According to my source, a high-level employee of Micr0soft, the next version of Windows (Windows 8) will have an app store in which ALL Windows software will be distributed!  Modeled after the hugely successful Apple app store for iPhone and iPad, the Windows app store will be a 'one stop shop' for all software applications that a user wishes to install on their Windows system.

Apparently, the idea for a Windows app store (not to be confused with the app store available for Windows Phone) had been kicked around for a couple of years in Redmond, but it was the successful launch of Apple's iPad that convinced Microsoft that customers are willing to give up some freedom in exchange for the perception of increased security and quality.  My source says that the Microsoft sees the iPad as a full computer, not a 'large format' iPod or iPhone.  They are convinced that Apple will, over the next few years, make the iPad more and more powerful, phase out their notebook computers, and eventually all of Apple's products will be tied to app stores.  Not wanting to fall behind Apple any further, Microsoft will introduce the Windows app store for Windows 8 first.

Below is my source's list of benefits and restrictions for software deployment on Windows 8:

• All software for Windows 8 will be distributed via the Windows App store including both consumer and enterprise applications.
• Software developers will need to submit their applications to Micorosft for approval.  Microsoft will use the approval process to weed out malware (spyware, viruses, etc), poorly written software that impedes the performance of Windows 8, pornography, hate speach, vulgarity, and anything else that Micosoft thinks customers will find offensive.
• In addition to applicaitons developed by large vendors, such as Adobe and Apple, all custom developed software will need to be aproved by Microsoft via the app store.
• Microsoft will continue to allow Adobe Flash on Windows 8, but other software has not yet been approved (and may never be ): Firefox, Chrome, iTunes, Safari -- just to name a few.

The shift to a closed system controlled by Microsoft is a bombshell, no doubt, but the biggest news is that 'Windows 8' is just the code name for the next version of Windows.  The real name will be Windows Ocho!  It seems that MS execs want to capitalize on the popularity of NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, in an attempt to appeal to the 'kids'.  Not THAT is a little hard to believe, wouldn't you say?

There seems to be three dogs in this fight.  One one side, there are those who think it is long overdue that Apple started defending themselves against intellectual property theft.  On the other side is a group that believes Apple is acting like the new Microsoft by using the courts to try to intimidate any real competition to the iPhone.  Then there are those who believe that all technology companies have lost their minds and sold their souls by using patents as weapons.  Place me firmly in the third camp.

The patent battles have become ridiculous.  Apple and Nokia have been trading barbs over who infringed on who's patents for the past few months.  According to an article on CNet's News.com, Nokia claims that Apple infringed on seven Nokia patents "in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers."   I don't know who is right and who is wrong is this case, and I believe that patents are necessary to protect your company's technology, but the current state of patent litigation mania will only hurt one party: the consumer.

I have some personal experience with absurd patent lawsuits.  Many years ago, I worked for a company that developed internet kiosk hardware, software, and services.  Don't look for it, it's not there anymore.  Using Microsoft development platforms, we developed proprietary technology that allowed retailers to put kiosks in their stores that gave customers access to internet.  The technology we created locked the kiosk down to only being able to browse certain websites and kept customers from accessing pornography or other objectionable content from the kiosk.  It all sounds pretty simple now, but 12 years ago it was pretty hot.

One day our boss informed us that we were being sued for patent infringement by a competing company that supposedly had a patent on putting internet access in kiosks.  The company in question was all but bankrupt, and it was obvious that they were looking for a quick settlement for some cash to keep them going.  In fact, I'm not sure they even produced a product; they just held the patent for internet kiosks, or so they said.  The sad thing is that there are companies that do just that.  They don't make anything.  They just try to obtain as many patents as they can and sue, sue, sue.  What really made my blood boils was not the fact that we were being sued, but the fact that somebody thought that they could actually patent public internet access from a kiosk.  It just seems so obvious an invention.   I could see some merit to such a lawsuit if we had implemented the idea of an internet kiosk in the exact same way, but while my company created custom, proprietary computer programs to keep kiosk users limited to certain websites, the company that was suing us only put graphics over the address bar of the web browser.  Not only were the two implementations completely different, but their solution was lame as well.

