Comment User Level SOE (Score 1) 344
I think the idea is that the user will have the same experience on any device, and in the background available sub menus have more classic device specific apps and controls. e.g. on a PC you can still bring up a command line or control panel. The deskop menu is the same though whatever device you use, and since they require a Microsoft account you also have access to the same data. Of course, in the interest of supporting so many devices and user scenarios most people end up with a great deal of processes and applications they don't need. This is where Apple has traditionally excelled. They control the hardware, and are able to streamline their kernel and drivers for a much smaller subset of devices which are optimized for their OS. Microsoft is taking advantage of the cloud market cupertino has created and gotten people used to. Of course, there's no real need for this in the desktop market. Windows 7 is fine, but only recently ready to be put into a production environment where a variety of applications are in play. Windows XP is where the inertia of the business place still lies. Microsoft is trying to drag us along and get us to be subscribers, generating yearly and monthly revenue streams so that we won't wait to upgrade our OS until we need to. They will lock us out if we don't. e.g. XBOX 360.