Closing the loop on the Modern UI ecosystem

The recent presentation of Microsoft in the past E3, followed and transmitted to the minute by XatakaWindows, has left me surprised and excited with how Microsoft is closing the circle of an ecosystem, increasingly complex and complete.

A way of interacting with computer applications that is at least as revolutionary as when Bill Gates declared his intention to put a computer in each house, and in each one the same operating system.

Where are we right now?

The post-pc era is a reality that even the most fond of desktop computers must accept. Not because they are going to disappear, but because laptops have finally managed to displace it as generic equipment; being in turn threatened by the booming arrival of devices that offer even more mobility such as ultrabooks or tablets; And that's without counting the explosive arrival of smartphones, which have become veritable centers of information consumption and socialization.

While this has happened at the end-user level, in large corporations Microsoft has become the biggest giant in the market, situating its platforms in all possible niches and uses, thus supporting an endless catalog of own and third-party software.

However, although it seems obvious, until now no one had considered going a step further and creating a single ecosystem that allows people to use “computer” programs in the same way, whatever the physical device.

So, for example, if I'm in the Apple ecosystem, it's very different both in user interface and in the work philosophy , using a Mac Book, iPad or iPhone. Something similar is happening with Google and Android, where on personal computers there is not even an experience similar to an Operating System, beyond the anecdotal level.

Where is Microsoft taking us?

For Microsoft it was obvious that the next step to be achieved was for people to have the same experience using computer applications regardless of the hardware on which they were running.

But this is very easy to say “in retrospect”, since the technical difficulties, both hardware and software are very complex and important. And research and investment costs, astronomical.

However, and despite the riskiness of the bet, right now the ecosystem is practically closed in its first version.

We have a set of devices that are no longer defined by their hardware, but by their user interface: ModernUI; and that can be divided into four large families such as Windows 8 RT, Windows 8 PRO, Windows Phone 8 and Xbox.

This abstraction of functionality from hardware already allows the same software to be used with different gadgets simultaneously, as is the case with SmartGlass, which allows us to use multimedia devices outside of the Xbox – including Android devices and iOS – as secondary information and interaction hardware.

So that we understand each other, playing a game of a car racing simulator on the Xbox and seeing the status of the vehicle or competition data on our iPad, Surface or Galaxy.

We are in version 1, the future is in the cloud

I am of the opinion that this is a first version of the Windows ecosystem that is a little above the level of Advanced Beta . And that's why there are still so many things that creak, that cause discomfort and anger in users.

Errors, such as the commercialization of Windows Phone 7, the failure to enter the ereader market, the hesitant gait of Windows RT – for which I still do not see its future clearly -, the communication strategy in the Xbox ONE Presentation Battle at E3 vs. PS4 etc.

And that we are not aware of the controversies at the level of programmers that remain below the horizon of general information, and that have been (and continue to be) bitter and vehement.

But the bases are good, they are stable and they are very robustMy personal experience has been changing in recent months towards an interaction with my information systems, both to produce and to consume, which is timeless, regardless of my geographical location and (almost) regardless of the device I am using.

Join an idea, add documents, photos, audio or handwritten notes to it; retrieve it at any time, from any device, anywhere; to be able to manipulate, modify and work with that information; and be able to expose, print, project it.

This has all become second nature and I don't understand my computer system any other way. And if this is the first version… what will we see in a few years?