Why Windows 8 will change the world

Windows 8. Hate it or love it, there is certain something in the air when talking about it.

HTML5 as native language

Native applications for Windows 8 Metro are written in standard HTML5 instead of, for example C# – A language usually heavily endorsed by Microsoft. Why then JavaScript over C#, or anything else for that matter? It turns out that this is actually the most pivotal thing in future of Windows and it just might end up powering the next era of PC. Let me explain.

Personal Computer

PC stands for Personal Computer – A computer that one can tailor for their needs. This was the catalyst that fueled the computer revolution, as it made cheaper computers possible, thus commodificating  the computer itself, which in turn fueled the internet revolution and so forth. While Apple likes to rant about post-PC world, where PC becomes irrelevant, I suspect Microsoft has other ideas.

The very essence of PC are the countless different hardware configurations – Something that was the thorn in Microsoft side for the longest time: It turns out it’s quite hard to make something run rock-steady in 100 gazillion different computers. What this also means is that there are thousands of different display sizes and setups out there. Windows used to work around this problem by having toolbars and, well, application windows. Metro will have none of that – The applications run full screen, end of story. To up the ante, Microsoft even demoed Windows 8 running on 82-inch touch display. How the hell do you work around that?