The next time you abbreviate Windows RT to WinRT I’m gonna hit you, because they’re just not the same thing.

That’s the feeling I’ve been having recently while reading the dozen of uninformed comments on tech blogs all over when talking about Windows 8.

The Windows 8 Editions

Windows 8 comes in three editions.
Windows 8,
Windows 8 Pro and,
Windows RT.

An additional edition featuring mass deployment capabilities will be released as Windows 8 Enterprise and will only be available through business sales channels.

The WinRT Framework

All of these editions are powered by what Microsoft calls the Windows Runtime, or WinRT, the successor to Win32, also known as Windows API or WinAPI, used in previous editions of Windows since the migration from DOS.

Yes, RT means Runtime

Yes, while RT does mean Runtime, “Windows RT” is the name of a given Windows edition specifically targeted at tablets. Windows Runtime / WinRT is the name of the framework which powers the Metro apps on Windows 8 / Windows RT.

Stop the abbreviations

So the next time you speak about Windows 8′s tablet variant, do not use “WinRT”. That’s a framework featured in all Windows 8 editions, not an OS variant.

Windows RT is Windows RT, and
WinRT is Windows Runtime.

Hopefully you’ll remember.

Source: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx

Two recent articles emerged on The Verge, Vlad Savov’s “How Samsung broke my heart” and sooper_verge12 forum user’s “How Samsung Renewed My Love”. I agree with Vlad, but upon reading the forum article, I felt compelled to explain why I disagree.

Here’s why I think Samsung’s just-announced Galaxy S III is a disappointment, and also a lead to a potentially game-changing move by Samsung, for Microsoft.

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Windows RT is a risky proposal, not because it will not be compatible with legacy desktop apps, but because it’s a closed system. Microsoft seems to forget that one of the biggest success for Windows was its openness; short of being open source, it allowed developers to do anything, yes, even malware.

Microsoft is about to release, in a few months, two new versions of Windows; Windows 8, a full-featured OS featuring the new Metro interface and the legacy desktop, and Windows RT, a tablet-specific limited version of Windows devoid of the legacy desktop.

The move comes from the thought that in order to compete with the iPad and Android tablets, Microsoft needs to have an OS that’s well optimized for thinner, lighter, less powerful form factors; that is Windows on ARM processors. In order to do so, they are removing any functionality that has not been built with the new architecture in mind, leaving only Metro, much like Windows Phone.

While the move is smart, this is not Microsoft’s real problem. In fact, the real problem, or rather risk with the new Windows, is inherent to both Windows 8 and Windows RT: Metro is a completely closed environment.

In order to develop a Metro app, you must use Microsoft’s tools and assigned development languages and you must sell/distribute apps through Microsoft’s Windows Store, an analogous product to Apple’s App Store on iOS. Metro apps cannot be side-loaded and cannot be created with other tools. Furthermore, any app published through the Windows Store must be reviewed by Microsoft to ensure it works without bugs.

This means two things: Windows 8′s openness is limited to the legacy desktop, meaning newer Metro apps will not be an interesting option for developers who’d like a more open platform, and Windows RT will be completely closed, just like the iPad.

Developers, in general, are adverse of closed platforms, for many reasons, but mainly because it’s simply a limiting factor. Linux has conquered the server space and many geeks’ hearts because of its openness. There’s nothing you can’t do, really, and that bodes well with developers, who often like to advocate very different programming languages and frameworks, but still need them to coexist.

No such thing is possible in Metro development for Windows 8 and Windows RT. It’s a severely limiting factor, and while Apple is not any better, Microsoft risks losing the open proposition to Android.

For many, not being able to do what one wants with a system can mean the nonexistence of a project. Take Minecraft for example, which was built and sold as alpha and beta software, enabling the developer to get a financial headstart and generate a huge community around his game while it was being developed. Minecraft was also built on the Java run time. On Metro, this would not be possible. The game could not have been sold independently, it could not have been sold nor distributed in its alpha and beta stages, and it could not have run on the developer’s framework of choice, almost all of which is conversely possible on Android (save for the fact that Android does not support a variety of development frameworks, yet).

Jeopardizing its platform’s openness and flexibility is a major risk for Microsoft to take. Indeed, they are not in any position to do so, unlike Apple, with a market large enough for developers to reconsider.

Microsoft, on the contrary, has to deal with a pre-existing market now running a majority of Windows 7 machines, which feature none of the closed aspects of Windows 8. Microsoft risks alienating its users and developers from Windows 8 and RT, stuck in the open world of Windows 7, while Android takes over newer touch-based technologies, by limiting Windows’ openness to the desktop.

Microsoft’s position on its new OS, or rather its disillusionment that it can replicate Apple’s walled garden approach, is a clear indicator that the company is out of touch with reality, consumers and developers.

