because I think something is missing from the community plan? What if all of the time put into the different Phone ROMS on XDA (based on Android) was used to make a more compatible, and universal Linux for Tablets?
remote sessions
I use pocketcloud and splashtopHd all the time on my xoom, barely worth it on a phone form factor, but this way I have full desktop support with touch ui integrated and at the same time I have all the great things android offers over desktop systems as well if I'm off the grid.
From what I've read android is a base of Linux but from the point of programs and interaction its all google design. Which is why we can Ubuntu nativley but will have the issues the op mentioned for drivers an ui interface, but I imagine as touch becomes defacto we'll see drivers and ui 's designed with more touch orientation integrated...win8 already looks to be shapping up that way from the looks of it. So possibly we'll be able to run future versions of Linux distros on the xoom, so long as the specs still meet the requirements
I totally agree with your point of view, I hear ya. But, the idea of having Linux on the tablets rather than Android... isn't that a battle between the big companies as to what OS they want to support on their own devices? Motorola and HTC are two big companies and they choose to support Android on their devices all the way. I guess if there would be a company out there that would prefer Linux OS on their devices we could very well see this as an ultimate possibility. One never knows.
>But where are we going?
The only people who can answer that are Google. They've yet to articulate a comprehensive roadmap for Android. The only strategy thus far has been to throw out a freebie to vendors and let them adopt it as they will.
The problem is that what vendors want (differentiation through proprietary enhancements) isn't what the public want (uniform UI, cross-product interoperability). Add to that are gaping holes in basic functionality in Android, like peripheral support--printers, scanners, 3G modems, etc.
I suspect that Goog themselves don't really know. If they did, there wouldn't be overlapping efforts like the Chrome OS (which is apparently DOA for now). Rubin bud needs to figure it out soon.
Win8 beta in Sept will determine the extent of Windows' viability for the mobile space. From simple extrapolation of Win7's capabilities + touch GUI + ARM support, it's a relative safe bet that Win8 will have a big presence in tablets next year.
The picture for Android-on-tabs is more vague. ICS should clarify things a bit, one way or another.
e.mote said:
>But where are we going?
The only people who can answer that are Google. They've yet to articulate a comprehensive roadmap for Android. The only strategy thus far has been to throw out a freebie to vendors and let them adopt it as they will.
The problem is that what vendors want (differentiation through proprietary enhancements) isn't what the public want (uniform UI, cross-product interoperability). Add to that are gaping holes in basic functionality in Android, like peripheral support--printers, scanners, 3G modems, etc.
I suspect that Goog themselves don't really know. If they did, there wouldn't be overlapping efforts like the Chrome OS (which is apparently DOA for now). Rubin bud needs to figure it out soon.
Win8 beta in Sept will determine the extent of Windows' viability for the mobile space. From simple extrapolation of Win7's capabilities + touch GUI + ARM support, it's a relative safe bet that Win8 will have a big presence in tablets next year.
The picture for Android-on-tabs is more vague. ICS should clarify things a bit, one way or another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICE CREAM SANDWICH?
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
I think it is not so much recreating the wheel so much as trimming down and adapting.
X with gnome/kde is not currently a good fit for a touch screen only device. Even if the window manager could be adapted to work well for touch screen only, interaction with most applications would still be problematic. Getting application developers to go in a common direction is hard enough as is.... and you want to ask all of them to rewrite the apps to work in a touch screen environment? Still if you want to try this route you could get a meego or work in KDE embedded. The effort (as Nokia discovered, and Open Moko before them) is non trivial however.
Android, and by extension Android applications, are designed to work with a touch screen interface from the beginning. It is less work to extend the structure to support larger screens than the adaptation X based applications would have to go through.
Android is not a general purpose computing platform though. It was originally written to work in a cell phone environment, with the attendant limitations and advantages. I think this core concept has not changed with the introduction of the tablet. We are still dealing with a connected device whose primary purpose is the consumption of information. What I mean by this is that android is not meant for creation (such as creation of MS office documents, programming, photoshop, etc...) but consumption (playing games, reading mail, browsing the web, reading MS office documents, etc...)
Where I think Android should be going for the near future is refining and improving the ability to consume information:
- Make web browsing more robust, including html5
- Improve video decoding with better codec and container support.
- Make it easier to read documents on the device.
- improve resolution independence at the API level.
- Improve round trips from desktop to cloud to device and back. Make the device used neutral to the information being consumed. e.g. bookmark and open tab syncing in the browser. better dropbox like functionality for availability of files that have been worked on.
