With wild anticipation, let’s say that after the success of Windows 7, why would so many people expect more from Windows 8? Any why should Windows 8 come out so soon after Windows 7. After all, many companies, believe it or not, have not moved to Windows 7. They are either stuck on Vista, or on XP. It may come as a shock, but a lot of companies are not with the cutting edge of technology. They don’t have the money to upgrade the software and or hardware, or the money to upgrade the skills of their IT staff. So they are stuck behind an ancient Operating System, which makes do.
But we’ve been hearing rumors about Windows 8 coming out in 2012. Maybe, maybe not. But what do people want from such a new Operating system. Well, here is a Windows 8 wish list.
A New Beginning
New Welcome screen
A new User Interface similar to the Windows phone 7 has been seen in the latest builds of Windows 8; this would mark a distinct introduction to the computer’s use.
‘Modern’ Task Manager
A colleague wrote about this yesterday. So let me just add, with new screen features and statistics about usage, it should be a different utility vehicle.
Portable Workspaces
You may be able to put Windows 8 OS on a USB stick. This would be a portable development.
Aero auto-colorization
A new feature that reacts to the most prominent color of the Windows wallpaper.
Hybrid Booting
Core operating system files are ‘put to sleep’ which enables the startup time to be significantly reduced.
Simple system ‘reset’
When needed, you can reset the OS to it’s default settings.
Ribbons in Windows Explorer
Ribbons which are prominent in Office 2010, will change the interface look
ARM processor ‘tablet support’
ARM is a a low-power processor which allows devices to run longer on batteries and it will be available on Win8.
Genuine center
You will now be able to organize your Windows licences with this center.
Cloud-based roaming profiles
With cloud operations becoming more frequent, it would only stand to reason that they would be available in the Windows 8.
Push notifications
This is similar to or is expected to be similar to the Windows Phone 7 push notification.
Improved disk cleanup
Cleaning your disk or Operating system by removing junk files will be easier and automatic.
‘Modern Reader’ PDF support
PDF files will have a new reader, and perhaps editor functionality.
Internet Explorer 10
Continue to enhance IE with a new version that competes easier with Chrome, and Firefox.
Internet Explorer ‘Immersive’
A slimmed down version of the browser will feel and look like the phone version.
SmartScreen file filter
SmartScreen filters out spam or bad links based on community responses.
Windows App Store
Get files, updates, and Apps from the Windows App Store.
History Vault
This will replace the Backup and Restore feature in Windows 7
Step-by-step install
The install wizard will be made easier to use for novices to work with.
ISO mounting
Users will be able to use ISO images and burn them as needed.
Native wake on LAN
Even if your PC is hibernating or turned off, a network push through will be able to turn it back on.
Webcam application
Users will be able to use their web cam with the new User Interface. They will be able start and stop videos, capture images immediately or after a short delay.
Summary
Windows 8 comes at a time when there is a lot of push for implementing many new technologies into an old system. Operating Systems still control the computer and interface with the CPU. But with the advent of apps, and how they changed the mobile technology, the impact is now felt on PC’s and OS’s to break from the past and enter a new era of PC and user interaction. One thing is for sure, the next generation of Operating Systems will not look like the last generation.
Windows 8 To Have Cloud Syncing
More details about Windows 8 are flooding in nearly every day now. Ever since an early build of Windows 8 was leaked out, everyones been having a good dig around to see what’s new in Windows 8. The latest thing that has been discovered in cloud syncing.
Windows8Italia.com have come across this new feature. It appears to be a cloud synchronization tool which would allow users to sync files and folders from their local PCs with a cloud-based service. We reckon this is probably going to be set up so it seamlessly integrates with Windows Live Accounts and Windows Live SkyDrive to sync and store data.
It also looks like this cloud syncing will support third party services as well so you wont be just limited to Windows Live which is nice. 
They also report on a feature they call Streaming Manager. It’s hard to make much sense of it from the translation as I don’t have a degree in Italian. However what I seem to be able to make out from it is this:
Apparently this Streaming Manager will allow you to run a program before it’s fully downloaded. In the meantime it will continue downloading in the background, and if you try and access a part of the program that’s not downloaded yet, it will be suspended and resumed as soon as possible.
I’m slightly skeptical about this feature, I’m not sure if applications will be able to run at all until the whole file is complete. Maybe someone else can fill me in on this as I’m not a program developer either?
Either way, I think we can be pretty certain that at least cloud synchronization is definitely coming to Windows 8. It seems to have been mentioned a couple of times, and it would make sense for Microsoft to build it in. Especially when you consider how big cloud computing is going to be.
Windows 8 Pattern Logon
A video was uploaded to the popular video hosting website YouTube the other day that demonstrates a new feature called pattern logon. It basically replaces the standard password with a pattern based login in which you have to click on, or touch, squares in a specific sequence to log on.
The video is not safe for work and I suggest you do not watch it if you are easily offended. That said, it is still on Youtube and the nsfw part is around the 20 to 25 second mark.
It is probably enough if you watch the first ten seconds or so anyway considering that the logon happens during that time.
You can view the full video over at Youtube
Pattern based logon is similar to Android’s pattern passcode. It is likely that this method will be part of the touch version of Windows 8. It is not clear yet if it will be included in all versions of the operating system.
The video originated from the My digital life forum.
The video is not safe for work and I suggest you do not watch it if you are easily offended. That said, it is still on Youtube and the nsfw part is around the 20 to 25 second mark.
It is probably enough if you watch the first ten seconds or so anyway considering that the logon happens during that time.
You can view the full video over at Youtube
Pattern based logon is similar to Android’s pattern passcode. It is likely that this method will be part of the touch version of Windows 8. It is not clear yet if it will be included in all versions of the operating system.
The video originated from the My digital life forum.
Windows 8 Installation Screenshots Leak
It is at times as this that I wish that Microsoft would make it impossible for people to leak information about the upcoming operating system. Not because I’m not excited about what the new operating system brings, but about the unfair advantage that some websites get by posting screenshots and other information.
The full Windows 8 installation process from an early M3 build leaked yesterday on Chris123′s NT Corner. It shows screenshots of a stylish installation process that seems to guide the user through the installation by suggestion recommended settings.
Windows 8 will for instance use recommended security, network and locale settings unless you select to customize those options. Most users on the other hand will probably go with the default settings which means that they won’t have to do lots of configuring during installation to install Windows 8.
If you want, you can keep the default recommendations which would mean that you would only had to enter the Windows 8 product key and a name for the computer to complete the installation.
You may also be interested in earlier leaks of the Windows 8 Upgrade Installation, the leaked Windows 8 Screenshot gallery or all previously leaked Windows 8 screenshots.
Sinofsky to Preview Windows 8 Tablet UI at D9?
Microsoft has been quiet on the tablet UI coming in Windows 8, but that may change within the coming weeks according to some sources.
Winrumors is reporting that Steve Sinofsky, the head of the Windows division, will be at the AllThings D9 Conference (May 31st – June 2nd) and it’s reported that he will be demoing the new Windows 8 interface for tablets.
