Does a desktop OS need to provide interface continuity with the organism's mobile extensions?
ENGADGET: Editorial: Microsoft is singing the right tune with some wrong notes
The company has an absurd slice of the desktop OS marketshare, but a lot of that has to do with enterprise roots.
If Linux on desktops is not penetrating, but Linux is penetrating everywhere else, why not just move the desktop OS onto everything else?
Since development is currently focused on getting the core of the desktop OS up and running, there's no tablet-specific Unity UI to see here.
ENGADGET: Ubuntu lands on Nexus 7 slates with Canonical's one-click installer
This early leader in mobile phones was caught off-guard when Apple launched the iPhone in 2007 and integrated mobile phones with its desktop OS, a difficult leap for non-PC players.
FORBES: Nokia and Microsoft Aim For Google In Smartphone Wars; Nokia's New Phones
For one thing, Microsoft beat up on Palm the same way it took out many of its competitors in the desktop OS space: by putting pressure on hardware vendors to use its operating system, and offering it at a price they couldn't refuse.
When you plug in the handset, the display turns into an all-in-one PC, with Ice Cream Sandwich as your desktop OS. Since the 1920 x 1200 screen isn't touch-enabled, you'll have to get used to interacting with Android using only a mouse and keyboard.
ENGADGET: ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video)
While you're still able to access the same 'ol half-and-half view from before, you can now have more than two windows open, and it's also possible to adjust the size -- and even have them piled on top of each other, much like what you'd find on a classic desktop OS. We loved Multi-Window before, and adding this new capability makes it even more tempting.
ENGADGET: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 for Verizon hands-on (update: video)
The latter is a new dual OS desktop from Asus that runs Windows and Android.
FORBES: Social Media Idiocy of The Day: A Digital Slap On The Asus
Over 20 million desktop PCs run the OS today, and Canonical estimates that close to 10% of the world's new desktops and laptops will ship with Ubuntu in 2014.
ENGADGET: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones, we go hands-on (video)
The iPlayer is rapidly becoming a way of life in the UK, and its inclusion on any mobile or desktop operating system gives said OS a badge of credibility.
FORBES: Peter Kay's Controversial Comedy Vehicle Will Premiere Online With BBC iPlayer
It wasn't until 2001 that Jobs was able to bring his fix, OS X, to the desktop.
If Google rolled their OS efforts behind Android, and worked on a solid desktop distribution for Android, how many manufacturers would be ready to make a switch beyond a single alternative OS machine in their portfolio?
FORBES: The Nightmare That Keeps Microsoft Awake... Android On The Desktop
Funnily enough, even, we felt more comfortable using Android in a desktop setting than we did with Google Chrome OS, which was actually designed with PC form factors in mind.
ENGADGET: ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video)
The second is refusing to allow booting to the familiar desktop, which would be a friendly and inviting OS customization.
ENGADGET: Editorial: Microsoft is singing the right tune with some wrong notes
Canonical hopes that future devices (read: arriving sometime in 2014) will not only run the new mobile OS, but will also boot the desktop variant of Ubuntu when docked to a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
FORBES: Is Ubuntu About To Create The Phone And PC Of My Dreams?
What excites me most is the desktop convergence and the fact that Ubuntu is now an OS that can seemingly exist anywhere thanks to its ability to scale.
FORBES: Ubuntu For Tablets Next Step In Creating 'Unified Experience For All Personal Computing'
Apple has the most advanced mobile and desktop operating systems, and this move brings together the OS teams to make it even easier to deliver the best technology and user experience innovations to both platforms.
FORBES: Apple CEO Tim Cook Shakes Up Management Team, iOS Chief Forstall, Retail Leader To Depart
Even apps are tracking that way: Tweetie, one of the most popular Twitter apps, debuted for the iPhone before it was available for Mac OS. Now we need to bring some OS-level innovations back to the PC desktop and take personal computing to the next level as well.
ENGADGET: Entelligence: Stains on the sleeve of my operating system
Chrome OS, and its open-source sibling, Chromium OS, are Google's answer to the desktop computer.
We have the most advanced mobile and desktop operating systems on the planet, and bringing together our OS teams will make it even easier to deliver our best technology and user experience innovations to both platforms.
FORBES: Apple CEO Tim Cook Shakes Up Management Team, iOS Chief Forstall, Retail Leader To Depart
Originally developed as a desktop PC operating system, Canonical is looking to bring this Linux based OS not only to smartphones, but also to TVs and the cloud.
The OS has come in for criticism but praise goes too, for having access to the Microsoft productivity suite, and the extensibility of Windows 8 across mobile and the desktop, though the launch model has a pared down version of the OS, RT, which limits productivity.
Now in its nineteenth version, though, it's finally getting a desktop, making it look and function a little more like a traditional OS. When you sign in for the first time, you'll see an expanse of wallpaper, with a row of apps pinned to the bottom of the screen -- not unlike the Taskbar in Windows 7.
No other OS has come close to this level of integration between web and desktop.
ENGADGET: Canonical integrating Ubuntu WebApps in Quantal Quetzal (video)
If Windows Vista's various desktop enhancements and purtifications haven't managed to get you excited about the new OS, don't write it off altogether just yet.
ENGADGET: SideShow finds a partner in Lagotek's home automation tech
Firefox OS is currently in version 0.7 and has just released a desktop simulator that developers can use to preview apps written for the new platform due to be released some time in 2013.
FORBES: Thermonuclear Stand Down: Apple And Google Are Ready To Arbitrate On Patents
Don't get me wrong -- we're making progress, but most of that progress has been restricted to mobile platforms. webOS, iPhone OS and Android all have driven some degree of innovation beyond the PC desktop.
ENGADGET: Entelligence: Stains on the sleeve of my operating system
The UI merges some Kindle- and Windows 8-esque features with things that are totally original -- like responsive design which allows the exact same OS and apps to run on a phone, tablet, TV or desktop.
One has to appreciate the chutzpah of Donald Leka, chairman and CEO of Transmedia, maker of the Glide OS app that allows individuals to fluidly access their files no matter what mobile or desktop operating system they reside on.
应用推荐