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Forums - Microsoft - Report: Next Xbox OS based on Windows 8 'core'

walsufnir on 26 April 2013
Adinnieken said:
walsufnir said:
Adinnieken said:

Metro is a bit more complicated than that.  Metro is a UI, but it's also a mini OS.  A Metro app runs in Metro, not Explorer (the Desktop UI).  My guess is if they wanted to, they could cut Explorer entirely from the OS, and just run Metro.  Currently you'd lose a considerable amount of functionality, but the basic premise is true. 

Ehm, no. Common Windows apps run on Win32 API, Metro-Apps on WinRT. This is close to os but not really the os. It's another abstraction layer.
Edit: But as I read your comment once again, I think you somehow meant the same thing I did, didn't you? ;)

In part.  Metro (WinRT (x32/x64) has it's own set of APIs/hooks to the kernel.   Explorer does too.  Also, Explorer apps include both x64 and x32 APIs, not just x32 APIs. 

My larger point was that Metro functioned essentially as an OS within an OS.  It isn't just an interface, the applications running within Metro are not running within Explorer.exe.


Ok then, agree to agree :)



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jasongw on 26 April 2013

Personally, I'm glad this'll be the case, because let's face it: over the last several years, the Windows Kernel has done nothing but improve--faster, lighter, more feature-filled and highly optimized. Vista made Microsoft wake up and turn the bloat-ship around.

My main curiosity here is also whether they will go so far as to make the device compatible with apps from the Windows store. IMHO, that would be a stroke of brilliance, because it would immediately remove the "it's too hard for independent developers to get games on the system" argument by making the platform as open as it is for Windows. Of course, I'd also like them to release an XNA equivalent so devs can really target the hardware, and it'd be ideal if the store had an "optimized for Xbox hardware" section as well.