Where I want to see it going in the long run can be seen in a nascent form with the Atrix and the Lenovo U1:
- Based upon available resources (keyboard, mouse, monitor) shift from a touch screen interface to a conventional desktop interface. (extend what the Atrix does)
- Make it easy to extend the functionality of the core device by connecting it to resources. (extending the idea behind the Asus Transformer)
- In a perfect world I would like to see a full desktop OS run when requested and be able to use external CPUs (think Lenovo U1). In essence I would like the device to be able to be a boot disk for the user, connect it do a desktop for raw power, connect it to a laptop base for on the go functionality, and use just the phone/tablet for ubiquitous computing. This dream is still a few years from being practical though.
- Make the android OS an installable and user upgradeable OS just as desktop OSes are now. This is even further out but I can see a future where mobile device hardware and OS are separate. This might never come to fruition though due to the way carriers control the phone experience.
And tangentially we could see the Android platform espouse device centric ideals as seen in Japan currently.
- Use the phone as a payment system.
- Augment magazines and stores with tags to feed the phone contextual information.
To be honest I have not given it much thought. I am interested to see where Google is going with the platform however.
youngproguru said:
So. My question is. Why not continue to develop Linux, any flavor, ( I like debs) and create great user interface, that runs on X, and a great GTK with big touch buttons, et, so that we can run already developed software?
Why are recreating the wheel? Isn't Android going to simply develop into a full Linux Distro fork, that diverts talent away from the whole?
….And Discuss....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main differentiator between Linux or other free 'nix-likes these days, and Android, is that Android enforces, encourages, and _guarantees_ a standardized uniform development platform, a single UI standard, standardized set of software in the platform, and a standardized user experience.
Linux et al guarantees none of this.
If you want those specific freedoms Linux offers you, then it is there, by all means. The beauty of having open devices like the Xoom and other devices with open bootloaders is you are free to make your choice.
I have a feeling that three to six months from now the whole picture will come to bare. We will have the "cloud" and chrome PC, Android phones, Android tablets, TVs, Google+, Google music all wrapped into one. Google is renaming blogger to Google blogs, picassa into Google photo.
It is scary a little but it seems like it is all coming together. It is almost there, each boundary has bumps but me thinks Google is trying to make it seamless.
JanetPanic said:
I think it is not so much recreating the wheel so much as trimming down and adapting.
X with gnome/kde is not currently a good fit for a touch screen only device. Even if the window manager could be adapted to work well for touch screen only, interaction with most applications would still be problematic. Getting application developers to go in a common direction is hard enough as is.... and you want to ask all of them to rewrite the apps to work in a touch screen environment? Still if you want to try this route you could get a meego or work in KDE embedded. The effort (as Nokia discovered, and Open Moko before them) is non trivial however.
Android, and by extension Android applications, are designed to work with a touch screen interface from the beginning. It is less work to extend the structure to support larger screens than the adaptation X based applications would have to go through.
Android is not a general purpose computing platform though. It was originally written to work in a cell phone environment, with the attendant limitations and advantages. I think this core concept has not changed with the introduction of the tablet. We are still dealing with a connected device whose primary purpose is the consumption of information. What I mean by this is that android is not meant for creation (such as creation of MS office documents, programming, photoshop, etc...) but consumption (playing games, reading mail, browsing the web, reading MS office documents, etc...)
Where I think Android should be going for the near future is refining and improving the ability to consume information:
- Make web browsing more robust, including html5
- Improve video decoding with better codec and container support.
- Make it easier to read documents on the device.
- improve resolution independence at the API level.
- Improve round trips from desktop to cloud to device and back. Make the device used neutral to the information being consumed. e.g. bookmark and open tab syncing in the browser. better dropbox like functionality for availability of files that have been worked on.
Where I want to see it going in the long run can be seen in a nascent form with the Atrix and the Lenovo U1:
- Based upon available resources (keyboard, mouse, monitor) shift from a touch screen interface to a conventional desktop interface. (extend what the Atrix does)
- Make it easy to extend the functionality of the core device by connecting it to resources. (extending the idea behind the Asus Transformer)
- In a perfect world I would like to see a full desktop OS run when requested and be able to use external CPUs (think Lenovo U1). In essence I would like the device to be able to be a boot disk for the user, connect it do a desktop for raw power, connect it to a laptop base for on the go functionality, and use just the phone/tablet for ubiquitous computing. This dream is still a few years from being practical though.
