Microsoft and Apple, the two leading consumer desktop operating system makers, have shown us the future of their software. Here's how they stack up.
With the Windows 8 Consumer Preview coming the end of this month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world will get a more complete look at Microsoft's next big operating system. But thanks to the company being very open about what's in store with Windows 8, we already know a lot about it. The team building the operating system has posted extensively on the Building Windows 8 blog, providing a level of detail that is rarely seen in this world of surprise major tech releases.
OS X Lion's interface doesn't take on its iPad/iPhone-inspired guise until you run Launchpad. This gives the desktop a view that's nearly identical to the home screen of an iPad or iPhone, with pages of small square app icons that you can swipe through. And just as on iOS, you can create folders of related apps by dragging one icon on top of another. You can also drag the apps around Launchpad's pages to place them wherever you want—doing so is actually easier on the Mac than on an iDevice. The bad news: Every Mac user I polled at PCMag.com said they never use Launchpad.
Both operating systems have somewhat new twists on installation. Windows 8 will be available as installation software for existing desktops and laptops, but for tablets it will only be available preinstalled. One issue for Macs running an earlier OS version than Snow Leopard is that the only way to get the $29.99 Lion upgrade is through the Mac App Store, so users of versions prior to Snow Leopard will have to go through a separate upgrade process for that (bummer). A $69 USB thumb drive installer is also available, but no disc installation is available.
Both OS X Lion and Windows 8 have claimed greater multitouch and gesture support, but Windows 8 will actually support touch screens, whereas Lion doesn't let you use your screen as an input device, instead relying on touchpads that support multitouch and gestures. Windows 8 will go so far as including a thumb-able on-screen keyboard for tablets without keyboards. In fact, Apple, in contrast, is adding a similar feature to its upcoming mobile OS release, iOS 5. Picture touch and swipe passwords is another very innovative use of the touch interface.
Mac OS X Lion takes the OS's touch and gesture support on touchpads to the next level. For Lion, Apple claims that the touch experience is even more direct and natural, featuring rubber-band scrolling, page and image zoom, and full-screen swiping. You'll be able to call up Mission Control , tap to zoom, and use three-finger swiping to switch between full-screen apps. One touch change in Lion, however, is that the scrolling direction has reversed direction from what everybody is already used to. Many users (myself included) immediately switched this back to what they're used to in System Preferences.
Microsoft has said that Windows 8 will run on ARM-based mobile processors as well as Intel and AMD x86 chips. While this may not make Intel too happy, it does fit with Microsoft's strategy of making Windows 8 suitable for both the most powerful desktop and the smallest tablet (not phone, though, yet). Microsoft recently published more details on the ARM versions of Windows 8, with the big news being that legacy Desktop Windows apps won't run in the ARM version unless they're recompiled. But Microsoft will make a Metro version of Office available for them, and Mozilla has announced a Metro version of Firefox.
Apple's Lion, on the other hand, sticks with Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processors. But, again, the OS has strong tie-ins to Apple's mobile operating system and device, iOS on iPads, iPhones, and iPods Touches.
For OS X Lion, Apple has revamped the Spaces virtual desktop feature, wrapping it into the Mission Control app switcher. But Spaces will likely be more frequently used in its new guise, since you'll be able to switch virtual desktops through simple swipe gesture. Windows 8, too, has switching by swipe, but Microsoft's version is just app switching versus virtual desktop switching. Windows 8 also allows a side panel preview of a second app with Metro Snap.
Both new OSes make heavy use of full screen apps. Windows programs have been able to run in full screen for many years, with a simple tap of the F11 key, but Windows 8 Metro apps will be full-screen by default, and it won't have the standard Windows application menus along the top. It will, unlike Lion, let users view a sidebar showing a second app. Mac OS has perpetually displayed its own menu atop the screen, even when an app was running in "full screen." That changes with Lion, which lets any program display on the entire desktop screen.
In another tight tie-in with iOS, Mac OS X Lion (but no previous version) supportsApple's iCloud online storage and syncing service. With this, users of iPhones and iPads are able to automatically back up their devices to Apple's servers. iCloud consists of a number of pieces: iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match for music, Photo Stream for pictures, Documents in the Cloud for productivity, and Backup for iOS devices. Add to these Contact, Calendar, and Email, and the ability to find lost or stolen devices, and you have a pretty rich offering.
