Microsoft creating One OS to rule them all?

We already know Microsoft is unifying the look and feel of their various operating systems.  Now This is my Next is speculating that Microsoft intends, by 2016, to have the same OS running on the desktop, laptop, tablet, game console and crucially phone.

They claim to have a source saying Microsoft had the ambitious plan to unify their OS offerings with the next version of Windows after Windows 8, and at the end of the life span of Xbox 360.

They take as confirmation some statements Microsoft made at WPC, when Andy Lees said that Redmond would eventually have just a “single ecosystem” for PCs, phones, tablets, and even the TV.

“You can have full PC compute power available in whatever form factor you like,” said Lees, noting that the Windows on ARM demo motherboards were smaller than mobile phones. “We won’t have an ecosystem for PCs, and one for phones, and one for tablets — they’ll all come together.”

Their source also suggests Microsoft will, after nearly 20 years, also consider dropping the Windows brand name for the new OS, a somewhat reasonable view of apps mostly not be in “windows” in any case.

When it comes to technology 5 years is almost an unseeable horizon, and it is almost certain mobile chipsets will be powerful enough to run any version of Windows.  The question really is if Microsoft will have to compromise the user experience on each type of device simply due to a desire to unify them all.

What do our readers think.  Can Microsoft pull it off? Let us know below.

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