In the end, the internet bubble burst and we all went out of business before the suit was ever resolved.  I never became an internet millionaire, but I was able to wallpaper my bathroom with the 30,000 shares of stock that was supposed to get me there.

Is this a winner for Microsoft?  At this point, who knows?  WP7 phones won't be available until late 2010.  I believe it is not too late for Microsoft to be a viable player in the smartphone market.  Apple has yet to monopolize the market in the way that Microsoft did with desktop Windows, and it appears that Apple's competitors are finally getting organized (Android, Open Handset Alliance, Palm webOS, Flash 10.1, etc.).  With that said, I've seen this scenario before: a company demos some brilliant technology only to epically fail to market the product.

A lot can happen between now and the 2010 holiday season.  If Microsoft can execute what was demonstrated today, and Apple doesn't re-revolutionize the iPhone between then and now, Microsoft might have a chance to get back into the game.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10444561-245.html

Ignore some of the idiotic fan-boy flame wars in the comments section.  This type of useless dialog is exactly what I hope to avoid on BackingIn.com.

I have noticed that some people never negatively criticize something they have purchased, a sports team they follow, or anything on which they have spent money, time, or energy.  I assume that they subconsciously feel that their choice of purchase reflects on them to a very large degree.  Not me.  I'll tell you straight up that I purchased a Chrysler PT Cruiser in 2002, and it was the biggest piece of crap that I've ever owned, but others would never admit it.  They would defend the Cruiser and tell you how great it is despite their deep hatred for the car.    This mentality is completely foreign to me.  What's the use of being alive if you can't complain about living?!

If you are a regular reader of BackingIn, you know that I'm a Microsoft enthusiast, but don't get me started on how much I hate Microsoft Outlook.  I live for the New York Mets, but I could do a thesis on why they suck out loud.  I bought a 2009Volkswagen Rabbit, and it is a great car, but it gets horrendous gas mileage and the fit and finish are sub-par.   I own a Motorola Droid, and it is way cool, but rest assured, I will give you a true assessment of it below.

A Quick Motorola Droid Review

The Motorola Droid is an Android-based smartphone sold by Verizon Wireless.  The Droid has many features not found on the Apple iPhone, its main competitor.

• Physical keyboard
• User-replaceable battery
• SD Memory card
• Multitasking
• LED Flash for Camera
• Open application development
• Widgets
• Verizon Wireless
• Support for Adobe Flash 10.1 (to be released Q1 2010)

It is because of the above features that I chose the Droid.  Well, that and the girl who sold me the phone at the Verizon kiosk was super-cute.  After almost two months of ownership, I still love my Droid.  The phone sound quality is excellent.  I have experienced no dropped calls, and the 3G coverage is  omnipresent.  Web browsing is fast and seamless.  The onscreen keyboard is as easy to use as a touchscreen keyboard can be.  I especially like the predictive text feature.  The hardware feels solid and well built.  Battery life has been excellent so far.  There are over 20,000 apps available for the Android operating system that runs the Droid, and you can find almost everything that you want in the Android Market application store.  Almost everything.  And that brings me to the fun part.  The negatives:

• Applications.  Unlike a Windows Mobile phone, where Mobile Office is included, the Droid does not come with an application that can create or edit Office documents.  There are applications that you can purchase from the Market that will give you edit capability, but the phone should come with Office compatibility.  Also, unlike a Windows phone, the Droid does not make it easy to sync with Outlook.   You can't even access Google Docs from the Droid or any Android phone.  Google made Android!  What's up with that?
• Applications, part II.  There are thousands of Android apps for the Droid, and the fact that the iPhone has over 100 thousand apps is no big deal.  The number of apps is way less important than the availability of the apps that you want.  Most companies are not going to develop separate apps for iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, etc.  They are going to produce an iPhone app and maybe a Blackberry version.  Hopefully this will change with Android and other smartphone operating systems pledging Flash support.
• Touchscreen feel.  The Droid has a very good touchscreen, but there is a slight delay from when you touch and drag your finger across the screen to when the interface begins to move.  It is not as smooth as the iPhone (or the Nexus One, so I'm told).
• Camera.  The camera takes way to long to focus and snap a picture.  The wait time between photos is long as well.  Photo quality is good for a cell phone, but flash photo quality if very low.
• Stability.  I have had to pull the battery out of the Droid about 4 times to fix problems.  Three times the phone was locked up, and recently, it lost all data connectivity.  Pulling the battery fixed the issues, but the lack of OS stability is troubling.  The Android 2.1 update is due for the Droid, but no date has been given.

