News Google I/O 2014 keynote unveils Android 5.0 L

Hooray for another new android version manufacturers can refuse to push out to already sold devices.

 

*cough*Cyanogen*cough*

 

I thought the biggest news were that Android will be able to run in x86 systems. With the combination of running natively the apps what we practically have is Google pushing Android on desktops. This might be the countdown to Microsoft's end...

 

Yeah, right. People have spasms of apoplexy over Windows 8.1 Metro "destroying productivity"; do you think that they will accept Android as a suitable Windows alternative? I think not.

 

It has begun though. And so far Android conquers all. It took on smartphones, few years later it was over 50% of the market share. Then it took on tablets, same news - just recently...
Google has proven it's offerings are better than Microsoft's, they involve on a lot faster pace, they are for free and customers don't give a dime about their privacy going down the drain.
With Android's application ecosystem being huge and all these developers having the opportunity to enter a new platform, how long before Microsoft has an actual competitor? It has been decades since the last time they had one and Metro won't be much help.

 

I thought that as Android was based on Linux it had always been capable of running on x86, but not knowing to much about Android i could just be showing my total ignorance of how different it is, or how Google prevent this.

 

All markets where Microsoft had no significant presence.

Meanwhile Android tablets cannot multitask, cannot do windows (remember, this was the main criticism of Windows 8 Metro), cannot access my NAS out of the box; it cannot talk to printers and peripherals; it has no MS Office compatible office suite --until Microsoft changes that; it has no software that goes beyond simple games and apps. Productivity software? Nada. Mainstream games? Zilch.

People keep ragging on Metro but it's undeniable that Android L is suddenly all Metro Material itself. Everybody who actually tries Metro on a tablet finds it a superior experience to iOS or Android. Microsoft is struggling only because it fails to leverage its own resources and made some epically stupid marketing decisions. If Windows RT had offered an open desktop, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. But that is gradually changing.

Android is sublimely tailored to mobile devices, but it won't do big-boys computing anytime soon --and nobody wants a PC that is only as powerful as a tablet. As technology advances however, full-fat Windows may come down to tablets more, and then you have a mobile device as powerful as a PC.

 

Given that Metro got absolutely slated for not running in windows but at most split-screen, I'm not sure how Android apps are going to be considered an acceptable substitute.

Cloud Print basically relies on a Windows PC to act as intermediary with the printer. So Android is an acceptable PC OS, as long as you also have a PC running Windows somewhere?

In terms of productivity software I'm looking at CAD, full video and audio editors, any of the thousands of software packages out there that have specialist functions beyond SoHo.

But that is all academic, as long as I cannot even do something as basic as access a network drive or printer.

 

Not that I'm advocating it but isn't running software in separate windows Chrome OS territory ?
Just like Apple has OSX for desktops and iOS for mobile.

Buy a Cloud Print enabled printer.

Does KineMaster Pro fit in the full video editor category ? Would Audio Evolution Mobile DAW fill the audio editors needs ? How about CAD Touch Pro for those designers on the move ?

Cloud Print enabled printer and ES File Explorer File Manager

Not that I'm advocating all this cloud rubbish you understand

 

Sorry, I quite like my networked colour laser printer. I quite like how my Surface RT talks to any printer or NAS, out of the box. Seems to me that is the kind of basic functionality you should be able to expect from an OS. You know, like you felt that a Start Menu should have been included in Windows, not an additional app you download.

 

Nexxo. No one is arguing Android L will be better than Windows 8. All i'm saying is, here it comes...

Yes it has no specialized apps to substitute full fat programs. But who's using them? I don't. And how long will it take to get them? Android did start from nothing to reach a million apps in five years. Fart apps, maybe, but still. There's a huge community now, unlike then and sooner on later it will take on Chrome OS.

Microsoft won't have competition in 2014. In 2017 though, it will be a different story.

Edit
I have to apologize, the news i was triggered by were about chromes ability to run future Android apps.

 

It took Microsoft what 6 years to get the things you say you want out of the box working out of the box, trying to get Windows 1.0 through to 3.1 connected to a network was a nightmare, getting it to play nice with a printer was equally hit and miss.

And this was a time when Microsoft faced very little competition in trying to get hardware vendors to support them instead of the other guy, try convincing a hardware vendor to support your upcoming OS nowadays when Windows is installed on over 50% of the worlds devices.