Windows 8 is certainly not without its own unique innovations. For one, the live tiles on its new start screen update with relevant information such as stock quotes or program messages, which can't be matched by Apple's Lion. Another is the Picture Login—a new take on security that lets user log in by touching and swiping a photo on a touch screen. Windows 8's Metro Snap feature lets you get a peek at a second app while running your primary app in full screen. Microsoft demonstrated a new capability that allows apps to retrieve files from other apps and from online SkyDrive storage, rather than just from the OS's file system. But keep in mind that Windows 8 is in a much earlier state than Lion, so we can certainly expect more innovative goodies. A final new pair of goodies in Windows 8 will be the ability to "Refresh" or "Reset" the system. With the first, you keep all your apps but clean out all the operating system gunk files, and with the second, you get a completely new Windows installation—perfect for gifting an older machine to your nephew.
With the Windows 8 Consumer Preview coming the end of this month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world will get a more complete look at Microsoft's next big operating system. But thanks to the company being very open about what's in store with Windows 8, we already know a lot about it. The team building the operating system has posted extensively on the Building Windows 8 blog, providing a level of detail that is rarely seen in this world of surprise major tech releases.
On the other side we have Apple, which unveiled its latest desktop operating system, Mac OS X Lion, fully gestated, without a chance for the public to run it beforehand. Both operating systems exhibit a similar trend: emulating the company's mobile operating system in their desktop OS. For Lion, Apple drew heavily on iOS in several ways—its App Store, Launchpad screen of icons, and touch interface among the most notable. Windows 8 will be no exception to this mobile-to-desktop trend, as evidenced by the Windows 8 Developer Preview, released last September in Anaheim.
Both companies have been very open about this mobile-envy: in October of 2010 at an event on the Apple Cupertino campus called "Back to the Mac," the world got its first peek at the stylish tech firm's latest desktop operating system, "OS X Lion." CEO Steve Jobs explained that the success of the company's iPad tablet was a major driver in adding features to Lion.
The similarities don't end at the two future desktop OS's mobile influencers. Both Lion and Window 8 will make heavy use of touch interfaces, but with a big difference, as you'll see in the slideshow below. Both will have an App Store, both have full-screen app views, and both offer new ways to switch among and navigate within apps.
There are, of course, important differences between Microsoft and Apple's overall OS strategies It all hinges on tablet support. Apple is aligning its tablet and phone OSes, and keeping the desktop OS separate, though mobile-influenced. Microsoft, on the other hand, is creating one OS for tablets and desktops, while keeping the phone OS separate—for now, anyway. Both companies may even have ideas for a grand unified OS for all devices.
Clearly, the tablet and mobile worlds have begun to impact the desktop OS in a major way. This begs the question: Can the desktop survive? Once you see all the powerful goodies these new system software heavyweights bring to the table, however, you'd be hard pressed to make a case for the irrelevance of the desktop computer. Click through the slideshow to see whether you disagree, and to see which looks better to you: Windows 8 or Apple's OS X Lion.
Lion's Mobile-like User Interface
OS X Lion's interface doesn't take on its iPad/iPhone-inspired guise until you run Launchpad. This gives the desktop a view that's nearly identical to the home screen of an iPad or iPhone, with pages of small square app icons that you can swipe through. And just as on iOS, you can create folders of related apps by dragging one icon on top of another. You can also drag the apps around Launchpad's pages to place them wherever you want—doing so is actually easier on the Mac than on an iDevice. The bad news: Every Mac user I polled at PCMag.com said they never use Launchpad.Windows 8's Mobile-like User Interface
Windows 8's Metro interface shows more influence from Windows Phone 7 than OS X Lion does from iOS. Its large "live tiles" give quick access to and display info from your apps. But Windows 8's legacy "desktop interface," looks almost exactly like Windows 7. Microsoft, in its efforts to push the Metro interface rather than the legacy interface, has even stated that the desktop is just another app in Metro, and indeed you access it through a Metro tile.