All in all, I recommend the Motorola Droid.  Despite its shortcomings, many of which will hopefully be fixed by future software updates, it is the best smartphone on the market.  The Google Nexus One has a better screen and faster processor, but it remains to be seen if Google can service a consumer electronics product effectively.  The iPhone has the apps and the accessories, but it lacks many important features and is tied to iTunes and Apple censorship.  The Palm Pre has received glowing reviews, but will Palm survive 2010?  To paraphrase the great Obi Wan, "These are the Droids you're looking for."

Sony Vaio L-Series

Microsoft is making a big mistake.  They have a great deal of amazing technology, but they are keeping it all a secret from the public.  It's not just Microsoft.  Many tech companies are failing to market their products effectively.  It's not that they don't advertise, but they don't produce the right type of advertising, and in some cases, not enough.

Last week, two friends and I took a trip to the mall for lunch.  After a quick bite at the food court, we strolled the mall and hit the usual spots.  We stopped in the Apple store, browsed the over-priced gadget stores, and popped our heads into SonyStyle.  Among the huge and brilliant LCDs sat an all-in-one Sony Vaio desktop computer, similar in function to an iMac but with a industrial look.

The Sony Vaio L-Series computer is an all-in-one desktop computer with a multi-touch touchscreen display and Windows 7.  Prices range from $1200 to $2000, but the one we played with had these specs:

• 24 inch HD touchscreen monitor
• Quad-core processor
• 6 GBs of RAM
• Wireless Keyboard & Mouse
• 1/2 TB Hard drive
• BluRay
• Windows 7 64-bit
• TV Tuner with Remote

We explored the outstanding Windows 7 multi-touch features and admired the sleek hardware.  Then we happened upon an application called Microsoft Surface Globe.  We were blown away.  We carried on like kids in a candy store as we tilted and rotated the globe, zoomed down to street level, and viewed New York then Orlando then the Mall in which we were standing all in 3D and all without a mouse.  The multi-touch display and software worked effortlessly.  All the while, we kept asking each other why we didn't know about this.  Why didn't Sony and Microsoft produce a simple commercial demonstrating this computer and software?  And then one of said it.  "You know, sort of like Apple does."

Apple will someday release a multi-touch iMac and MacBook, and the world will gasp!  Apple will flood the airwaves with straight-forward advertising in which the super-cool iMac Touch is put through its paces.  The New York Times and CNN.com will run the story on their homepages.  The general public will assume that Apple invented the multi-touch computer.  And God bless them!  Why shouldn't they push their products?

The multi-touch computer is but one example.  Below is a very incomplete list of products that I almost never see advertised.  I guess I'll have to spread the word for Microsoft, et al., since they are too busy making high-concept "I'm a PC" adverts.

• Microsoft Surface
• SanDisk Sansa Clip
• Bing Maps Beta
• Photosynth
• HP TouchSmart PC

This is just a small sampling of products off the top of my head that deserve better marketing.  I have a passion for tech, so I will be on the tech blogs reading about these and other products, but why would major tech firms not want to be  in the public's mind with Apple?  Speaking of Apple, I can't wait for Apple to release its long-rumored 'slate' computer.  I hear they invented a new type of computer called the 'tablet'!  Why didn't Microsoft and the PC OEMs think of something like this years ago?  Kinda makes you wonder...

