Windows 8 — Powered by HTML5
Microsoft hasn’t always been known for their great support of web standards like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. But their recent efforts with Internet Explorer are a clear indication that Microsoft intends to get back in the browser game (some would argue they already have). While Microsoft may have a long road ahead before catching up to the likes of Mozilla’s Firefox or Google’s Chrome in terms of support for web standards, they’ve shown a clear dedication to improve their browser to support new technologies such as HTML5.
HTML5 has proved itself to be a powerful platform to create rich, dynamic and cross-platform applications, without all the overhead traditional desktop applications typically bring. Google’s embraced the technology with their Chrome OS platform and Apple has (to some degree) on their iOS devices. In an unexpected move, Microsoft demoed the next version of their operating system (codenamed Windows 8 ) with native applications created using HTML5 technologies. That’s right, the same technologies developers are beginning to use for rich web applications, Microsoft is allowing the same technologies to be used to create native Windows 8 applications. Even with all their investment in Silverlight and the .NET framework, Microsoft clearly sees web technologies like HTML5 to be the future of application development.
I’m most interested to see how this all plays out. This opens up Windows to a whole new category of developers — web developers.
Introducing Chromebooks
Speaking of web technologies, Google recently announced Acer and Samsung will be releasing notebooks running Chrome OS. Chrome OS is, in my opinion, one of the more interesting products to come out of Google recently.
The concept behind Chrome OS is both simple and complicated: it’s the speed and power of the Chrome browser, and that’s it. For many users, it’s a complete paradigm shift from the typical computing experience we’ve all become accustomed to. Most of us are used to desktops and docks of applications and file systems with folders and menus of options and virus scanners and backup utilities and obtrusive software updates. Chrome OS promises to solve all of that with a very simple solution: Chrome. The operating system is just that — the Chrome browser and nothing else.
The Chrome browser has already proved itself to be a powerful platform for creating applications. It supports all of the latest web technologies and is constantly being updated. And Google’s decided it’s so good it deserves to be the basis for an operating system — and I can’t say I disagree with them.
I look at what most of my relatives use their computers for, and the more I think about it the more I realize a Chromebook is probably a great fit for them. Think about it, what tasks do you use your computer for on a daily basis? News reading, “Facebooking”, watching videos, checking email, word processing, photo manipulation — these are all things you can do with just the Chrome browser. Google’s provided a great office suite while others like Aviary provide web applications to do rich media manipulation all within the browser. It’s an interesting offer which can’t be fully be explained in the contents of this blog post, but it’s certainly worth checking out.
Google Wallet
While Google was busy creating their own operating system, they were also working on a new method for paying for goods and services. Google’s new service called “Google Wallet” aims to make paying for things even easier than swiping a small plastic card. Google Wallet is currently an Android app that runs on the Nexus S 4G on Sprint, and works at a limited number of locations, but it promises to bring the end of the traditional wallet.
Instead of counting bills or swiping plastic, you could just wave your phone in front of a terminal to pay for things. That’s what Google’s new service is offering. Along with it, they plan to provide contextual merchant offers so when you’re near that movie theater, you can score a couple tickets on the cheap. Google’s Wallet service has got plenty of room to grow, but I think we can all agree this is the direction things are moving.
Immersive 3D HTML5 Experience Produced by Google
Google helped create a very interesting and compelling interactive music video using the latest in web technologies (HTML5 and WebGL). Granted, the link above requires the use of Google’s Chrome browser. But if used, it’ll quickly give you an idea of where extraordinary experiences are headed. I have to say, the demo blew me away. It’s a music video consisting of realtime rendered 3D animations wrapped in an interactive experience. Basically, it’s something we’ve never seen before in the web browser. To me, this is just a preview of what’s going to be possible in the near future (in modern browsers of course).
I can’t wait for the adoption of technologies like WebGL in browsers. Imagine interactive product detail pages where users can manipulate, rotate and interact with products realtime. It’s not happening yet, but I’ll bet money on it happening within the next few years.
