A colleague of mine recently made a statement that made my ears perk up - "What Microsoft needs to do is make a PC with a version of Windows locked to only run on that hardware." - He obviously was drawing to the conclusion that the success, stability performance and dare I say "wow factor" of Apple's Mac was the result of being able to control the experience end-to-end. Don't agree with me ? - Read the Steve Jobs article in Fortune where he says just that.
I thought about this odd request for a few moments and then hit the reply button. "They already have!", I exclaimed. "It's called XBox/Xbox-360!"
There have been attempts close to this in the past. I actually bought the very first Windows CE handheld computer (Compaq PC Companion C140) but that wasn't actually Microsoft's hardware. (Cassio & Compaq were identical, Phillips was much better) The early TabletPC's were Toshiba reference designs, HTC is clearly the leader in Windows Mobile (and Android) smartphone devices. - But the only time Microsoft has produced hardware with an accompanying OS that I can think of is their failed home networking lineup (WindowsCE based, not Linux), XBox & Zune.
How many BSOD's have you seen on XBox ? How many bricked Zune's ? - Something tells me Microsoft can produce a solid platform if they reduce 3rd party variance.
This post sets me up for 2 future topics I want to share:
- The world needs a device which gives them less, not more.
- Virtualization technology may provide the great equalizer for stability. (Predicated on my belief that reducing variance at the hardware/driver/kernel-mode is the key.
Sorry for being so quiet lately - Alex has been keeping me busy and this post alone took 3 times longer because he's been trying to put nose-prints on my MacBook Pro's LCD (anyone that knows my aversion to fingerprints can imagine my displeasure).
Onya Cobbers !
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