This brings us back to the point about Windows 8 doing double duty for desktops and tablets, in contrast to Apple's strategy of using the phone OS for its iPad tablet. The reason Microsoft is taking this route: It cares more about business users than Apple does. And business users use desktops primarily, and will want desktop capabilities on their tablets.
One detail that's been discussed lately, thanks to a supposedly leaked screen presentation on the upcoming Windows 8 Consumer Preview, is the fate of the Start Button. In the Developer Preview, the Start button re-opens the Metro start screen, but rumors have it that Microsoft may remove the button completely, in favor of a hover-on thumbnail interface that switches between the two interfaces.
This brings us back to the point about Windows 8 doing double duty for desktops and tablets, in contrast to Apple's strategy of using the phone OS for its iPad tablet. The reason Microsoft is taking this route: It cares more about business users than Apple does. And business users use desktops primarily, and will want desktop capabilities on their tablets.
One detail that's been discussed lately, thanks to a supposedly leaked screen presentation on the upcoming Windows 8 Consumer Preview, is the fate of the Start Button. In the Developer Preview, the Start button re-opens the Metro start screen, but rumors have it that Microsoft may remove the button completely, in favor of a hover-on thumbnail interface that switches between the two interfaces.
Installation
Both operating systems have somewhat new twists on installation. Windows 8 will be available as installation software for existing desktops and laptops, but for tablets it will only be available preinstalled. One issue for Macs running an earlier OS version than Snow Leopard is that the only way to get the $29.99 Lion upgrade is through the Mac App Store, so users of versions prior to Snow Leopard will have to go through a separate upgrade process for that (bummer). A $69 USB thumb drive installer is also available, but no disc installation is available.Windows 8's Touch and Gesture Support
Both OS X Lion and Windows 8 have claimed greater multitouch and gesture support, but Windows 8 will actually support touch screens, whereas Lion doesn't let you use your screen as an input device, instead relying on touchpads that support multitouch and gestures. Windows 8 will go so far as including a thumb-able on-screen keyboard for tablets without keyboards. In fact, Apple, in contrast, is adding a similar feature to its upcoming mobile OS release, iOS 5. Picture touch and swipe passwords is another very innovative use of the touch interface.Lion's Touch Gesture Support
Mac OS X Lion takes the OS's touch and gesture support on touchpads to the next level. For Lion, Apple claims that the touch experience is even more direct and natural, featuring rubber-band scrolling, page and image zoom, and full-screen swiping. You'll be able to call up Mission Control , tap to zoom, and use three-finger swiping to switch between full-screen apps. One touch change in Lion, however, is that the scrolling direction has reversed direction from what everybody is already used to. Many users (myself included) immediately switched this back to what they're used to in System Preferences.Processor Support
Microsoft has said that Windows 8 will run on ARM-based mobile processors as well as Intel and AMD x86 chips. While this may not make Intel too happy, it does fit with Microsoft's strategy of making Windows 8 suitable for both the most powerful desktop and the smallest tablet (not phone, though, yet). Microsoft recently published more details on the ARM versions of Windows 8, with the big news being that legacy Desktop Windows apps won't run in the ARM version unless they're recompiled. But Microsoft will make a Metro version of Office available for them, and Mozilla has announced a Metro version of Firefox.Apple's Lion, on the other hand, sticks with Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processors. But, again, the OS has strong tie-ins to Apple's mobile operating system and device, iOS on iPads, iPhones, and iPods Touches.
Switching Among Apps
For OS X Lion, Apple has revamped the Spaces virtual desktop feature, wrapping it into the Mission Control app switcher. But Spaces will likely be more frequently used in its new guise, since you'll be able to switch virtual desktops through simple swipe gesture. Windows 8, too, has switching by swipe, but Microsoft's version is just app switching versus virtual desktop switching. Windows 8 also allows a side panel preview of a second app with Metro Snap.Full Screen Apps
Both new OSes make heavy use of full screen apps. Windows programs have been able to run in full screen for many years, with a simple tap of the F11 key, but Windows 8 Metro apps will be full-screen by default, and it won't have the standard Windows application menus along the top. It will, unlike Lion, let users view a sidebar showing a second app. Mac OS has perpetually displayed its own menu atop the screen, even when an app was running in "full screen." That changes with Lion, which lets any program display on the entire desktop screen.The App Stores
The app store was already available on OS X Snow Leopard, but it becomes an important built-in component of Lion. You can purchase an app on one computer and download it to up to five more. The app-updating process is also handled by the store, and in Lion, apps offer in-app purchases for additional features and content. Microsoft's app store for Windows 8 isn't live yet, but the company has made some details and visuals available. Notable for the Windows Store is that it will be able to offer trial software, and developers will get a 30 percent cut after $25,000 in sales--more than the going rate of 20 percent offered by Apple.