Just like RIM and Nokia who refused to face reality numerous times, Microsoft is placing itself in a dangerous position, unlike Google which has shown an open ear to criticism, ensuring Android 4.0 returned to an open source model and giving back to the Linux kernel development team.

Although many books about HTML exist today, notably many new books about HTML5 and its many new features, I’ve found few resources that teach HTML from the ground up in a modern way.

In an effort to provide a no-fuss technically approachable resource for learning HTML, I’ve decided I would write a series of articles on my blog, each featuring basic lessons for modern HTML5. But, as with all things I do, everything just turns into a project.

So here it is, the HTML Guidebook website project!

I used to be a believer in Windows 8, that is, before trying out the consumer preview. I’ve mentioned before in some articles that Windows 8 was a make or break situation. If Microsoft doesn’t pull out massive success with Windows 8, they’re pretty much done for on the OS landscape.

But why is that? Because of Windows 7.

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One of the great things with Web browsers is that they’re everywhere, so we can use them to compare the performance of widely varying devices, such as a computer and a smartphone.

Of course, it’s not the perfect test. Some browsers are more optimized than others, etc. But it gives you a very good idea of the performance difference between devices, especially since Web browsing is one of the activities we do the most on these devices.

For this test, I have chosen to compare my Samsung Galaxy S (SGH-T959D), my BlackBerry PlayBook and my work computer which runs on your average Core i5 with SunSpider only.

The results are nonetheless fascinating, despite being limited. Perhaps more fascinating is how unexpected some of these are. I’ll let your read on for the surprise.

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An article about how Google is FUBAR recently appeared on ExtremeTech. In typical sensationalism, whenever companies change anything, and more so when it’s self-serving or when it concerns privacy, people go wild, as if business was illegal.

What I’m going to do here is explain my point of view which is that Google’s new privacy policy is not making them “FUBAR”, it’s making them ready for the future.

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Android will dominate the general consumer computing industry and will exist in various forms from refrigerators to superphones everyone will be using and docking into tablets and other form factors such as multidisplay super high definition setups for professional work.

Apple will hold a minor but highly lucrative high margin part of the consumer market, just like it does now with the Mac. iOS will be its only operating system.

Computing will have migrated in large part to the cloud, where Microsoft will be making its primary business with highly integrated cloud systems and tools for Android. Windows for desktops will have ceased to exist.

Computing in general will have been highly simplified and automated. The engineering required to make such platforms work will now be relegated to the likes of car engineering and other high education sectors difficult to access.

The apps phenomenon will have subdued. Excessively fast Internet access and highly integrated services will have rendered them useless the use of apps. Except for informative websites and games, mostly everything will have been replaced by services for use in integrated fashion on Android.

Due to Government intrusion into Google’s business for monopoly practices, much of the services on Android will not be run directly by Google. Microsoft will play a major role, along with Amazon, in running many of these services.

Apple will be close to launching a new disruptive device based on optical peripheral technology; see interactive wearable glasses. Google will have tried to market the technology but will have failed doing so.

A new company from China will be doing the same thing with the interactive optical technology market than what Microsoft did with PCs in the late 90s and what Google did with touch devices in the late 2000s.

Much of the tech discussions will be centered on this new company and Google’s plan for survival.

The problem with Windows Phone is MS’s keeping the hardware requirements low to make it cheaper to produce, while charging high for licenses.

In and of itself this is actually good for both manufacturers and Microsoft. They get to make more money of the OS directly, the hardware manufacturers like Nokia can sell their handsets at much higher margin because they don’t require revolutionary hardware.

It’s bad for consumers though. Inevitably, if you buy the upcoming Nokia Lumia 900, you’re buying a phone with hardware technology dating back from 2010.

Yes, it works. The OS was made to work on this hardware better than anything Android has currently achieved, but ultimately, this is severely limiting for developers.

As Android gets more open and more fragmented, powerful 2012 quad-core beasts like the upcoming Galaxy S III from Samsung are going to offer more development opportunities and a better platform for mobile computing, especially with the improvements seen in Android 4.0.

Win32 is a set of APIs for Windows, also called the Windows API officially because they refer to 16-bit and 64-bit architectures of Windows as well. With Windows 8, this API, which is central to the development of apps on Windows, is going to be replaced by WinRT (Windows Runtime).

This new set of APIs is designed for tablets and touch-first devices and will work with both Intel’s x86 and ARM microprocessors. Essentially, Win32 is being phased out and will probably disappear in versions following Windows 8, just like DOS eventually did. It’s already confirmed Win32 will be missing from the ARM version of Windows 8.

What this means is that we are right in the middle of a huge migration in computing. And with migrations like these often comes the rise of certain to the demise of others. Such was the case for Microsoft when the computer-in-every-home revolution happened. But will it be the same now?

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