Microsoft may well stand a possibility

　　Subsequent week, on October 18, Microsoft will release Windows 8.1, a fairly huge update that Microsoft hopes will lastly give it relevance inside the tablet space, and in the same time make Windows eight significantly less abhorrent for desktop and laptop customers. Microsoft is deluding itself, even though: Windows eight.1 absolutely improves upon the horrid state of affairs that has persisted since the 1st public preview more than two years ago, but there’s no way that it is going to unseat iOS or Android in the mobile arena. At ideal, the adjustments made to Windows 8.1 will permit the OS to continue along the incredibly gradual incline treaded by Windows eight. Subsequent year, even though, when Windows 9 is released across each and every form issue and unifies the app ecosystem across smartphones, tablets, and desktops, then Microsoft basically stands a opportunity against Google and Apple.
　　Ever considering that Windows Telephone 7 limped out the gate in 2010, and then the lackluster launch of Windows 8 a year later, it has been clear that Microsoft has been moving to merge the touch, mobile, and desktop ecosystems. From an early date, Microsoft was talking up how Windows 8′s Metro apps were pretty much compatible with Windows Phone 7 - after which, a bit later, Microsoft created loads of noise about how Windows Phone eight would use the similar kernel along with other low-level libraries as Windows 8. Most lately, with Windows 8.1 and Windows Telephone 8.1, Microsoft will edge however closer to cross-platform compatibility having a shared app retailer.
　　Over the years, it appears nearly each and every Microsoft vice president has discussed how Windows and Windows Telephone apps are almost compatible - but, as evidenced by the slow development of Windows 8, Windows Phone, and their respective ecosystems, just about compatible just isn’t very good adequate. The point is, everybody knows how amazing complete cross-platform compatibility will be. Everybody knows that it will be the magic bullet that would quickly give Microsoft a chance at competing against Apple and Google. This is why Microsoft keeps teasing us, keeps spinning a yarn, to assure every person - consumers, developers, and tech pundits - that it knows how critical a unified ecosystem is.
　　With Windows 9, I bet that Bill Gates’ 1980s dream of Windows Everywhere will ultimately come to fruition. Barring a different civil war, I strongly count on that Windows 9 will run on smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and almost everything else in in between, and developers are going to be able to write a single Windows app and have it run across each form element.
　　Hopefully, Windows 9′s unified ecosystem will resemble iOS: You visit the new app shop (presumably being debuted in Windows 8.1), and after that you are only shown the apps that may work properly on the form element of your present device. Developers may have the choice of having the ability to write a single app that scales to different screen sizes/resolutions, or one particular app with multiple views/layouts which can be optimized for each screen size/resolution - but the most important thing is the fact that precisely the same code will operate on any Windows 9 device, because the underlying kernel/libraries/abstraction layers will be the exact same.
　　In one fell swoop, as an alternative to becoming coerced and cajoled by Microsoft into publishing apps for its distant-third platforms, the combined user bases and ecosystems will truly make Windows 9 a desirable platform that may compete with iOS and Android with regards to attain and money-making possible.
　　But what about game consoles? Properly, in terms of sheer numbers, consoles are nevertheless small fry; more than their complete seven-year span, Microsoft and Sony have only sold about 160 million Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles combined. By comparison, analysts estimate that 700 million smartphones and around 400 million PCs were shipped in 2012 alone. Nonetheless, even when the absolute numbers are fairly compact, Microsoft knows full nicely that the usefulness and desirability of a computer software ecosystem grows exponentially with all the addition of new type factors and use cases. Picture when you could purchase a single app on your Windows 9 smartphone, and after that have it automatically installed on your Windows 9 desktop and Windows 9 game console, or have your gameplay videos automatically sync from your console to your smartphone and Computer - that’d be quite great, proper?
　　The good news is the fact that the Xbox One already seems to be compatible with Windows 8 apps, by virtue of operating a cut-down version of Windows eight for apps, alongside the Xbox OS for games. Microsoft hasn’t confirmed that you’ll be capable of run Windows eight apps directly on the Xbox One, but we’d be surprised if that wasn’t the case. In the pretty least, there will likely be an update towards the Xbox One particular - maybe about the exact same time because the unified Windows eight and WP8 app shop is launched - that brings Windows 8 apps for the Xbox 1. Then, by the time Windows 9 rolls around for smartphones/tablets/PCs, we must have apps that run across the entire gamut of devices, which includes consoles.
　　If Microsoft had unified its mobile device, Computer, and console operating systems final year, with the release of Windows 8, then I assume the customer computing landscape would be extremely, extremely diverse. Microsoft would in all probability be on top and calling the shots, in lieu of trailing behind the significant boys, squeaking tremulously for consideration and not obtaining it. As a result of prevarication, internal strife, gutless equivocation, and in all probability a slew of other causes that we’ll never ever get towards the bottom of, Microsoft has had three of its weakest OS releases in history: Windows Telephone 7 and 8, and Windows eight.
　　If Windows 9 is released subsequent year, Microsoft may well stand a possibility, specially if Windows 8.1 and also the acquisition of Nokia can bolster its mobile efforts within the meantime. Whether or not such a utopian unified platform can unseat iOS and Android, though, remains to become seen. Apple and Google are not standing nevertheless, and continue to solidify their market share despite Microsoft’s very best efforts to stay relevant. If Windows 9 does not come out in the next 12 months, or if Microsoft does not have some other super-secret program up its sleeve, the company’s future will creep ever closer towards comprehensive untenability.