Interviewed by CNN on 28/09/2011 13:40, Sailfish told the world: > My bloviated meandering follows what David Wilkinson graced us with on > 9/28/2011 5:35 AM: >> It seems that Windows 8 will have an entirely new mode of operation >> called Metro (alongside the traditional desktop). Although primarily >> targeted to tablets using touch, Metro will also be available using >> mouse/keyboard on regular desktops and laptops. >> >> Metro apps are sand-boxed and are written in a new runtime called WinRT, >> using C++, C#, VB.NET or Javascript. >> >> The developer preview already has a plugin-free Metro version of IE 10, >> and they seem to be working on Live Mail also. >> >> So where does this leave SeaMonkey/FireFox/Thunderbird? Is Mozilla just >> going to concede the Metro experience to Microsoft? >> > Unless Microsoft seriously changes their Win8 design from what I've seen > on the Dev release, I predict they will be as successful with it as they > were with Kin/Win Phone 7/Vista. > > I personally wouldn't worry about it until they produce something that > looks innovative and gives people a reason to consider it. >
I think that's the wrong attitude to take... First, you have to take into account that the reason people rejected Vista was not design -- most people had no serious problems with the design. Even the annoying UAC prompts weren't the real problem. The problem was the horrid performance in 2006-era machines -- I remember seeing new computers sold with Vista and *512 Mb* of RAM, barely enough to boot it (in ten or fifteen minutes, that is). Windows 7 is not actually THAT much better resource-wise (it is a bit better, though), but by 2009, the standard computer was powerful enough to deal with it comfortably. The MS people are not that stupid; they will make sure this time around that Windows 8 is able to run adequately on available computers -- not that hard a task, considering that a dual-core, 4Gb RAM is a reasonable assumption now, and a quad-core one might be it in one year. And they are aiming for low-powered form-factors too, which should keep the kernel guys from going too wild with resource consumption -- even if the "Windows 8 tablet" is a bust, this effort should keep the desktop version from growing too fat. Second, you may dislike it (and there's plenty to dislike), but Windows still dominates on desktop and notebook computers, by a very large margin. Computer makers are actually glad to see a new version of Windows -- particularly one like 8, which features very big a piece of hardware people don't have yet -- because it gives them something to sell: "New computer! With Touchscreen and Windows 8!" So, unless there is a very strong consumer resistance, they WILL bundle Windows 8 with new computers by default. So, by early 2013 there will be quite a lot of Windows 8 machines around. How many, it's hard to say. But many. And not having anything to offer to those people strikes me as a Very Bad Idea. Well, existing apps should work fine in Classic mode -- but not offering anything for Metro is likely to make the Mozilla stable of products look hopelessly dated. Macs are moving to touchscreen interface too; eventually, someone will add that to Linux. It's not just a Windows problem. The better question to ask is, "How viable is to adapt Firefox/Thunderbird/Seamonkey to Metro/Lion?" Perhaps starting from the existing UIs, designed for point-and-click WIMP interfaces, is the wrong approach. Oh, they will run fine in "Classic" mode, but the idea is having a version for the touchscreen interface. The work being done in the tablet version of Firefox might be illuminating -- it might be easier to use the Fennec tablet UI as a starting point for Windows Metro/Mac Lion than the existing WIMP UI. -- MCBastos This message has been protected with the 2ROT13 algorithm. Unauthorized use will be prosecuted under the DMCA. -=-=- ... Sent from my rotary-dial phone. *Added by TagZilla 0.066.2 running on Seamonkey 2.4 * Get it at http://xsidebar.mozdev.org/modifiedmailnews.html#tagzilla _______________________________________________ support-seamonkey mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/support-seamonkey
