Linked by Kroc Camen on Wed 6th Oct 2010 16:37 UTC
In response to Jean-Louis Glassee's article "The OS Doesn't Matter..." I wrote quite simply: the future of the browser wars is he who integrates with the OS best. This phrase came from my article lambasting Microsoft's use of HTML for their IE9 jump lists, which caused quite a stir. In the wave of ever increasing web browser capability, the operating system is going to matter to web users more than it ever has before.
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RE: Os course the OS matters!
by umccullough on Wed 6th Oct 2010 17:49
in reply to "Os course the OS matters!"
Member since:2006-01-26
Edit: Oops, didn't meant to reply to the first comment
I think what JLG was really trying to say in his article is that the underlying kernel doesn't matter any more... and that everything hinges on the UI toolkit and above.
As he pointed out in his article, OSX and iOS are pretty much the same underlying OS - and essentially UNIX-compliant, similar to Linux, Android, WebOS, etc.
He then goes on to point out that Windows is not UNIX, and thus the "other option".
In short, the only real differentiator any more is the UI/User Experience.
Edited 2010-10-06 17:59 UTC
RE[2]: Os course the OS matters!
by Kroc on Wed 6th Oct 2010 19:02
in reply to "RE: Os course the OS matters!"
Member since:2005-11-10
I don’t believe that’s the case--that’s just giving up on innovation. There is no way we have run out of ideas on how to get a circuit to do stuff. The more everybody accepts that they can’t change what is simply a given, the more room there is for the upstart to try something new.
RE: Os course the OS matters!
by Lennie on Wed 6th Oct 2010 20:35
in reply to "Os course the OS matters!"
Member since:2007-09-22
RE[2]: Os course the OS matters!
by Kroc on Wed 6th Oct 2010 20:44
in reply to "RE: Os course the OS matters!"
Member since:2005-11-10
People care that when they switch their computer on it starts quickly, doesn’t randomly decide to stop working and that when they click things they happen in a responsive way. The OS matters in all the ways the consumer is not aware are happening under the hood. They don’t want to be confused by meaningless dialogues, they don’t want their machine to bombard them with interruptions that get in the way of what they want to do. It is the OSes job to make the operation of the computer easy and enjoyable and matters a whole lot.
If the OS didn’t matter, you’d be typing in binary code by hand.
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2005-11-10
If the OS didn't matter, then there would be no OS wars. Windows, GNU/Linux, MacOS, none of it would matter and everyone could switch to GNU/Linux in a blink of an eye. But that doesn't happen. And people still buy Apple hardware because of MacOS. The OS will always matter.