Microsoft has taken a lot of heat within the past year for not delivering a solid tablet OS. While Windows 7 is great and a veritable hit, it misses the mark by most tablet users standards. Microsoft’s answer has almost been to wait for Windows 8, where it’s rumored to contain multiple UI’s with one designated for tablet-like devices.
The tablet interface is said to be tile-based and may mimic the interface used in the Windows Phone OS. Microsoft appears to be heading in a direction to use their Metro user interface on most of their products and services and in some cases, the interface is simply Metro-inspired.
Microsoft’s history is laced with introducing products and services at the All things D conference, so it’s a safe bet to believe that this tip is solid and when you consider that some rumors point to a Windows 8 tablet release later this year, it gets even more exciting.
2012 Release For Windows 8, Ballmer Reiterates
At a Microsoft Developer Forum in Japan today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed what we’ve all been assuming: the company plans to release Windows 8 in 2012, just about three years after the release of Windows 7.
Unfortunately, that’s as specific as the famously enthusiastic CEO cared to be, and no new features or details about the release were discussed, though we can glean some tidbits from his remarks.
First, as evidenced by the upcoming ARM port of Windows, one of Windows 8′s focuses is adaptability and modularity – more than any previous version of the OS, Windows 8 will be written to power everything from tablets to netbooks to high-end workstations, or as Ballmer put it, ”Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors.”
Ballmer went on to talk about the need for more intuitive computing, in the form of hardware and software that can more accurately respond to natural input instead of arcane search terms: “Today on a PC, it’s file open, blah, blah, blah, respond, reply, forward. I can’t just say to my device, get me ready for my trip to Tokyo,” Ballmer said. ” We ought to make it so that the search engines, and the user interface of the device can take actions on our behalf.”
This is a theme that Microsoft has focused on before, especially in some of its ads for the Bing search engine. In Windows 8, it’s possible that these innovations will come in the form of more reliable and pervasive voice recognition, or perhaps through tighter integration with Bing itself (though this sort of cross-pollination could draw the ire of antitrust regulators).
So, there we have it: More proof that Windows 8 is on its way, right from the horse’s mouth. If the Windows 8 development cycle continues to mirror that of Windows 7, we should get an increasing amount of official information this summer (perhaps beginning at the All Things D conference) leading up to a public beta later in the year or in early 2012.
Microsoft unveil Windows Next Tablet UI
At the AllThings D9 event yesterday, Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky has unveiled the new tablet UI for Windows 8 (which is still currently called Windows Next). As people had hoped it’s based on the Windows Phone ‘Metro’ UI which many people have said would translate very well to a tablet.
The interface will run separately to the main Windows desktop, which will still exist, but will use its own apps. These will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript. This comes as a surprise as many people might have expected the same or similar development languages to Windows Phone to be used. This would, in theory, make it much simpler to port applications across to the new platform.
The new interface has been designed “from the ground up” to work with touch, and it’s very attractive too. There are different sets of virtual keys for different form factors (smartphone anyone?) and different onscreen keyboards too.
You control apps just by swiping them around, for instance you can multitask just by swiping apps to the center of the screen and snap them much in the way you can with Windows 7. Microsoft have introduced what they call “fuzzy hit targeting” to accommodate the fact that fingers are much less precise than a mouse. The goal is to get legacy apps to work much better with touch. This will be a very welcome addition.
Everything works in a way that will be very familiar to Windows Phone users, if you look at the demo video (there’s a link at the end of this article) then you’ll see that apps don’t just appear, but swoop into view. In fact all the desktop items appear and move in a natural, flowing way. Microsoft have brought the same gesture controls they use with Windows Phone so the interface seems to respond to the strength of your touches, prods and swipes.
Internet Explorer is built into the new system and has been designed to run tablet apps full screen, all tablet apps will run in the browser. Microsoft have said this new interface won’t just be limited to tablets either, so convertible laptops and multi-touch desktops will also get the benefit of having it on board. The comparison will inevitably be made with Google’s new ChromeBooks in this regard, though being Windows all apps are stored offline. It may also reignite some complaints about Internet Explorer being central and vital to the new OS. How will other browsers fit into this tablet space? Will they even be able to? My guess is not though, as Microsoft will no doubt say those browsers aren’t designed for touch or tablets and will still be abailable to be used as the primary browser on the desktop if users prefer them.
Sinofsky did confirm a few things that we already know. These include that Windows 8 / Next is being engineered to run on very low power devices. He also said there was no word yet on when the operating system would be available. We would normally expect this to be announced early next year.
All in all this is a very attractive UI and one that’s bound to win fans and followers. Once again Microsoft have gone their own way, though there is a hint of Blackberry’s new tablet in this too. It’s great to finally see Microsoft taking tablets seriously and I am certainly looking forward to testing this on my own tablet PC.
Windows 8: Have Your Cake and Eat it Too
Microsoft set out to build a new tablet-type interface for Windows 8 that could compete with the rapidly growing slate market that the iPad recently ignited. Microsoft’s problem was that they currently service approximately 95% of the worlds computers with their operating system, so keeping those customers happy and satisfying tablet customers with a UI that’s meant for touch is not only tricky, but was thought to be impossible.
Enter Windows 8. If you’ve read Mike Halsey’s post here on Windows8News, then you have no doubt seen that Microsoft is using a mix of Zune, Windows Phone and Media Center (Metro) to achieve their tablet UI, but interestingly, also includes the classic version of Windows which is always present. Some users, like Joshua Topolsky from thisismynext.com are intrigued by the UI, but disappointed by the addition of the classic Windows desktop. I feel that Microsoft’s “have your cake and eat it too” approach can and will work if they can get the two UI’s to work together seamlessly and from the looks of it, they’re just about there.
Think of it this way – imagine having an iPad that was fully iPad, but had a mode hidden away for running a full version of OSX if you wanted it to. You wouldn’t necessarily have to run OSX or even see it if you didn’t want, but I imagine Mac users would find this “compatibility mode” an extra feature that would make the iPad even that much more useful. And desktop users need not worry. If you don’t want the tile user interface, then you can easily move to the classic mode.
I think this approach makes sense for a company that needs to stay relevant with “old school” Windows and also needs to enter the tablet game with a viable option. Windows has always been about having the choice to what hardware, drivers, software and components you wanted to use. Doesn’t it make sense that you continue to have a choice over which interface your version of Windows uses as well? With Windows 8, you don’t have to settle for one or the other, you have the option and that’s kind of the point.
Is it the right move? Does Windows 8 look like a viable tablet option while not alienating the desktop? Let us know what you guys think of the new version of Windows and whether Microsoft’s approach is the right approach.
How would you change Windows 8′s Tablet UI?
It’s just been a couple of days since Windows chief Steven Sinofsky unveiled the “next version of Windows’” new tablet user interface. It’s been almost universally well received, primarily because Microsoft have done the sensible thing and based it around their already popular Metro UI from Windows Phone and the Zune desktop software.
The new interface has raised some questions though and until people can actually get their hands on it (no pun intended) we’ll just have to make educated guesses.
One of these questions is how prevalent this new interface will be in the overall OS. Will it be something that you have to switch on? I ask this because on a desktop system it would be all too easy to accidentally open the tablet UI elements that are pulled in from the far left and right of your computer’s screen.