Mac's Cloud Strategy: iCloud
In another tight tie-in with iOS, Mac OS X Lion (but no previous version) supportsApple's iCloud online storage and syncing service. With this, users of iPhones and iPads are able to automatically back up their devices to Apple's servers. iCloud consists of a number of pieces: iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match for music, Photo Stream for pictures, Documents in the Cloud for productivity, and Backup for iOS devices. Add to these Contact, Calendar, and Email, and the ability to find lost or stolen devices, and you have a pretty rich offering.Windows' Cloud Strategy: SkyDrive
Microsoft's cloud service, SkyDrive, has been a component of the Windows Live online offerings since 2007, but has failed to gain the notice that iCloud enjoys. Since 2008, the service has offered a free 25GB of online storage for any kinds of files. The Web interface has
recently been redesigned and sped up. Like iCloud, SkyDrive offers syncing with Windows Phones, giving users instant online backup and accessibility for photos—and videos (something not offered by iCloud)—snapped on their phones and Office documents. Also like iCloud, Windows 8 lets developers access the online storage for their Metro apps. Missing in SkyDrive, though, is iCloud's extensive support for music.
Backward Compatibility
Backward compatibility hasn't been a strong suit for Apple, especially for changes like switching to OS X, Intel CPUs, and 64 bit. But Snow Leopard apps work perfectly in Lion; I recently updated a MacBook Air, and all my apps made the transition without a hitch. Another software support change in Lion is that it doesn't include Java, Flash, Samba, or FrontRow, so if you depended on any of those, you'll need to either install them manually or figure out a workaround.
Microsoft has clearly stated that Windows 7 apps will run in Windows 8, and that Windows 7 hardware will be compatible. But if you run Windows 8 on a tablet with a non-Intel/AMD processor, desktop apps won't run unless they've been recompiled by their developers.
Microsoft has clearly stated that Windows 7 apps will run in Windows 8, and that Windows 7 hardware will be compatible. But if you run Windows 8 on a tablet with a non-Intel/AMD processor, desktop apps won't run unless they've been recompiled by their developers.
Unique Features in Lion
Aside from those already discussed (full-screen apps, more multitouch, Launchpad, Mission Control) Some of Lion's brand new features are truly
innovative and potentially useful. The AirDrop feature stands out, here: this lets you transfer files to any nearby Lion machine without disks, USB keys, or even a WiFi connection. Other nifty capabilities outlined are Auto Save and Versions, which mean you never have to worry about losing a document because you forgot to hit Save. The problem is: software vendors aside from Apple itself have been slow to implement support for Lion's built-in Versions and AutoSave. Find My Mac does for your laptop what's been possible on the iPhone for years, and search has been improved with "tokens," or parameters.
Unique Features in Windows 8
Windows 8 is certainly not without its own unique innovations. For one, the live tiles on its new start screen update with relevant information such as stock quotes or program messages, which can't be matched by Apple's Lion. Another is the Picture Login—a new take on security that lets user log in by touching and swiping a photo on a touch screen. Windows 8's Metro Snap feature lets you get a peek at a second app while running your primary app in full screen. Microsoft demonstrated a new capability that allows apps to retrieve files from other apps and from online SkyDrive storage, rather than just from the OS's file system. But keep in mind that Windows 8 is in a much earlier state than Lion, so we can certainly expect more innovative goodies. A final new pair of goodies in Windows 8 will be the ability to "Refresh" or "Reset" the system. With the first, you keep all your apps but clean out all the operating system gunk files, and with the second, you get a completely new Windows installation—perfect for gifting an older machine to your nephew.
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