- Make the android OS an installable and user upgradeable OS just as desktop OSes are now. This is even further out but I can see a future where mobile device hardware and OS are separate. This might never come to fruition though due to the way carriers control the phone experience.
And tangentially we could see the Android platform espouse device centric ideals as seen in Japan currently.
- Use the phone as a payment system.
- Augment magazines and stores with tags to feed the phone contextual information.
To be honest I have not given it much thought. I am interested to see where Google is going with the platform however.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your vision for the future of android/tab computing is fantastic. I already have replaced my laptop for the type of on-the-road computing work I need to do...with my bt keyboard and mouse and the cloud, I am creating MS Word documents and printing when back in the office. It's a good start. I use my charging docks when I'm stationary so additional functionality from docking stations and connected peripherals would be welcome. I think the current size of the Xoom is optimal. It needs to stay small enough to haul around easily but big enough to be more than a toy or large phone.
It is already my favored way to consume information...I'm pretty happy with my browsing experience and have no real issues streaming music, video, reading news/books. I think that this will only get better.
>X with gnome/kde is not currently a good fit for a touch screen only device. Even if the window manager could be adapted to work well for touch screen only, interaction with most applications would still be problematic. Getting application developers to go in a common direction is hard enough as is.
It's the same with Win7. That Win8 will (reportedly) rectify this while Linux fiddles is the main weakness of open-source--getting everybody to agree on a direction. I expect that, as mobile computing diversifies, that Linux will, as before, follow Windows' lead.
>Android is not a general purpose computing platform though. It was originally written to work in a cell phone environment, with the attendant limitations and advantages. I think this core concept has not changed with the introduction of the tablet.
I agree with this.
>Where I think Android should be going for the near future is refining and improving the ability to consume information:
I disagree with this. Whereas the physical size of a smartphone is the main impediment, lack of an integral physical input device is the tablet's sole limitation in being a productivity device. This limitation is very surmountable.
On the demand side, looking at the app mix on the iPad should indicate that content creation on tablets have high demand. The clamor for Office-type apps is strong. The tablet may not yet be able to do heavy productivity, but it should be able to do light ones.
The impetus to productivity is, as I've mentioned elsewhere, the upcoming Win8. Ignoring its immense userbase for the moment, when a user has a choice between a tablet for consumption-only, and one that does both consumption and (light) creation, it's an easy choice. The smartphone killed the PDA/MP3 player/digicam/etc because it can do more than any one of these erstwhile devices.
More succinctly, Android doesn't have the luxury of a slow ramp.
>[various improvements for consumption]
I agree that these are probably what we'll see in ICS. They're incremental. I see them as insufficient in light of the upcoming competition.
>Where I want to see it going in the long run can be seen in a nascent form with the Atrix and the Lenovo U1:
This is where fragmentation rears its ugly head (as if it hasn't already). What you're referring to requires brand interoperability, which vendors are loath to do without a strong hand from the OS supplier. Google have yet to be that strong hand. To wit, both of the above examples only work within the respective vendor's product lines, and both are marketplace failures.
Fragmentation is the other issue Android needs to deal with. Other than the 18-month upgrade "pledge," I don't see much inclination from Goog to deal with this.
>- In a perfect world I would like to see a full desktop OS run when requested and be able to use external CPUs (think Lenovo U1).
>- Make the android OS an installable and user upgradeable OS just as desktop OSes are now.
Both of these are realizable with Win7 (on tablets) now, and I expect them to extend to Win8. The ideal desktop-tablet synergy I think will require better short-range connectivity, probably some flavor of UWB in the pipe.
Lets just say for fun that Moto released Windows 8 for our Xoom, and that it worked as well as Android. Would you switch to it? Lets not start the license issue say you could buy a copy. Would you dual boot? Just wondering how many would give it a run, I think I would.
Yes in a heartbeat. Always wanted to try windows tablet and able to use full blown microsoft office products.
theoner1 said:
Yes in a heartbeat. Always wanted to try windows tablet and able to use full blown microsoft office products.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if you would need a special version of office (ARM) or if office 2007 would work? That would be very cool if it did.
zone23 said:
I wonder if you would need a special version of office (ARM) or if office 2007 would work? That would be very cool if it did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They have already shown office running on arm, but it was a recompiled version.
All software will need a new arm version.