One of the biggest questions that’s being asked is why applications need to be pulled in from the left edge of the screen to switch between them. The system will be able to multi-task as it’s still Windows, but having to switch between apps by cycling through all of them seems, frankly, a bit of a faff.
One area of concern is over the apps themselves. Microsoft have said that these will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript and that they’ll run full-screen in a browser. This makes the interface much like Chrome OS from Google but does it make sense?
You would imagine that if the interface is going to really take off then it needs apps, and lots of them. Surely then would it not be sensible for Microsoft to tap into the already extensive developer community for Windows Phone who already have tens of thousands of apps ready that could be modified for the new interface?
This decision does puzzle me, as I would have expected Microsoft to allow Windows Phone app developers to use the same languages and tools they create their mobile apps in now, for also creating apps for Windows 8 tablets. Most of you would probably agree that this would be logical and sensible. That Steven Sinofsky, who never says anything he’ll have to back-track from, has said this would imply that a final decision has indeed been made.
Even though all we have to go on are a few screen shots and a couple of short videos, there’s still plenty for us to digest and it will take a while for us to do this properly. Until then I thought, as you’re all clearly as excited about this product as we are, that I’d throw the question out to you… “Just how would you change Windows 8′s new Tablet UI?”
Microsoft staff now allowed to refer to “Windows 8″
For months now Microsoft staff have resolutely refused to refer to the next version of Windows as “Windows 8″ under penalty of death (okay so I made up that last bit). Instead it’s been a hard and fast rule at the company that it was only ever to be called “Windows Next”. Windows chief and Microsoft Senior Vice-President Steven Sinofsky wouldn’t even go that far, only ever calling it “the next version of Windows”.
Then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a slip up at a recent developer conference in Japan when he told delegates that Windows 8 will be out next year. This was the first time that anybody in the company had officially referred to their next generation desktop operating system by that name.
Sinofsky’s department issued a clarification very shortly afterwards, saying “It appears there was a misstatement. To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.”
Ballmer is well known for putting his foot in it occasionally, but nobody really minds (except perhaps Steven Sinofsky). This event seems to have triggered a wholesale policy change within the company though as Microsoft staff are now officially allowed to refer to 2012′s impending Windows release as “Windows 8″. There is a caveat with this however.
This caveat is that no formal naming has yet taken place for the product and, as a result of this, it is subject to change and the name Windows 8 should in no way be construed as the final name for the operating system. Windows 8 is a code name used to refer to the product internally and nothing else.
It’s actually quite comical that given the importance of the product to Microsoft, with the inclusion of tablet functionality, the move to ARM processors and all of the other really major changes taking place with this version, that so much attention has been given to what we’re ultimately going to call it when, let’s be honest, it looks like a no-brainer.
So we do now have another name by which everyone, including those within Microsoft, are allowed to refer to the product. It’s new to them even though the rest of the world has been talking about it for almost two years.
For all the latest news and information regarding the next version of Windows, don’t forget to head back here to WindowsNextNews… oh, no that’s not right!
Whose Windows strategy do you prefer? Sinofsky or Veghte?
There can be no doubt that since Steven Sinofsky took over as the head of Windows at Microsoft in 2009, the development programme for the operating system has become much more secretive.
Under Bill Veghte’s watch the Vista programme was very open, many argue too open which is perhaps why Sinofsky has taken the approach he has. During the Vista beta (and a fairly open alpha too), which went on for approximately 18 months, there were numerous builds including many that I remember clearly were utterly unstable. Also many features that Microsoft announced for Vista, including the much heralded WinFS file system, never made the final release.
When Sinofsky too over he brought with him the secrecy he’d insisted upon when running Microsoft Office. Suddenly the only beta that was available was a feature-complete, near final version. After that we had a release candidate and then the finished product.
Many beta-testers, including myself, were vocally critical at the time of Sinofsky’s approach. “Why have a technical beta if you’re only going to turn it into a bug hunt” was something I said with some frequency, and I wasn’t alone. Many beta-testers joined in with this chorus because with the XP and Vista beta programmes we’d all been used to a far more open programme with much more communication from Microsoft, and genuine input into the final version of the product. I can say that I contributed directly to a feature change in Vista, and I’m very happy about that. I can’t say that about Windows 7.
This left many people feeling that, with more input Windows 7 could have been far better, and you’ll get no argument from me on this. The question needs to be asked though that if this had happened would Microsoft have been able to get Windows 7 delivered on their strict three year timescale? You can assume here they probably wouldn’t.
There are potential benefits to the secrecy as well. Many people were extremely disappointed with the features that never made it into Windows Vista. With Windows 7 there was none of that, no pulled features that we knew about and no product that in the end would have disappointed fans and customers. Regards getting feedback from customers, it can be argued that this is what the time since the release of the previous version of Windows is for.
I’m now looking forward to the Windows 8 beta. I don’t know when I’ll get it, but Microsoft certainly seem keen on my getting a copy as early as possible, which is good news as I’m a Windows MVP. In some ways its been frustrating not having a copy already but what would I have done with it? When you’re in my position as an author a copy that’s feature complete is the best thing to have but you need access to the code in enough time to get a book written which can take up to six months. As an editor on Windows8News it would have been nice to get it earlier and as a tech enthusiast I couldn’t get it early enough.
I’m curious how you feel though. While Windows 8 has seen a great many more leaks than Windows 7 did (almost all of which in the light of the recent tablet interface announcement from Microsoft now seem trivial), which approach from Microsoft do you prefer? Open and involved or secretive and locked-down?
Microsoft May Build Its Own Windows 8 Tablet?
Rumours have recently hit the web that Microsoft could be gearing up to enter the tablet market, but this time with an actual tablet, not just an OS. According to a report by Digitimes, Microsoft is considering launching its own brand of tablet PC. The tablet will obviously feature Windows 8 and should launch by the end of 2012.
Microsoft are said to be working with Texas Instruments and Taiwan based manufacturers according to rumours coming from the supply chain. Of course Microsoft haven’t confirmed this rumour.
I’m not completely certain about this prospect however. I know it does work very well for Apple, if you want their OS, you have to have their hardware and vice versa. It works for them, but what makes Microsoft different is the fact that they do offer you choice. You can choose from a plethora of different laptops,netbooks and PC’s when you want to have Windows 7. Microsoft are following the same tactic with Windows Phone 7 as well.
Microsoft VP Hints At Windows 8 Release In Fall 2012
Microsoft generally keep pretty tight lipped on the release date for their new operating systems. They generally don’t like anyone to know too much about their new projects understandably, so I was quite surprised when they showed off a preview of it early this year at the AllThings D event.
While they did show off that preview to us, they kept quite on any details regarding the release date. However recent hints from the corporate vice president for Strategic and Emerging Business Development Dani Lewin pretty much confirms that Microsoft are planning to bring out Windows 8 in Fall 2012.
He told us to look at Microsofts release schedule in the past or “the crystal ball” as he referred to it. He said to assume
“what happened in the past is a reasonable indicator of what our forward looking timelines will be and just speculate–we’ve made the point about having a developer conference later this year, and then typically we enter a beta phase, and then in 12 months we’re in the market, so let’s make that assumption,”
Generally Microsoft holds it Professional Developers Conference during the early fall. This years conference in scheduled to kick off September 13th. That would be an ideal time for Microsoft to announce the release of Windows 8 assuming that it hits the market a couple of weeks later.