I have a love/hate relationship with Apple, Inc.  It's more hate than love, and the fact that I can feel hate or love for a corporation disturbs me.  Years ago, during an animated discussion with my brother about Microsoft and Apple he gave me some advice.  He said, "You shouldn't love or hate something that can't love or hate you back."  This is not to be confused with loving somebody who doesn't love you back. Unrequited love is a whole different concept.  My brother was referring to my ongoing angst over the Windows/Mac 'war' that was raging.  That bit of advice really struck a chord with me, and I tried to follow my brother's advice from then on with varying amounts of success.

I tried to not care about the ridiculous war of words being fought in tech magazines, the web, and around the water cooler about the virtues and demerits of Apple and Microsoft, and for a while, I was successful. It was then that those infuriating, and sometimes misleading, Mac/PC ads started to air.  In the ads a young and hip guy plays the 'Mac.'  An older, fatter, nerdier, dumber man portrays 'PC.'  In the commercials, the 'PC' would invariably be made the fool, and the 'Mac' would be shown to be the smarter and cooler choice.  I get it.  It's a commercial for Apple, it is going to promote their products.  What got to me was that Apple was comparing all Windows users to dumb, fat, losers.  Why should I support a company that views me as such?  Switching to a Mac would make me feel like I let the school yard bully take my lunch money.  That ad campaign is the perfect example of Apple's smug attitude that makes me hate it.  There are many other reasons for my disgust.  The 'Genius Bar', fanatics at MacWord hanging on Steve Job's every word as if  it was a revival meeting, and the general 'fancy pants' design of Apple store...and so much more.

Take the iPhone for example.  For years now, the computer industry has been migrating from the desktop to the 'cloud'.  Data and applications hosted on servers and accessed via the internet is rapidly becoming more common, freeing users from being tied to their hardware.  Apple comes along with the iPhone and reverses the 'cloud computing' trend by forcing all iPhone users to download applications, or as Apple calls them 'apps.'  The iPhone does support Adobe Flash.  If it did, developers would be able to build Flash applications formatted to fit the iPhone screen (or any smart phone screen) and deliver them via the Web, thus bypassing Apples' control.  According to an article on Wikipedia, Apple charges developers $99 per year and takes a 30% commission on every app sold through the App Store.  Apple markets and  makes money on the fact that the iPhone has tens of thousands of available applications, third party developers build them, and Apple takes 30 percent!  Quite a good racket.  Imagine if Microsoft tried to use this method of application distribution with Windows 7?  The DOJ would get an injunction to halt its release.  Now that Apple has had so much success with this model, Microsoft, Blackberry, Palm, etc. are following suit.  I own a Motorola Droid with the Google developed Android operating system.  There is an Android 'app store', but you can also develop and distribute apps outside of the Android Market.

Apple holds all the cards.  In an effort to keep the iPhone system from being filled with malicious and resource draining apps (a noble cause) they have exerted full censorship on content while taking a hefty sum from every developer.  All this and Apple's image is as shinny as, well, an apple.  I against government control over the technology industry, and I believe Apple has every right to conduct business any way they want, but, Apple fanatics, just wait until the Department of Justice antitrust division comes knocking on Apple's door in a few years.  Ask Microsoft, there is a price to pay for market dominance.

So, where is the 'love' in this 'love/hate' relationship.  The love is for the technology.  I love computers and gadgets, and Apple makes some cool stuff.  Also, Apple is an American computer and consumer electronics company.  Apple's success benefits the American economy and thus benefits me.  Some Apple users (and I must emphasize SOME) are so insular in their view of technology.  If it doesn't have an Apple logo on it, they don't want to know from it.  When I go to the mall, I stop in the Apple store, but I also browse around the SonyStyle store.  I am a Microsoft enthusiast, but I just installed Ubuntu Linux on my computer, dual booting with Windows 7, to check it out.  I really like Microsoft's Bing search engine, but Google still has the best search algorithm.  Why would anybody limit their access to technology to one company?

I guess I'm not doing very well following my brother's advice about not loving or hating something that can't love or hate you back, but I'm gong to try harder to follow his example in 2010.  I think I can do it.  Now, I just need some way to stop hating the Yankees and getting my heart broken by the Mets every year.