Sent using Magic
No but i'd like to have the office programs to android
wouldn't run windows on any hardware I own lol
i would do it in a heart beat! im a verizon customer and love android. but if verizon had a better windows phone i would be all over it. i have an xbox and several winows laptops in my house so i think i would love the intergration. i admit, i dont even know if it would intergrate that well, im just speculating..
Absolutely not. My office just got the Samsung Slate Windows 7 tablet and we installed Win8 beta. The slate has 4gb RAM/64GB storage and an Intel icore5 at 1.66ghz. At almost $1,200, its very expensive for what it is. Heavy and has a gigantic fan in it.....
The entire concept of Windows in a tablet/slate does not work. Metro navigation is horrible and breaks almost every existing standard for Windows navigation.
To use Win8 Metro without a touch screen, is an excuse for carpal tunnel where every single task now takes twice as many clicks. ESC no longer works as the universal get me back one level.
Overall, my impression of Win8 Metro is very poor. The device we have has an icore5 in it and it is not snappy. Its smooth but not fast. Navigation is horrible and confusing.
IMHO, Microsoft better fire the UX team on Metro because all they've done is manage to muck up the entire concept of touch and Windows into a completely unusable package.
Android ICS navigation, HC and even Gingerbread are light years ahead in terms of efficient touch navigation implementation. MSFT needs to learn that in mobile, do not marry the desktop metaphor into it. It will not work. iOS and its unhappy marriage in Mac Lion is a perfect example of a big failure. Even Apple made that mistake and couldn't fix it.
Well there is an instruction of how to install Win XP in our Xoom.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SII - please forgive if any typos
X86 programs aren't going to run on the arm version of win8 so a lot of the programs that I would be looking forward to won't be compatible out the gate.
Things android lacks that windows has? Java, resizeable &stackable window ui, full fledged browsers with extensions.
Can't compare win8 to ics, maybe to cupcake. Give win on arm a few years and it should improve. That said, i am now 100% commited to android and i believe it is the future of os'es.
That would be the only way I would keep the XOOM. Android is just a toy to me.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
al mon said:
Absolutely not. My office just got the Samsung Slate Windows 7 tablet and we installed Win8 beta. The slate has 4gb RAM/64GB storage and an Intel icore5 at 1.66ghz. At almost $1,200, its very expensive for what it is. Heavy and has a gigantic fan in it.....
The entire concept of Windows in a tablet/slate does not work. Metro navigation is horrible and breaks almost every existing standard for Windows navigation.
To use Win8 Metro without a touch screen, is an excuse for carpal tunnel where every single task now takes twice as many clicks. ESC no longer works as the universal get me back one level.
Overall, my impression of Win8 Metro is very poor. The device we have has an icore5 in it and it is not snappy. Its smooth but not fast. Navigation is horrible and confusing.
IMHO, Microsoft better fire the UX team on Metro because all they've done is manage to muck up the entire concept of touch and Windows into a completely unusable package.
Android ICS navigation, HC and even Gingerbread are light years ahead in terms of efficient touch navigation implementation. MSFT needs to learn that in mobile, do not marry the desktop metaphor into it. It will not work. iOS and its unhappy marriage in Mac Lion is a perfect example of a big failure. Even Apple made that mistake and couldn't fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't disagree more... if what I'm running on my Wp7 is even half as well implemented on a tablet then I'm on it. Metro is the first decent differentiation away from 'icon' based interfaces and if I'm not mistaken the Android market has just been updated to a Metro like home screen.
I've played with the Win8 beta too but wouldn't judge MSFT on it when they clearly are capable of a top-notch Metro based OS as per WP7.
But opinions are like assholes, we all got one ;-)
Sent from my MZ601 using Tapatalk
Hmmm... I'd think about it...
I always was a MS user, probably always will be. I see the opinions on both sides, and understand both of them... I guess my thoughts lean toward "let me dual-boot and try it, and see if it works for me..."
I would like to give it a test run.
~ BereanPK
Well I don't know all that much about Metros cept what I have read and from what I understand you can get rid of the Metro interface and go back to the standard if you choose to.
Metro is really not much more than Windows Media Center type interface that runs over the standard desktop and you can dump out of it if you want to get more of a legacy type screen.
That said I would definitly try it on my Xoom if I could Dual Boot from an SD Card but I would be hesitant to flash it directly as my daily driver. It could be useful for some presentation I do and some Classes I teach but as an everyday operating system for my Pad I really don't see the need until I know it allows me to do something I can't do with ICS.