If we look to the past at Windows 7, Microsoft had a 9 month beta period of Windows 7. The 12 months that Dani Lewin mentioned seems awfully long, especially when you consider that Microsoft are probably looking to get this new OS out on the market as soon as they can. The flip side of this is that if Microsoft are planning on a 12 month beta period, that means we will be getting our first “official” taste of the software from Microsoft towards the end of this year.
Windows 8 Build 7989 Leaks
There’s been another leaked build of Windows 8, this time build 7989. The build has a full title of 7989.winmain.110421-1285.615974c7346f7374 and was first reported as being available in the private forums of a beta website. Now though many are saying it’s available elsewhere on the net too.
There have been several major leaks of Windows 8 builds in the last couple of months, however there’s no real information on how old these builds are. Either way this is bound to drive excitement about the product despite the fact that many of the features within this build might either change radically, be replaced by something else or dropped from the final product completely.
Here at Windows 8 News will always temper these leaks with a note of caution. There’s no confirmation that this build is genuine and it’s been out for more than long enough now for virus and malware writers to have injected code into it before releasing it to torrent sites.
You should always therefore be very careful when downloading anything that isn’t directly from an official company website.
The formal announcements about Windows 8 from Microsoft are expected to be made this autumn. Here they will unveil all the new features of the OS and also detail the timescale for closed and public beta programmes. The final release of the OS is expected around October 2012, though this commentator expects that it could be available next August in time for the all-important back to college PC buying period.
There is no information on what, if anything, is new in this build or if it includes all the tablet functionality that Microsoft demonstrated at an event last month.
Windows 8 Rumour Hints at Interesting Future for Windows Phone
Earlier this year when the CEO of Intel said his company would be releasing Windows 8 on a phone people laughed. How could you possibly get something as heavy as Windows running smoothly on a phone, especially with it’s non-touch-friendly interface.
Then of course things began to change. First Motorola released it’s Atrix phone which can plug into a netbook-style keyboard dock and convert to a computer, then Microsoft showed off Windows 8′s new Windows Phone-esque tablet interface to almost universal acclaim.
Only a few months later then and the thought of running Windows 8 on a phone, especially as smartphones are now beginning to ship with dual core processors and 1Gb of RAM, isn’t such a wild possibility.
Now an interesting rumour from RedmondPie adds fuel to the fire. They have been examining some of the APIs of the most recently leaked build, v7989 and have discovered a reference in the Sensors controls that suggests the OS will support SMS short messaging.
Windows 8 to get Hyper-V Virtualisation client
It’s long been suspected that Microsoft would include virtualisation technologies in Windows 8. This is because the largest problem facing Windows is the need for legacy support, which can account for 80% of the latches and updates delivered to the operating system, and is also a major factor in some older software not working. This is a particular problem in business where a considerable amount of legacy software is used.
Now Microsoft’s Server virtualisation client, Hyper-V, has been been found in the latest leaked build of Windows 8, confirming what many people suspected.
This virtualisation client will do away with the need for plug-in software such as Virtual PC or XP Mode as it means the operating system will support virtualised environments natively. This could mean something even more pronounced for Windows 8 however. ZD Net Mary Jo Foley wrote yesterday about a French Microsoft Security and Technical Director who outlined a scenario in which almost all Windows 8 applications would run in a virtualised environment.
The advantages of this approach would be immense. For starters this means that Microsoft would be able to completely do away with support for legacy applications in the OS and, possibly all the underlying code in the operating system that also support it. It’s this code that requires the huge number of Windows Updates we currently get every month.
It also means that, we knew this bit already, a virtual machine of Windows 7 would be included with the OS, known as Windows 7 Mode. It’s possible that XP Mode will also be included.
If Microsoft are sensible, and the inclusion of Hyper-V into Windows 8 seems to indicate that they are. These legacy operating systems could well be locked-down so that they require neither anti-virus software or updates as XP Mode does at the moment. This is the single largest problem with XP Mode currently.
The alternative it to find a way to plug these virtual machines into Windows Update so that all of them are updates simultaneously. This would actually increase the total number of updates received under Windows 8, but if the VMs required updating, it would be the most sensible way to do it.
The benefits of incorporating software virtualisation into Windows 8 are enormous, the core Windows 8 code is much smaller, leaner and fitter and massively more stable and secure. All the problems are shoved off into easily configurable virtual machines. The downside is that anybody using these features would essentially have two, perhaps even three, core operating systems to update and maintain.
This is a headache Microsoft needs to make sure that people don’t get as it might well turn people off using the new OS in small business or home environments if they see configuring and updating it to be too much of a chore. After all, Windows 7 is now good enough for most people.
It’s likely that we could expect to only see the Hyper-V system in x64 versions of Windows 8 as the system is currently only available on 64-bit processors for Windows Server, and has not yet been seen in x86 leaks of Windows 8. This could essentially leave the x86 version of Windows, which are now in sharp decline anyway, without any legacy software support.
The proper implementation of virtualisation technologies though would make an already extremely secure operating system even more so, by vastly reducing the surface area for attack. We could then expect to see Windows overtake other operating systems including OS X and GNU/Linus to become the most secure operating system on the planet. Now that would certainly be an interesting day.
Windows 8 Build 7989 Screenshots + Metro UI
We were contacted today by one of our readers who has installed the latest Windows 8 Build 7989 on his tablet pc. Below are the screenshots that we were sent along with some commentary for each exclusive screenshot. Thank you very much Israeleet for sharing.
Hi guys, I am proud to announce that I have installed the latest leak on my tablet. There are a TON of features of which I noted down and took photos of. Moreover, I am proud to announce that I’ve got the metro ui working. It’s a clone- but it does the job, and very well. The final verdict: Windows 8 build 7989 is a snappy version of Windows 7 Ultimate with a variety of new awesome features we find quite amusing. It still has many bugs and we do not recommend using this as your daily build just yet- but if we can expect a .dll patch to the Metro UI file or a new leak (perhaps 7995?) then we’ll see what happens.
Windows 8 To Include 3D Support?
According to a recent report from Windows8Italia, Windows 8 will include native support for 3D monitors. They’ve reported that after installing and running Windows 8 Build 7955 they’ve discovered that Microsoft has built in native support for 3D monitors into its latest OS
They found references to 3D transitions in the OS which would be similar to the “tilt” feature found in Windows Phone 7. 3D monitors are still very rare and I feel it will be a while before they actually catch on but Microsoft is clearly thinking ahead here.
However I still have some slight reservations about this. I’m not sure whether or not those “3D Transitions” are just 3D ones like what we already have with the aero flip function on Windows 7 (windows key +tab) or if they will be true 3D transitions that literally jump out at you. The report is rather unclear from this perspective and merely states “Native Support for 3D monitors” so I’m not completely sold on this.
Other things the report mentions include some other features they stumbled upon. They found references to a Windows Store which allows licenses to be synchronised across computers and devices. The Windows Store is apparently written in HTML which means it will be accessible via a browser, but at the moment it’s only accessible to those permitted by Microsoft.
