Windows 8 video hints at phone calling features

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A video of one of Microsoft's Windows 8 presentations at this week's BUILD Conference hints strongly that the operating system will have some kind of built in phone feature.

As we have seen in the past week in our extensive coverage of Microsoft's BUILD Conference, Windows 8 will have a ton of new features, along with a brand new touch-based interface, when it finally launches. But will one of those new features allow users of the operating system to telephone others directly from the OS? While Microsoft has yet to confirm that such a feature is planned for Windows 8, Istartedsomething.com reports that there is evidence that Microsoft is working on such a service for the operating system.

In a video from one of the BUILD Conference's sessions earlier this week, a slide was shown of Windows 8's Metro touch interface that shows a "Missed calls" tile with a telephone icon. That would suggest that users of Windows 8 would be able to make phone calls directly from the OS without the need for a third party software application.

Of course, Microsoft already announced back in May that it was planning to acquire the Skype Internet phone business. That $8.5 billion merger has yet to officially close but should be complete by the end of 2011. It's more than possible that Microsoft plans to use integrate Skype's technology inside of Windows 8. Microsoft also has its own mobile phone operating system, Windows Phone 7. There's been lots of speculation that a future version of that OS could be linked up or even merged with Windows 8 in some way. Microsoft is sure to reveal more about its plans for Windows 8 in the coming months.

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