And I have yet to hear of anything along those lines!
And from what I hear about draconian copy protection I may just pass on Win8 for my desktop as well!
I change my hardware a LOT and they seem to think I am not allowed to do that when I run their OS!
And they wonder why people PIRATE it in the first place?
You can't run OneNote with ICS.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
I would dual boot, because I love metro UI (the launcher I use the most on my phone is Launcher 7) and I am very curious about Win8.
I have Windows 7 on my notebook and it's great, the first os by MS which is very good and has no problems. Not a single crash in months of use!
Only one thing puts me in doubt:
-Windows 98: good
-Windows 2000: not good
-Windows XP: good
-Windows Vista: awful
-Windows 7: very good
-Windows 7: ???
Ghost-of-the-Sun said:
I would dual boot, because I love metro UI (the launcher I use the most on my phone is Launcher 7) and I am very curious about Win8.
I have Windows 7 on my notebook and it's great, the first os by MS which is very good and has no problems. Not a single crash in months of use!
Only one thing puts me in doubt:
-Windows 98: good
-Windows 2000: not good
-Windows XP: good
-Windows Vista: awful
-Windows 7: very good
-Windows 7: ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You whippersnappers with no sense of perspective.
Windows: bad
Windows 2: eh
Windows 3: not too bad
Windows 3.1: better
Windows 3.11 for Workgroups: now you're cooking with gas
Windows NT: blah
Windows NT 4.0: much better
Windows 95: pretty good
Windows 98: good but I wish it had some of the NT 4.0 stuff.
Windows 2000: not the best for games but at least it has the NT stuff.
Windows XP: nice but 64 bit was kind of a joke
Windows Vista: fine if you know how to read but a bit of a hog.
Windows 7: this is a nicer cleaned up Vista with a watered down interface for those who want a spoon fed experience
Windows 8: probably something even simpler with a robust OS under the hood (I hope or it will suck worse than Windows ME that I refuse to include in my list because it SUCKED.)
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
windows me was an operating system? lol
no i wouldn't install windows 8 on my xoom... I'll keep ics. it's smooth and pretty stable.
I would have no desire to run WIN8 on my tablet. I can see the possible argument for encouraged development though...
windows CE + windows ME + windows NT = CEMENT
Hi Everyone
I wanted to start this thread because one of the major advantages to Windows 8 is the wide range of devices it can be installed on. The way I see it Windows 8 is not meant to be installed on just a single computer but rather provide users an ecosystem of devices to make there computing needs are as simple as possible.
My intended ecosystem goes like this:
1-Windows Phone 8.
I'm going to get a Lumia 900, but I want something that has expandable memory, dual cores (i know its not needed but think of how awesome it will be), and higher resolution. The Lumia 900 likely will get upgraded to Windows Phone 8, but will lack the features i mentioned above and NFC support also. This will be useful for beam file transfers between a phone and tablet.
2-Home Desktop Computer
I'll probably build a new computer with this as I would like a 2nd generation i7 computer, but I think windows 8 on a desktop is still a must for every home. The UI might be cumbersome at first for a desktop, but the performance is unmatched. Providing a remote desktop will also be extremely useful (more on this later).
3-Tablet
Now here is where things could go 2 ways. I have another thread comparing the differences between Intel's cloverfield processors vs WOA (windows on ARM) systems. If you want a full x86 system it would be best to go with the cloverfield processor, however I think these will be more expensive and likely have worse battery life than their WOA counterparts. My ideal tablet would be something very similar to the ASUS Transformer Prime. I like the idea of a keyboard, trackpad, and extend battery addition to a tablet when needed. If a remote desktop solution similar to splashtop comes out on the market for WOA I will definitely get a WOA system. For most tasks the WOA will provide all power needed, and if more is required for games or access to legacy software I'll just remote into my desktop to use over wifi or LTE.
I specifically mentioned splashtop because it is the only remote desktop software I have found on my iPad 2 that offers great frame rates. I can watch movies on my iPad which look like I am sitting at my computer. This would be great for gaming if the iPad would support a mouse. Window 8 won't have that downfall.
I have been going back and forth with this decision, but what made it clear was the ability to have an ecosystem. Cloverfield systems will likely offer netbook type performance which really isn't enough for my everyday needs. I think these systems would be ideal for college students who can afford to only have a single system, however as a working professional I can afford to get more.
4-Xbox 720 (360 2, ???)