A couple of other little features they discovered include support for hyphenation dictionaries, a SmartScreen feature for Windows explorer, the ability to synchronise passwords and credentials across computers , support for mobile networks as well as the ability to suspend and resume processes in task manager.
Most of these we’ve already covered here and Windows 8 News so there’s not a whole lot new there on that front.
It will be interesting to see how much of these features actually come to light, we actually posted on the latest Build 7989 the other day with more in it.
What do you think about 3D support? Will it be needed? Will it even be in Windows 8?
Let us know in the comments below
Can Windows 8 Turn Round Tablets the way Windows 7 did for Netbooks?
It’s been well known for ages now that research consistently shows that the mobile operating system most people want to see on their devices is Windows. This doesn’t come as any great surprise given that people like familiarity and Windows is, for many people, as comfortable as an old shoe. It was interesting to read my colleague Jason’s article yesterday on our sister site, Windows7News, about how tablet manufacturers are becoming disillusioned with slow sales of Android tablets and are now looking to Windows 8 to boost their profits.
This raises a very interesting and important question. Can Windows 8 do for Microsoft on tablets what Windows 7 did to the netbook market? When Windows 7 launched if you wanted to buy a netbook, and let’s face it almost everybody did, you had two choices. Windows XP or Linux. Despite XP’s popularity Linux hung around for some considerable time, but less than a year after the launch of Windows 7 you could not buy a single netbook, not anywhere, with either XP or Linux preinstalled. Everything came with Windows 7.
This was an astonishing achievement for Microsoft. The company had stated clearly during the development of Windows 7 that the operating system was being specifically engineered to run on low-power, low-performace netbooks and that’s exactly what it did. We’re now regularly seeing Windows 7 laptops with 8 or 9 hour battery lives, double what you’d find in the average laptop.
Clearly Microsoft stormed straight into the netbook market and won overnight. Now though can Windows 8 do the same with tablets?
There can be no doubt that Apple is the tablet king, and will remain so for many years yet, but Android is not without its problems. There are so many variants, some specifically suited to tablets and some not, that are currently residing on tablet devices that consumers can get confused. Why go for all this choice and complexity when the iPad is so much simpler and straightforward? Then there’s the malware problem, and it’s a major problem that Google have so far completely failed to address. While the general public won’t be too aware of this, they will become more aware in the time before Windows 8 launches, of this we can be sure.
So this leaves Microsoft with an opportunity. They’re talking up Windows 8 on tablets in exactly the same way they talked up Windows 7 on netbooks. The new Windows 8 tablet interface too, which is based on their Windows Phone Metro UI, has been universally well-received and with more than a year to go until it’s launch, Windows 8 is already generating enormous amounts of hype, press coverage and consumer interest.
Microsoft won’t need to do much to keep this momentum going either. The ball is now rolling and people are excited. The news that tablet manufacturers are now eyeing up Windows 8 keenly will come as welcome news to most and is sure to keep the hype going.
The major test will be next year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where all the hot computing products for 2012 will be unveiled. There will be a whole raft of Android tablets there I’m sure with a new version of Android. It could be though that Windows 8 tablets don’t just take centre stage, but that it completely steals the show.
All in all, future prosperity in the tablet market is by no means certain for Google. In Windows 8 they’ll have a competitor that’s polished, competent, popular and coming out fighting. We could then see a massive shift in the tablet market in 2012.
8 Windows 8 Wallpapers
Windows 8 isn’t quite here yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start prepping ourselves for its release. I know many of you all love to customize your desktops with various themes and wallpapers, so it’s never to early to start! I’ve put together a little pack of Windows 8 wallpapers for you guys so you can get started. Now these aren’t the official Microsoft Windows 8 wallpapers, because obviously Windows 8 hasn’t been released yet.
However some of them are taken from the Windows 8 leaks and others are just concept wallpapers for Windows 8. Either way they all look brilliant and if you’re looking to spice up your desktop they should do just that.
The full Windows 8 installation process from an early M3 build leaked yesterday on Chris123′s NT Corner. It shows screenshots of a stylish installation process that seems to guide the user through the installation by suggestion recommended settings.
Windows 8 will for instance use recommended security, network and locale settings unless you select to customize those options. Most users on the other hand will probably go with the default settings which means that they won’t have to do lots of configuring during installation to install Windows 8.
If you want, you can keep the default recommendations which would mean that you would only had to enter the Windows 8 product key and a name for the computer to complete the installation.
Microsoft has been quiet on the tablet UI coming in Windows 8, but that may change within the coming weeks according to some sources.
Winrumors is reporting that Steve Sinofsky, the head of the Windows division, will be at the AllThings D9 Conference (May 31st – June 2nd) and it’s reported that he will be demoing the new Windows 8 interface for tablets.
Microsoft has taken a lot of heat within the past year for not delivering a solid tablet OS. While Windows 7 is great and a veritable hit, it misses the mark by most tablet users standards. Microsoft’s answer has almost been to wait for Windows 8, where it’s rumored to contain multiple UI’s with one designated for tablet-like devices.
The tablet interface is said to be tile-based and may mimic the interface used in the Windows Phone OS. Microsoft appears to be heading in a direction to use their Metro user interface on most of their products and services and in some cases, the interface is simply Metro-inspired.
Microsoft’s history is laced with introducing products and services at the All things D conference, so it’s a safe bet to believe that this tip is solid and when you consider that some rumors point to a Windows 8 tablet release later this year, it gets even more exciting.
Winrumors is reporting that Steve Sinofsky, the head of the Windows division, will be at the AllThings D9 Conference (May 31st – June 2nd) and it’s reported that he will be demoing the new Windows 8 interface for tablets.
Microsoft has taken a lot of heat within the past year for not delivering a solid tablet OS. While Windows 7 is great and a veritable hit, it misses the mark by most tablet users standards. Microsoft’s answer has almost been to wait for Windows 8, where it’s rumored to contain multiple UI’s with one designated for tablet-like devices.
The tablet interface is said to be tile-based and may mimic the interface used in the Windows Phone OS. Microsoft appears to be heading in a direction to use their Metro user interface on most of their products and services and in some cases, the interface is simply Metro-inspired.
Microsoft’s history is laced with introducing products and services at the All things D conference, so it’s a safe bet to believe that this tip is solid and when you consider that some rumors point to a Windows 8 tablet release later this year, it gets even more exciting.
2012 Release For Windows 8, Ballmer Reiterates
At a Microsoft Developer Forum in Japan today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed what we’ve all been assuming: the company plans to release Windows 8 in 2012, just about three years after the release of Windows 7.
Unfortunately, that’s as specific as the famously enthusiastic CEO cared to be, and no new features or details about the release were discussed, though we can glean some tidbits from his remarks.
First, as evidenced by the upcoming ARM port of Windows, one of Windows 8′s focuses is adaptability and modularity – more than any previous version of the OS, Windows 8 will be written to power everything from tablets to netbooks to high-end workstations, or as Ballmer put it, ”Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors.”
