Watching the Build Keynote it is clear that the “Modern” style of applications are here to stay. The desktop is now legacy. For the consumer market it is already happening as new PCs with Windows 8 are sold. For businesses, it is more complicated since many businesses are still on Windows 7 (or even deploying Win7 right now to replace WinXP).
I’m writing this right after having watched the Build keynote (quick text overview by Iris), but I’ve really thought of it since I helped my parents with their new laptop a month ago. My parents are not tech people, but they know how to use a computer. They’ve got a new laptop with Windows 8 and to be honest, they are quite confused. The new modern start screen is great for them – except that it lacks key program packages such as Office.
But now that’s changing. Microsoft is creating a new touch first Office experience, that will be based on the WinRT runtime. With that installed, my parents will never look back to the legacy desktop any more. They will have everything they need in the modern start screen. The desktop will be for legacy, non-desktop applications. Just like the MS-DOS prompt available in Windows 3.1 was a way to run legacy DOS applications in the “old” interface.
Improved Interoperability
The improved interoperability announced for modern apps and legacy desktop apps (taskbar support for modern apps and minimize button on top screen title bar) might at first look like a way to bring the modern apps into the legacy desktop. I don’t think it will work that way. It will be a way to bring users over to the modern apps without confusion. Once all apps that the user uses are modern, the desktop is no longer needed and is lost in legacy land.
Apps Everywhere
Speaking about apps, I see them everywhere in the future. The app model with an app store has proved to be hugely successful for IOS and Android devices. Microsoft has had a tough start with their phone centric app echo system. But I think that it is wrong to dismiss it as just another phone echo system. Because it won’t be about the phones any more. With the new universal apps (apps that can run on anything from a tiny phone to a full PC) it will be about apps for the Windows platform. Apps that are bought and run on PCs. It will be the consumer PCs with Windows 8 (and later business PCs when they adapt Win8) that powers the app store. When people realise that they can have the same apps on tablets and phones, that might be what’s needed to make Windows tablets and phones more mainstream.
The Windows desktop is now legacy. When creating a new application, write it for the Modern interface right away. Microsoft even showed a way today to port enterprise line of business applications to the modern interface, while keeping the existing business logic backend even though it was written for a full .NET environment and not the WinRT sandbox. The functionality is only available for side loaded apps, as it lets the app work outside the app store sandbox model. But if it is an enterprise app, it will be side loaded anyway so it’s not a sever limitation.
For every new computer with Windows that is sold, another consumer passes the Windows Desktop off to legacy land. Businesses are slower in their adoption, but the time will come for them too when the Windows Desktop becomes legacy.
We’re on the way to the all modern world.