I hope the next generation xbox has the windows 8 kernal built into it also. I think it is likely because Microsoft seems to be pushing this ecosystem concept for their next gen software. I also hope it has the same capabilities I have with my Ipad 2 and Apple TV. For example I use this program called AirVideo on my desktop/iPad. This program can transcode any video format (mkv/avi/divx/etc) seemlessly and stream it to my ipad. From my ipad I can use AirPlay to send it to my Apple TV. It is a great hassle free way to get videos from my comp to my big screen without losing quality. i hope windows 8 offers something like this.
Most Notable Devicies I left off.
Kinect Based Systems:
HTPC
I do not see a need for kinect on desktop unless it is a HTPC. A kinect system on a HTPC would offer great controls for viewing TV content, offer a liable way to Skype from your couch, and forever solve the problem of where did you put your remote. HTPCs and Kinect systems go so well it is mind boggling they have no been bundled together before.
Laptop
I have heard rumors that high end laptops will have there webcam replaced by built in kinect sensors. I think this would be really useful on laptops as it offers another mouse input method other than the installed trackpad. While I do not see kinect systems as useful on desktops, I think it could have advantages on a laptop. This is mainly due the portability of a laptop.
A laptop in general would also be a way to combine 2 devices I have on my current ecosystem. With a laptop you won't need a desktop and a tablet as it kind of combines the two. A laptop offers full computing on x86 architecture and still offers portability, however as we all know, it isn't as powerful as a desktop (around the same price point),\ and not as portable as a tablet.
Well thats my ecosystem. I guess you can say I'm going to be going full on metro at some point this year, but at least it will be in a good way . What do you guys have in mind?
right now, i am having an eco system in my house, with a client Windows 7 PC - Windows Phone 7.5 and XBOX 360 + Kinect. I have a TV in my house, which is hooked up with the network line, so i can use the HTC Connected Media to steam the movie from my Hard Drive on PC to the TV without touching the computer.
Or listen to music from hard drive through XBOX in the same way. I just like it this way. Looking forward for the Beta/RC of Windows 8
give it a try
Thank you very much, give it a try
It's possible to run Windows 8 on Android with all multitouch and other tablet features! Check this video. Cool?
I think it's a great way to play with Windows 8, without throwing money on a new expensive tablet. And even better it's possible to use additional Android features like Android voice text input on Windows.
Windows 8 running on Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet and Android!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not even close. This is just spam.
@decatf u no understand cloud computing?
Does user really cares how and where it runs? No, the most important part is that it allows to use Win 8 on the tablet. Even more, use it with all the multitouch and tablet stuff like a normal Microsoft Surface, but with the PC power.
This is not Windows 8 running on the Samsung Galaxy Tab. This is nothing more than a remote desktop.
Technically you are correct, Windows is running on the server and tablet is just a client.
Though by "running" I mean one way of using Windows 8 on an Android tablet. And it might even be one of the best ways of using Win 8 on a tablet, because of a performance, battery efficiency, extra features and how easy is to set everything up. Yes, it has some trade-offs, it requires a fast connectivity and UI fluidity depends on connection.. but still it's a valid way of using Windows on a tablet. Even more advanced way, because all the latest and greatest technology moves to remote computing so called cloud.
I wouldn't underestimate it because of that it doesn't technically run a tablet itself.. who really cares?
Originalas said:
I wouldn't underestimate it because of that it doesn't technically run a tablet itself.. who really cares?
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The ones who have been looking to run arm Win8 natively on the tablet. You should rename the title of your thread to something more appropriate like running Win8 with remote desktop or in a "cloud" though technically its not a cloud.
Interesting read.
-*Sent from my T-Mobile GS3*-
Why does it matters?
It's slow, first of all... You can clearly see the lag in windows animation, and don't even try to watch an animation with remote desktop, it's unbearable!
And, you NEED another computer/server to work it... So, this mean getting at least the hardware required, plus the licenses. Which would mean spending more than a Windows 8 tablet that would run smoother and natively.
Remote use is useful in small bites
Originalas said:
Technically you are correct, Windows is running on the server and tablet is just a client.
Though by "running" I mean one way of using Windows 8 on an Android tablet. And it might even be one of the best ways of using Win 8 on a tablet, because of a performance, battery efficiency, extra features and how easy is to set everything up. Yes, it has some trade-offs, it requires a fast connectivity and UI fluidity depends on connection.. but still it's a valid way of using Windows on a tablet. Even more advanced way, because all the latest and greatest technology moves to remote computing so called cloud.