Ballmer went on to talk about the need for more intuitive computing, in the form of hardware and software that can more accurately respond to natural input instead of arcane search terms: “Today on a PC, it’s file open, blah, blah, blah, respond, reply, forward. I can’t just say to my device, get me ready for my trip to Tokyo,” Ballmer said. ” We ought to make it so that the search engines, and the user interface of the device can take actions on our behalf.”
This is a theme that Microsoft has focused on before, especially in some of its ads for the Bing search engine. In Windows 8, it’s possible that these innovations will come in the form of more reliable and pervasive voice recognition, or perhaps through tighter integration with Bing itself (though this sort of cross-pollination could draw the ire of antitrust regulators).
So, there we have it: More proof that Windows 8 is on its way, right from the horse’s mouth. If the Windows 8 development cycle continues to mirror that of Windows 7, we should get an increasing amount of official information this summer (perhaps beginning at the All Things D conference) leading up to a public beta later in the year or in early 2012.
Microsoft unveil Windows Next Tablet UI
At the AllThings D9 event yesterday, Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky has unveiled the new tablet UI for Windows 8 (which is still currently called Windows Next). As people had hoped it’s based on the Windows Phone ‘Metro’ UI which many people have said would translate very well to a tablet.
The interface will run separately to the main Windows desktop, which will still exist, but will use its own apps. These will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript. This comes as a surprise as many people might have expected the same or similar development languages to Windows Phone to be used. This would, in theory, make it much simpler to port applications across to the new platform.
The new interface has been designed “from the ground up” to work with touch, and it’s very attractive too. There are different sets of virtual keys for different form factors (smartphone anyone?) and different onscreen keyboards too.
You control apps just by swiping them around, for instance you can multitask just by swiping apps to the center of the screen and snap them much in the way you can with Windows 7. Microsoft have introduced what they call “fuzzy hit targeting” to accommodate the fact that fingers are much less precise than a mouse. The goal is to get legacy apps to work much better with touch. This will be a very welcome addition.
Everything works in a way that will be very familiar to Windows Phone users, if you look at the demo video (there’s a link at the end of this article) then you’ll see that apps don’t just appear, but swoop into view. In fact all the desktop items appear and move in a natural, flowing way. Microsoft have brought the same gesture controls they use with Windows Phone so the interface seems to respond to the strength of your touches, prods and swipes.
Internet Explorer is built into the new system and has been designed to run tablet apps full screen, all tablet apps will run in the browser. Microsoft have said this new interface won’t just be limited to tablets either, so convertible laptops and multi-touch desktops will also get the benefit of having it on board. The comparison will inevitably be made with Google’s new ChromeBooks in this regard, though being Windows all apps are stored offline. It may also reignite some complaints about Internet Explorer being central and vital to the new OS. How will other browsers fit into this tablet space? Will they even be able to? My guess is not though, as Microsoft will no doubt say those browsers aren’t designed for touch or tablets and will still be abailable to be used as the primary browser on the desktop if users prefer them.
Sinofsky did confirm a few things that we already know. These include that Windows 8 / Next is being engineered to run on very low power devices. He also said there was no word yet on when the operating system would be available. We would normally expect this to be announced early next year.
All in all this is a very attractive UI and one that’s bound to win fans and followers. Once again Microsoft have gone their own way, though there is a hint of Blackberry’s new tablet in this too. It’s great to finally see Microsoft taking tablets seriously and I am certainly looking forward to testing this on my own tablet PC.
Windows 8: Have Your Cake and Eat it Too
Microsoft set out to build a new tablet-type interface for Windows 8 that could compete with the rapidly growing slate market that the iPad recently ignited. Microsoft’s problem was that they currently service approximately 95% of the worlds computers with their operating system, so keeping those customers happy and satisfying tablet customers with a UI that’s meant for touch is not only tricky, but was thought to be impossible.
Enter Windows 8. If you’ve read Mike Halsey’s post here on Windows8News, then you have no doubt seen that Microsoft is using a mix of Zune, Windows Phone and Media Center (Metro) to achieve their tablet UI, but interestingly, also includes the classic version of Windows which is always present. Some users, like Joshua Topolsky from thisismynext.com are intrigued by the UI, but disappointed by the addition of the classic Windows desktop. I feel that Microsoft’s “have your cake and eat it too” approach can and will work if they can get the two UI’s to work together seamlessly and from the looks of it, they’re just about there.
Think of it this way – imagine having an iPad that was fully iPad, but had a mode hidden away for running a full version of OSX if you wanted it to. You wouldn’t necessarily have to run OSX or even see it if you didn’t want, but I imagine Mac users would find this “compatibility mode” an extra feature that would make the iPad even that much more useful. And desktop users need not worry. If you don’t want the tile user interface, then you can easily move to the classic mode.
I think this approach makes sense for a company that needs to stay relevant with “old school” Windows and also needs to enter the tablet game with a viable option. Windows has always been about having the choice to what hardware, drivers, software and components you wanted to use. Doesn’t it make sense that you continue to have a choice over which interface your version of Windows uses as well? With Windows 8, you don’t have to settle for one or the other, you have the option and that’s kind of the point.
Is it the right move? Does Windows 8 look like a viable tablet option while not alienating the desktop? Let us know what you guys think of the new version of Windows and whether Microsoft’s approach is the right approach.
How would you change Windows 8′s Tablet UI?
It’s just been a couple of days since Windows chief Steven Sinofsky unveiled the “next version of Windows’” new tablet user interface. It’s been almost universally well received, primarily because Microsoft have done the sensible thing and based it around their already popular Metro UI from Windows Phone and the Zune desktop software.
The new interface has raised some questions though and until people can actually get their hands on it (no pun intended) we’ll just have to make educated guesses.
One of these questions is how prevalent this new interface will be in the overall OS. Will it be something that you have to switch on? I ask this because on a desktop system it would be all too easy to accidentally open the tablet UI elements that are pulled in from the far left and right of your computer’s screen.
One of the biggest questions that’s being asked is why applications need to be pulled in from the left edge of the screen to switch between them. The system will be able to multi-task as it’s still Windows, but having to switch between apps by cycling through all of them seems, frankly, a bit of a faff.
One area of concern is over the apps themselves. Microsoft have said that these will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript and that they’ll run full-screen in a browser. This makes the interface much like Chrome OS from Google but does it make sense?
You would imagine that if the interface is going to really take off then it needs apps, and lots of them. Surely then would it not be sensible for Microsoft to tap into the already extensive developer community for Windows Phone who already have tens of thousands of apps ready that could be modified for the new interface?
This decision does puzzle me, as I would have expected Microsoft to allow Windows Phone app developers to use the same languages and tools they create their mobile apps in now, for also creating apps for Windows 8 tablets. Most of you would probably agree that this would be logical and sensible. That Steven Sinofsky, who never says anything he’ll have to back-track from, has said this would imply that a final decision has indeed been made.
Even though all we have to go on are a few screen shots and a couple of short videos, there’s still plenty for us to digest and it will take a while for us to do this properly. Until then I thought, as you’re all clearly as excited about this product as we are, that I’d throw the question out to you… “Just how would you change Windows 8′s new Tablet UI?”
