But the future is about user access to content and experiences across devices that may have unique formats, operating systems, user interfaces.
Android is so far proving relatively popular with tablet manufacturers despite nagging concerns about fragmentation of Android's operating system, user-interface and app store ecosystem.
ENGADGET: Strategy Analytics: Apple still owns tablet market, but Android narrows the gap
So we've seen the same thing from the same two big players for a long time, and like when I got here there's a billboard that somebody's reinvented mobile with exactly the same operating system and user experience that everybody else has.
ENGADGET: The Engadget Interview: Jolla CEO Marc Dillon at MWC 2013
Okay, okay, we're making good use of sarcastic italics, but we do have a point: we take such things for granted to the point where it might not have occurred to naysayers that just being able to minimize a window could make an operating system more user-friendly.
That's not surprising as it's been among the few where the software giant has controlled "the whole widget" -- choosing the processor, designing the hardware, and developing not only the operating system and user interface, but a host of licensing standards, services and infrastructure supporting Xbox Live.
The NOR type needs to be ultrafast because it is directly connected to the central processing unit of a computer and stores its basic input-output system (the operating system used by the microchip that lies beneath user-interface operating systems, such as Windows).
But it is the way the Sugar operating system lets the user work that's so clever.
But this digital Battle of Verdun is not the only challenge for Google as Mozilla is also launching its mobile operating system: FirefoxOS. To make a long story short, FirefoxOS is the equivalent of ChromeOS for smartphones: a light-weight mobile operating system where the user interface and all applications are web-based.
FORBES: How Alibaba And Mozilla Are Trying To Break Google And Apple Duopoly On Smartphone
Kay wants to take computing forward with his next great invention, an operating system that puts the user in a three-dimensional graphic world with scores of other users, all computing collaboratively and communicating through audio and visual messaging.
The operating system is based in Modern User Interface, a unified approach to desktop, tablet and mobile.
"Any voting system is dependent on its user following the proper operating procedures and, in this case, Horry County election officials missed a step, " he says.
Matching the operating system should yield a more consistent user experience and ensure that at least some apps can be shared between devices.
Windows Phone 7.8 takes care of a number of bugs, tweaks parts of the operating system, and brings in the user interface elements from Windows Phone 8, notably the live tile system has been given the same flexibility as that of Windows Phone 8.
FORBES: Denying Windows Phone Users WP 7.8 Is Short-Sighted And Will Weaken Relationships
Sugar Labs will work closely with developers from the open source community to develop the user interface for other computers and operating systems.
If more horsepower is needed, then the user can quickly switch into the main operating system, which Cloud continues to load in the background.
ECONOMIST: Google goes in search of an instant operating system
Meanwhile, Jobs has responded to iPhone privacy concerns, leveling accusations of user tracking at Google and its Android mobile operating system, The Guardian reports.
Apple iOS and Android operating system device are doing well because these products shifted the mobile user experience.
Researcher Valentin Huen explains that "graphical user interfaces are perfect for modifying systems, " but operating them on a day-to-day basis is much easier using tangible objects.
Though most of its user interface is totally new, the Kin runs an operating system based on many of the same components that underpin Windows Phone 7 and the Zune HD.
Corona's software includes an embedded Java operating system and a new variant of the old X-Windows software, which allowed for the creation of hardware-independent graphical user interfaces much like those of Windows or the Macintosh operating system.
These approaches can combine a smaller SSD that stores the operating system and applications and a larger HDD that is used for user data, or a hybrid HDD that has flash memory inside a HDD that is used to store frequently accessed data on the flash with less used data kept available on the HDD.
FORBES: Seagate Discontinuing 7,200 RPM Drives--A Focus on Capacity?
And consumption is further reduced by adjusting the operating speed and voltage of the chip on the fly, depending on the user's activity.
In general, standard operating procedure in microscopy is a private, one-on-one, single user experience.
Hybrid hard drives combine NAND flash and magnetic disks, simplifying storage-element integration for OEM customers and providing a host of end user benefits: superior performance, responsiveness, lower power consumption, greater operating shock tolerance, and data protection.
ENGADGET: Western Digital builds 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, Ultrabook makers sign on early
For most Pre owners, updates to the operating system happen silently and with little drama -- just the way Palm and the average user likes it.
ENGADGET: Palm's webOS over-the-air firmware update process explained
Using a combination of HDD and flash memory in either a hybrid HDD or a dual storage notebook computer, where frequently used data (and possibly the operating system and application software) is kept in the flash memory, while the bulk of user content is kept on the HDD, has been shown to provide about 80% of the performance improvements of a pure SSD-based computer.
ViewPad E70 delivers a rich user experience with included apps, premium features, and the latest Android 4.0 operating system.
ENGADGET: Viewsonic unveils ViewPad e70 tablet, offers Ice Cream Sandwich for $170
But with Siri, which Apple acquired only a little over a year ago and quickly integrated into its mobile operating system iOS, Apple has done what it has done many times before: By nailing the user experience, Apple once has again taken a technology that already existed and made it feel so natural that you wonder how you ever did things any other way.
FORBES: Apple's Siri: 'The Culmination Of Steve Jobs' Legacy'
As operating systems go, it's probably the nicest around, with a well-thought-through user interface.
Another entrant, Jolla, says its 'Sailfish' platform is a second-generation operating system like BlackBerry's BB10 and is easy to use because it has a gesture-based user interface and is designed to avoid patent litigation.
应用推荐