According to various reports, some contradictory, Windows 8 may be upon us in 2012. I have to ask the obvious question: Who cares? I don't ask this to be caviler. I really would like to know if anyone cares. In the olden days, when a new OS was released, there was always a reason and always a need. For example, when 3.5-inch floppies came out, the drivers needed to be incorporated into the new OS. Or when volume sizes of the hard drive went beyond the ability of the OS to recognize them, support for the ubiquitous CD-ROM had to be built into the OS.
You see the point. With the Windows platform, this process appeared to be easier to accomplish, and much of Windows development was centered on look and feel to make sure Apple wasn't prettier and jazzier. At the moment, I see this battle as a dead heat, with no edge going to either OS. I sure do not see Apple pulling ahead on the desktop, as it is now concentrating on the iPad.
That said, there are some reported Win 8 features that look interesting. I'm keeping an eye on the supposed portable workspace capability. The way I understand it, this is similar to the way Migo and at least two other USB-centric initiatives once operated. These let you put your environment on a USB stick to take to other machines. On the stick, you could install software that could also be effortlessly moved around without re-installing.
Adobe CS5 immediately comes to mind for this. I'm thinking that you should be able to create a portable Win 8 environment on a stick, install Adobe CS5 onto the environment, and then waltz it around from machine to machine. I can see how handy that would be. It would probably kill a lot of Adobe sales though. Read More