Microsoft staff now allowed to refer to “Windows 8″
For months now Microsoft staff have resolutely refused to refer to the next version of Windows as “Windows 8″ under penalty of death (okay so I made up that last bit). Instead it’s been a hard and fast rule at the company that it was only ever to be called “Windows Next”. Windows chief and Microsoft Senior Vice-President Steven Sinofsky wouldn’t even go that far, only ever calling it “the next version of Windows”.
Then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a slip up at a recent developer conference in Japan when he told delegates that Windows 8 will be out next year. This was the first time that anybody in the company had officially referred to their next generation desktop operating system by that name.
Sinofsky’s department issued a clarification very shortly afterwards, saying “It appears there was a misstatement. To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.”
Ballmer is well known for putting his foot in it occasionally, but nobody really minds (except perhaps Steven Sinofsky). This event seems to have triggered a wholesale policy change within the company though as Microsoft staff are now officially allowed to refer to 2012′s impending Windows release as “Windows 8″. There is a caveat with this however.
This caveat is that no formal naming has yet taken place for the product and, as a result of this, it is subject to change and the name Windows 8 should in no way be construed as the final name for the operating system. Windows 8 is a code name used to refer to the product internally and nothing else.
It’s actually quite comical that given the importance of the product to Microsoft, with the inclusion of tablet functionality, the move to ARM processors and all of the other really major changes taking place with this version, that so much attention has been given to what we’re ultimately going to call it when, let’s be honest, it looks like a no-brainer.
So we do now have another name by which everyone, including those within Microsoft, are allowed to refer to the product. It’s new to them even though the rest of the world has been talking about it for almost two years.
For all the latest news and information regarding the next version of Windows, don’t forget to head back here to WindowsNextNews… oh, no that’s not right!
Whose Windows strategy do you prefer? Sinofsky or Veghte?
There can be no doubt that since Steven Sinofsky took over as the head of Windows at Microsoft in 2009, the development programme for the operating system has become much more secretive.
Under Bill Veghte’s watch the Vista programme was very open, many argue too open which is perhaps why Sinofsky has taken the approach he has. During the Vista beta (and a fairly open alpha too), which went on for approximately 18 months, there were numerous builds including many that I remember clearly were utterly unstable. Also many features that Microsoft announced for Vista, including the much heralded WinFS file system, never made the final release.
When Sinofsky too over he brought with him the secrecy he’d insisted upon when running Microsoft Office. Suddenly the only beta that was available was a feature-complete, near final version. After that we had a release candidate and then the finished product.
Many beta-testers, including myself, were vocally critical at the time of Sinofsky’s approach. “Why have a technical beta if you’re only going to turn it into a bug hunt” was something I said with some frequency, and I wasn’t alone. Many beta-testers joined in with this chorus because with the XP and Vista beta programmes we’d all been used to a far more open programme with much more communication from Microsoft, and genuine input into the final version of the product. I can say that I contributed directly to a feature change in Vista, and I’m very happy about that. I can’t say that about Windows 7.
This left many people feeling that, with more input Windows 7 could have been far better, and you’ll get no argument from me on this. The question needs to be asked though that if this had happened would Microsoft have been able to get Windows 7 delivered on their strict three year timescale? You can assume here they probably wouldn’t.
There are potential benefits to the secrecy as well. Many people were extremely disappointed with the features that never made it into Windows Vista. With Windows 7 there was none of that, no pulled features that we knew about and no product that in the end would have disappointed fans and customers. Regards getting feedback from customers, it can be argued that this is what the time since the release of the previous version of Windows is for.
I’m now looking forward to the Windows 8 beta. I don’t know when I’ll get it, but Microsoft certainly seem keen on my getting a copy as early as possible, which is good news as I’m a Windows MVP. In some ways its been frustrating not having a copy already but what would I have done with it? When you’re in my position as an author a copy that’s feature complete is the best thing to have but you need access to the code in enough time to get a book written which can take up to six months. As an editor on Windows8News it would have been nice to get it earlier and as a tech enthusiast I couldn’t get it early enough.
I’m curious how you feel though. While Windows 8 has seen a great many more leaks than Windows 7 did (almost all of which in the light of the recent tablet interface announcement from Microsoft now seem trivial), which approach from Microsoft do you prefer? Open and involved or secretive and locked-down?
Microsoft May Build Its Own Windows 8 Tablet?
Rumours have recently hit the web that Microsoft could be gearing up to enter the tablet market, but this time with an actual tablet, not just an OS. According to a report by Digitimes, Microsoft is considering launching its own brand of tablet PC. The tablet will obviously feature Windows 8 and should launch by the end of 2012.
Microsoft are said to be working with Texas Instruments and Taiwan based manufacturers according to rumours coming from the supply chain. Of course Microsoft haven’t confirmed this rumour.
I’m not completely certain about this prospect however. I know it does work very well for Apple, if you want their OS, you have to have their hardware and vice versa. It works for them, but what makes Microsoft different is the fact that they do offer you choice. You can choose from a plethora of different laptops,netbooks and PC’s when you want to have Windows 7. Microsoft are following the same tactic with Windows Phone 7 as well.
Microsoft VP Hints At Windows 8 Release In Fall 2012
Microsoft generally keep pretty tight lipped on the release date for their new operating systems. They generally don’t like anyone to know too much about their new projects understandably, so I was quite surprised when they showed off a preview of it early this year at the AllThings D event.
While they did show off that preview to us, they kept quite on any details regarding the release date. However recent hints from the corporate vice president for Strategic and Emerging Business Development Dani Lewin pretty much confirms that Microsoft are planning to bring out Windows 8 in Fall 2012.
He told us to look at Microsofts release schedule in the past or “the crystal ball” as he referred to it. He said to assume
“what happened in the past is a reasonable indicator of what our forward looking timelines will be and just speculate–we’ve made the point about having a developer conference later this year, and then typically we enter a beta phase, and then in 12 months we’re in the market, so let’s make that assumption,”
Generally Microsoft holds it Professional Developers Conference during the early fall. This years conference in scheduled to kick off September 13th. That would be an ideal time for Microsoft to announce the release of Windows 8 assuming that it hits the market a couple of weeks later.
If we look to the past at Windows 7, Microsoft had a 9 month beta period of Windows 7. The 12 months that Dani Lewin mentioned seems awfully long, especially when you consider that Microsoft are probably looking to get this new OS out on the market as soon as they can. The flip side of this is that if Microsoft are planning on a 12 month beta period, that means we will be getting our first “official” taste of the software from Microsoft towards the end of this year.
Windows 8 Build 7989 Leaks
There’s been another leaked build of Windows 8, this time build 7989. The build has a full title of 7989.winmain.110421-1285.615974c7346f7374 and was first reported as being available in the private forums of a beta website. Now though many are saying it’s available elsewhere on the net too.
There have been several major leaks of Windows 8 builds in the last couple of months, however there’s no real information on how old these builds are. Either way this is bound to drive excitement about the product despite the fact that many of the features within this build might either change radically, be replaced by something else or dropped from the final product completely.
Here at Windows 8 News will always temper these leaks with a note of caution. There’s no confirmation that this build is genuine and it’s been out for more than long enough now for virus and malware writers to have injected code into it before releasing it to torrent sites.
