Microsoft Introduces Windows 8: One OS for Desktops, Laptops, and Tablets

[nsane.forums]

Windows 8 is on its way, and it'll be a departure from the Windows we know and love today. That was the message Microsoft sent Wednesday afternoon at the annual D: All Things Digital Conference, taking place near Los Angeles. At the conference, Microsoft presented a radically redesigned Windows interface: Instead of the traditional desktop with windows, the taskbar, Start menu, and so on, Microsoft demonstrated an interface that looks reminiscent to Windows Phone 7, its smartphone operating system--complete with touch-friendly live tiles.

Microsoft also posted a video that shows some of the new features. Most notably, the company says that it's designed for not only laptops and desktops, but for tablets as well (which makes sense, given its big, touch-friendly buttons and visual style). The new tile-based interface replaces the traditional Start menu, according to Microsoft.

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Jason Snell notes on Twitter that "Windows 8 will run standard Windows apps, support standard Windows peripherals." Microsoft's video shows regular Windows apps running in a separate, traditional desktop mode that you can switch to with the press of a button.

Apps made specifically for Windows 8 will be a bit of a different beast--they'll "use the power of HTML5, tapping into the native capabilities of Windows using standard JavaScript and HTML," the company says. It remains to be seen if this means that Windows 8-specific apps will be based solely on HTML5, JavaScript, and other Web technologies, or if they'll be some tie-ins to more traditional app development tools that Microsoft offers.

What's interesting about Windows 8 is that it's another step in PCs becoming more tablet-like. Apple is moving toward making Mac OS X more iPad-like with Lion's various iOS-inspired features, although Windows 8 seems to go one step further with merging the tablet and the PC. There will probably be some resistance to these changes, and we'll have to wait and see how it all works out in practice, but the writing's on the wall.

View: Original Article

[DKT27]

Too much mobile interface concentrated, will take time to get adjusted to.

[toyo]

... it'll work with a mouse and a keyboard, but it was designed for fingers.

But... I like my mouse/keyboard... I don't feel like touching any screens... :sobs:

PS: It's ugly...

[Nima]

... it'll work with a mouse and a keyboard, but it was designed for fingers.

But... I like my mouse/keyboard... I don't feel like touching any screens... :sobs:

PS: It's ugly...

Touching anything is dangerous. :D

Only Mouse + Keyboard.

[madeinheaven]

Microsoft: Windows 8 is the biggest shift in design since Win 95

It has been a busy few days for Microsoft. On June 1, they finally showed off the much anticipated tablet interface for Windows 8, but that doesn't mean the Windows 8 information from Microsoft is letting up any time soon. At Computex today, Microsoft showed hardware partners the next Windows platform, code-named "Windows 8", to help the vendors build devices that take full advantage of the new user experience.

Mike Angiulo, seen above, showed the flexibility of the new platform by stating how it is optimized for touch-centric hardware. Tablets were specifically mentioned, but it could also be presumed that touch based computers from HP and other manufacturers could take advantage of the new UI. Microsoft states:

Our aim with ‘Windows 8’ is to make the user experience a natural extension of the device, from the time you turn on your PC through how you interact with the applications you know and love,” Angiulo said. “This represents a fundamental shift in Windows design that we haven’t attempted since the days of Windows 95, presenting huge opportunities for our hardware partners to innovate with new PC designs. ”

Microsoft also stated that this shift in design is their biggest attempt since Windows 95. This single statement shows that Windows 8 will not be a simple clone of previous versions of Windows with a few new features and optimization under the hood.

While we have yet to get our hands on the new interface, specifically in tablet form,

does show a lot to be desired. The new UI appears to be a blend of the Windows Phone platform, a little bit of classic Windows, and a bunch of new innovations that will create an impressive tablet experience.

Image Credit: Microsoft

Source: neowin

[toyo]

Topics merged.

[DKT27]

Microsoft: Windows 8 Won't Require a New PC

Having learned its lesson the hard way with Windows Vista, Microsoft offered assurances Thursday that its upcoming Windows 8 operating system won't require users to buy a new PC.

"We've extended the trend we started with Windows 7, of keeping our system requirements either flat or reducing them over time. So Windows 8 will be able to run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same system requirements or lower" as Windows 7, said Michael Angiulo, the Microsoft executive who showed the new software at a press event in Taipei on Thursday.

"Another thing we did is build intelligence into Windows 8 to adapt the user interface based on what hardware you have. So whether you're upgrading or buying a new PC, Windows will adapt itself for your hardware," he said.

The new OS is designed to be touch-enabled, so people without touch screens obviously won't get all the benefits of the new OS. It will also work with a wider variety of sensors for detecting things like motion and proximity, and those sensors will not be present in existing PCs.

But Angiulo said the new interface, which has large colored icons and resembles Windows Phone 7, can still be navigated smoothly using a mouse and a keyboard. The page up and page down buttons can move through the application tiles on the screen, a mouse click will open applications, and the Windows shortcut key on a keyboard will take users back to the desktop.

To prove the point he showed Windows 8 running on a handful of existing PCs, including a Samsung Series 9 laptop and an L Series Sony Vaio.

"When you're reimagining a system that a billion people around the world use it's a big responsibility," Angiulo said. "Windows 8 is for hundreds of millions of computers with all different screen sizes, whether they're touch-enabled or not. Windows 8 is an upgrade for the entire ecosystem of PCs."

It's an important message for Microsoft to get across. If people believe they need to buy a new PC to run Windows 8 it would slow the transition to the new OS and hurt Microsoft's business.

Still, there are features in Windows 8 that won't work with existing hardware, and Microsoft is being more prescriptive than usual about how hardware makers should design their PCs for the new OS.

The optimal screen will have 16:9 aspect ratio and minimum resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, Angiulo said. A 1024x768 display will also be able to show the new interface, he said. But a netbook with a low-resolution screen will have to switch to the standard desktop mode, he said.

Microsoft learned its lesson about system requirements with Vista. Many PCs in use at the time wouldn't run the OS properly. People reported a lousy experience with the software and it became about the most unpopular OS in Microsoft's history. The company will be keen not to let that happen again.

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[RadioActive]

It's obviously designed for Touch Screens which makes it a total failure in my book, since Touch Screens are only useful for handhelds or smaller laptop but it's not practical for desktops, even if it will support KB/Mouse it won't be as practical as current OS layout.

[DKT27]

The basic desktop still looks to be the same though. That would change when it nears beta or release, but not something like this.