Windows 10, for phone?
Microsoft, I think, has done a good job of pulling a fast one over many, but, if you read between the lines you get the sense that this one OS to rule them all isn't as all encompassing as they would like you to believe. Some of it is likely just semantics or arbitrary lines in the sand, but the signs are there for both Xbox and Windows Phone.
The interesting thing about Windows Phone is this; the Phone Insider app which many suspect will be what enables Windows Insider participants to provision their devices so that they can install new builds doesn't appear to be available in all regions. This is interesting because the desktop preview builds don't go through the Windows Store and can be installed by anyone registered and in any region without the need to jump through hoops. Not sure if this will be addressed as the time draws near, but at the moment there is no such app in the store for Canadians.
The other sign of differences is the delay. The Tech Preview has been out for months and the Consumer Preview will be unleashed next week. But no such preview will be available for phones until next month. And without a specific date or even rough timeframe you can generally assume that means it won't be out until the end of the month. For Xbox there isn't even a rough timeline.
The delay speaks to the fact that while large parts of the OS may be shared, and that they may share an underlying platform and store that there are still relatively substantial parts of the OS that are drastically different between Desktop, Phone and Console.
Today also appears to have killed the rumour of a hybrid Phone/Laptop device. Such a device may still exist or be in the works, but seems a little less likely now. To make such a device possible would mean that both user interaction layers would need to co-exist within the same OS and simply have the experience change based on the "mode" that the device is in. The delta between the Phone preview and the typical Windows Preview seems to paint this as not being the case.
Who knows? Maybe before the final release all of the OS "flavours" will converge into something which can ship a single OS in a single install that can automatically adapt based on hardware and configuration. But as more emerges I grow ever more convinced that as much as each OS shares, for now there are still hard lines in the sand.
The interesting thing about Windows Phone is this; the Phone Insider app which many suspect will be what enables Windows Insider participants to provision their devices so that they can install new builds doesn't appear to be available in all regions. This is interesting because the desktop preview builds don't go through the Windows Store and can be installed by anyone registered and in any region without the need to jump through hoops. Not sure if this will be addressed as the time draws near, but at the moment there is no such app in the store for Canadians.
The other sign of differences is the delay. The Tech Preview has been out for months and the Consumer Preview will be unleashed next week. But no such preview will be available for phones until next month. And without a specific date or even rough timeframe you can generally assume that means it won't be out until the end of the month. For Xbox there isn't even a rough timeline.
The delay speaks to the fact that while large parts of the OS may be shared, and that they may share an underlying platform and store that there are still relatively substantial parts of the OS that are drastically different between Desktop, Phone and Console.
Today also appears to have killed the rumour of a hybrid Phone/Laptop device. Such a device may still exist or be in the works, but seems a little less likely now. To make such a device possible would mean that both user interaction layers would need to co-exist within the same OS and simply have the experience change based on the "mode" that the device is in. The delta between the Phone preview and the typical Windows Preview seems to paint this as not being the case.
Who knows? Maybe before the final release all of the OS "flavours" will converge into something which can ship a single OS in a single install that can automatically adapt based on hardware and configuration. But as more emerges I grow ever more convinced that as much as each OS shares, for now there are still hard lines in the sand.
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