I wouldn't underestimate it because of that it doesn't technically run a tablet itself.. who really cares?[/QUOTE
I use my Tab to run Windows XP when I am away from my office for a few hours. Using a blue tooth keyboard makes it pretty usable but having used Win8 I can definitely see where it would be easier with a touch screen. But it's not like being in front of the local OS. I also don't find Win8 very much fun without a touch screen anyway. I doubt anyone will get it to work natively on a Tab. So you are both right. It's not like being there but it's useful in small bites.
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Another thing that even $500 Microsoft Surface doesn't run any of standard Windows apps (only crap apps for Metro). And a full featured Surface Pro is super thick, heavy and even more insanely expensive $1000.
So it turns out that Windows 8 through remote desktop is one the best options for those, who want full featured Win 8 on a tablet.
Splashtop 2 updated its gestures to match Win 8. Pretty awesome since animations are almost seamless compared to remote desktop.
Originalas said:
Another thing that even $500 Microsoft Surface doesn't run any of standard Windows apps (only crap apps for Metro). And a full featured Surface Pro is super thick, heavy and even more insanely expensive $1000.
So it turns out that Windows 8 through remote desktop is one the best options for those, who want full featured Win 8 on a tablet.
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Or you could buy a x86/x64 tablet and run it natively, for less...
Not even possible.. windows 8 is not an open source..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
You do realise most x86/x64 tablet would come with Windows 8 already installed?
The main conscern exists: You have to pay for either a computer or a "server", for the nescessary license and you still won't be able to play videos or have a "lag free" experience like if you'd get a Win8 (with an intel atom or a core i3) and run every thing natively
Cool
I had done the same thing a few days ago and thought it was pretty cool , here how it works on my galaxy tab , I also have a video with it on my nexus 7 but that was before I worked out a few of the lag bugs.
I've also tested it off my local network and it has about the same performance since the bandwidth used by spashtop peaks around 250kbps this is ideal for goofing off with and having the feel of windows 8 on an android tablet. and I was able to verify that the multi touch works with 10 points ( not sure about any more only have ten fingers )
http://youtu.be/zYVPq_zUBWE
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zYVPq_zUBWE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I ment to mention ...
ShawnsCompRepair said:
I had done the same thing a few days ago and thought it was pretty cool , here how it works on my galaxy tab , I also have a video with it on my nexus 7 but that was before I worked out a few of the lag bugs.
I've also tested it off my local network and it has about the same performance since the bandwidth used by spashtop peaks around 250kbps this is ideal for goofing off with and having the feel of windows 8 on an android tablet. and I was able to verify that the multi touch works with 10 points ( not sure about any more only have ten fingers )
http://youtu.be/zYVPq_zUBWE
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zYVPq_zUBWE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Its pretty lag free , for the most part . but when I first installed it, it was very sluggish. after adjusting the the cpu speeds on my tablet it started running smoother, just crank your minimum tablet cpu speed up to about 500mhz and it gets rid of most the lag, then on the virtual machine give it as much ram as you can , in this video I gave the virtual machine 4 cores and 2gb of ram , but I'm now running it with 6gb of ram its about as smooth as butter.
I'm an IT professional and was on site today at an office I work with that has an IT guy that works full time there and I was " Showing him my new windows 8 tablet " and he used it for about ten minutes before saying wait a minute I though this was supposed to have a kick stand in the back, then I came clean with him and he thought it was running natively , Fun fun ....
Shawn
Alright, i want to make this flat out, i am at the middle of almost everything when considering picking up an tablet.
Right now, i have already owned a massive computing in a form of a laptop (i7 3610QM + GTX 675M + 16GB RAM) and i do all the heavy stuffs on it (Photoshop, Vegas rendering ... blah).
But with the growing of the tablet market, i find myself a little bit out of place and really considering of picking up a tablet myself, a Windows Tablet ( i don't like anything that related to iOS and find Android to be unsecured) . Just because i think the tablet might come very handy in some situation that you can't always bring out the 17-inch laptop like what i have. But the thing is, i am stuck between choosing the nVIDIA Tegra 3 Windows RT tablet with the Intel Atom Clovertrail series with x86 Windows 8. Sure, Microsoft has Surface Pro and i love that thing, but i don't necessarily need the power of the i5 in such a small tablet like that, because i have already had my i7 do all the heavy work.
