I'm fortunate enough to be in attendance at this years Microsoft Build conference, and this morning was the conference kickoff with the Day 1 Keynote led by Steve Ballmer. Many bloggers and writers have already shared their notes, and they're all about Windows 8.1, read as: Start Buttons! Search! Touch! Gestures! Apps!
Author's are missing the point. Yes, 8.1 was an important update, and it is definately bridging the gap between those who had pure touch devices running Windows 8, and those (like me) who had mouse\keyboard devices, also running Windows 8. 8.1 will make my laptop easier to use.. hooray.. but again, there was so much more to the keynote.
Several demo's took place this AM. We saw a variety of hardware showcasing "old fashioned" Windows applications, newer Apps, enhanced GPU technology, Bing API's and services, and development tools that make porting applications easy, regardless if you're writing for a PC, a tablet, or a phone. And THAT was the point of the keynote today.
Apple has had a novel concept for years, if you live within their eco-system, all your technology played very well together. iPhone, iPad and Apple PC's would share data... music, video, pictures.. and communicate very well. When the iPad came out, all of your apps that you already purchased for your iPhone were readily available. The user experience never changed, one device was similar to another. Microsoft has quickly invaded this same model. Tablet, PC, Phone, or even your TV (XBox One) now will have the same experience.. the same apps, and the same functionality. Want to share your music, video, or pictures? Fine, go ahead, they're all available on SkyDrive for FREE mind you, just go ahead and copy your files up to the cloud.. if you wanted them available anytime, anywhere that is.
And that was the purpose of the Keynote today. The future is bright for Windows 8.x, and not because of a Start button, but because Microsoft is going to regain it's momentum by relying on it's strength, that regardless of how many users have picked up Apple devices over the past 5 years, everyone has had a Microsoft device for 20.
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