The thing is, with all the review that i have read so far, 10/10 of them said that the Atom is seriously underpowered and will cause "not-pleasant" Windows Experience, but in this case, they are running the x86 version of Windows 8, that mean all the Legacy Programs will work. While the Tegra 3 (Surface RT) has been claimed to give a smooth experience with Windows RT, but then again, sometime you will feel out of place because you can't run any x86-based App.
So my question is , what is your suggestion? I am leaning a little bit over to the Atom x86 side, just because it can run the Legacy apps, but the Windows RT won't really bother me to the point that i can't handle it. I would love to hear anybody here that are using the RT version, and also the x86 version of Windows 8 but with the Atom Chip.
I use the Surface RT (Tegra 3 ARM chip), but I make heavy use of the hacks available to unlock third-party desktop software and have compiled several such desktop apps myself. I also sometimes use the x86 compability layer that mamaich (on this forum) has hacked together; it's far from fast but suffices to run some software that I was unable to port.
I make very, very little of Windows Store apps except for a handful of games. With a genuinely full web browser available (including Flash and ad blocking), and the Touch Cover trackpad, I find myself using the browser probably more than all non-game apps, including Mail and Skype (the only two I use much at all) combined. I do use Office on the tablet, however (again, in desktop mode).
GoodDayToDie said:
I use the Surface RT (Tegra 3 ARM chip), but I make heavy use of the hacks available to unlock third-party desktop software and have compiled several such desktop apps myself. I also sometimes use the x86 compability layer that mamaich (on this forum) has hacked together; it's far from fast but suffices to run some software that I was unable to port.
I make very, very little of Windows Store apps except for a handful of games. With a genuinely full web browser available (including Flash and ad blocking), and the Touch Cover trackpad, I find myself using the browser probably more than all non-game apps, including Mail and Skype (the only two I use much at all) combined. I do use Office on the tablet, however (again, in desktop mode).
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So there are actually a way to run Legacy App on the RT with an extra layer of Virtualization? I mean, most of the time i can just use the laptop, so i don't require the tablet to be able to run 100% what i want to run with Windows 8, but some x86 app like Foobar2000, i would like to see it run because i also have a lot of music in FLAC and others type that XBOX Music App doesn't play.
And are there any news on the VLC for RT? Heard that they have been developing that, would be nice if they can play MKV files.
It's an emulation (well, technically dynamic recompilation) layer, not virtualization in the usual sense. The performance hit is massive - I certainly would not recommend trying to run a software media decoder through it - but it doesn't require running a whole additional OS (the way virtualization usually does). My point was basically that RT works for me because I ignore at least 50% of its intended use cases and add a bunch of new ones - something that a normal user would not do. If I were limited just to what's in the store, I would feel that the RT is a waste of money, but that's because I don't like the way the store apps work and have yet to discover one that was A) worth using and B) couldn't be done better using a desktop app.
The x86 emulator is very slow. 0.1ghz as an incredibly rough guess that's not entirely accurate but gives a vague idea of performance. The original Age of empires plays ok as do a few other old applications but chances are most things you run through the emulator won't actually run.
There is a jailbreak for windows RT that allows installation of non store applications, but these applications need specifically porting to windows RT. The advantage of the ported applications is that they aren't being emulated, they are run natively utilising the full power of the tablet. However few applications have been ported so far but the situation is improving.
If you need desktop apps then you are best off with the atom tablets. They aren't as slow as the media make out, they just aren't fast either. The chips in current tablets are a bit more powerful than those in netbooks and are at a higher clock speed but they still won't come anywhere near your other machine. I do know a few people that happily use minecraft and visual studio on atom netbooks.
i've got both the 700t and 500t but find myself using the 500t far more. mainly it's used for media consumption and artwork. i use sketchbook pro, sai, and photoshop 12 (cs5) with no real problems. sure it's not as fast as the 700t, but i can keep on going for 12+ hours on the atom where the i5 dies after 5.5 hrs (faster when watching a movie). i generally keep my screen at 0% brightness since i'm indoors and the battery life still sucks on the 700t. if i have to remain tethered to an outlet i'd much rather be using something more powerful.
i have no regrets about getting the atom, but the i5... i should have sent that back and bought a gaming laptop. i'm not saying that the 700t is a bad tablet, it's pretty dang good, but the way i use my tablets battery life is more important. i thought i could squeeze 6-7 hours out of the 700t since i keep the screen dim.