You should always therefore be very careful when downloading anything that isn’t directly from an official company website.
The formal announcements about Windows 8 from Microsoft are expected to be made this autumn. Here they will unveil all the new features of the OS and also detail the timescale for closed and public beta programmes. The final release of the OS is expected around October 2012, though this commentator expects that it could be available next August in time for the all-important back to college PC buying period.
There is no information on what, if anything, is new in this build or if it includes all the tablet functionality that Microsoft demonstrated at an event last month.
Windows 8 Rumour Hints at Interesting Future for Windows Phone
Earlier this year when the CEO of Intel said his company would be releasing Windows 8 on a phone people laughed. How could you possibly get something as heavy as Windows running smoothly on a phone, especially with it’s non-touch-friendly interface.
Then of course things began to change. First Motorola released it’s Atrix phone which can plug into a netbook-style keyboard dock and convert to a computer, then Microsoft showed off Windows 8′s new Windows Phone-esque tablet interface to almost universal acclaim.
Only a few months later then and the thought of running Windows 8 on a phone, especially as smartphones are now beginning to ship with dual core processors and 1Gb of RAM, isn’t such a wild possibility.
Now an interesting rumour from RedmondPie adds fuel to the fire. They have been examining some of the APIs of the most recently leaked build, v7989 and have discovered a reference in the Sensors controls that suggests the OS will support SMS short messaging.
Windows 8 to get Hyper-V Virtualisation client
It’s long been suspected that Microsoft would include virtualisation technologies in Windows 8. This is because the largest problem facing Windows is the need for legacy support, which can account for 80% of the latches and updates delivered to the operating system, and is also a major factor in some older software not working. This is a particular problem in business where a considerable amount of legacy software is used.
Now Microsoft’s Server virtualisation client, Hyper-V, has been been found in the latest leaked build of Windows 8, confirming what many people suspected.
This virtualisation client will do away with the need for plug-in software such as Virtual PC or XP Mode as it means the operating system will support virtualised environments natively. This could mean something even more pronounced for Windows 8 however. ZD Net Mary Jo Foley wrote yesterday about a French Microsoft Security and Technical Director who outlined a scenario in which almost all Windows 8 applications would run in a virtualised environment.
The advantages of this approach would be immense. For starters this means that Microsoft would be able to completely do away with support for legacy applications in the OS and, possibly all the underlying code in the operating system that also support it. It’s this code that requires the huge number of Windows Updates we currently get every month.
It also means that, we knew this bit already, a virtual machine of Windows 7 would be included with the OS, known as Windows 7 Mode. It’s possible that XP Mode will also be included.
If Microsoft are sensible, and the inclusion of Hyper-V into Windows 8 seems to indicate that they are. These legacy operating systems could well be locked-down so that they require neither anti-virus software or updates as XP Mode does at the moment. This is the single largest problem with XP Mode currently.
The alternative it to find a way to plug these virtual machines into Windows Update so that all of them are updates simultaneously. This would actually increase the total number of updates received under Windows 8, but if the VMs required updating, it would be the most sensible way to do it.
The benefits of incorporating software virtualisation into Windows 8 are enormous, the core Windows 8 code is much smaller, leaner and fitter and massively more stable and secure. All the problems are shoved off into easily configurable virtual machines. The downside is that anybody using these features would essentially have two, perhaps even three, core operating systems to update and maintain.
This is a headache Microsoft needs to make sure that people don’t get as it might well turn people off using the new OS in small business or home environments if they see configuring and updating it to be too much of a chore. After all, Windows 7 is now good enough for most people.
It’s likely that we could expect to only see the Hyper-V system in x64 versions of Windows 8 as the system is currently only available on 64-bit processors for Windows Server, and has not yet been seen in x86 leaks of Windows 8. This could essentially leave the x86 version of Windows, which are now in sharp decline anyway, without any legacy software support.
The proper implementation of virtualisation technologies though would make an already extremely secure operating system even more so, by vastly reducing the surface area for attack. We could then expect to see Windows overtake other operating systems including OS X and GNU/Linus to become the most secure operating system on the planet. Now that would certainly be an interesting day.
Windows 8 Build 7989 Screenshots + Metro UI
We were contacted today by one of our readers who has installed the latest Windows 8 Build 7989 on his tablet pc. Below are the screenshots that we were sent along with some commentary for each exclusive screenshot. Thank you very much Israeleet for sharing.
Hi guys, I am proud to announce that I have installed the latest leak on my tablet. There are a TON of features of which I noted down and took photos of. Moreover, I am proud to announce that I’ve got the metro ui working. It’s a clone- but it does the job, and very well. The final verdict: Windows 8 build 7989 is a snappy version of Windows 7 Ultimate with a variety of new awesome features we find quite amusing. It still has many bugs and we do not recommend using this as your daily build just yet- but if we can expect a .dll patch to the Metro UI file or a new leak (perhaps 7995?) then we’ll see what happens.
Windows 8 To Include 3D Support?
According to a recent report from Windows8Italia, Windows 8 will include native support for 3D monitors. They’ve reported that after installing and running Windows 8 Build 7955 they’ve discovered that Microsoft has built in native support for 3D monitors into its latest OS
They found references to 3D transitions in the OS which would be similar to the “tilt” feature found in Windows Phone 7. 3D monitors are still very rare and I feel it will be a while before they actually catch on but Microsoft is clearly thinking ahead here.
However I still have some slight reservations about this. I’m not sure whether or not those “3D Transitions” are just 3D ones like what we already have with the aero flip function on Windows 7 (windows key +tab) or if they will be true 3D transitions that literally jump out at you. The report is rather unclear from this perspective and merely states “Native Support for 3D monitors” so I’m not completely sold on this.
Other things the report mentions include some other features they stumbled upon. They found references to a Windows Store which allows licenses to be synchronised across computers and devices. The Windows Store is apparently written in HTML which means it will be accessible via a browser, but at the moment it’s only accessible to those permitted by Microsoft.
A couple of other little features they discovered include support for hyphenation dictionaries, a SmartScreen feature for Windows explorer, the ability to synchronise passwords and credentials across computers , support for mobile networks as well as the ability to suspend and resume processes in task manager.
Most of these we’ve already covered here and Windows 8 News so there’s not a whole lot new there on that front.
It will be interesting to see how much of these features actually come to light, we actually posted on the latest Build 7989 the other day with more in it.
What do you think about 3D support? Will it be needed? Will it even be in Windows 8?
Let us know in the comments below
Can Windows 8 Turn Round Tablets the way Windows 7 did for Netbooks?
It’s been well known for ages now that research consistently shows that the mobile operating system most people want to see on their devices is Windows. This doesn’t come as any great surprise given that people like familiarity and Windows is, for many people, as comfortable as an old shoe. It was interesting to read my colleague Jason’s article yesterday on our sister site, Windows7News, about how tablet manufacturers are becoming disillusioned with slow sales of Android tablets and are now looking to Windows 8 to boost their profits.
This raises a very interesting and important question. Can Windows 8 do for Microsoft on tablets what Windows 7 did to the netbook market? When Windows 7 launched if you wanted to buy a netbook, and let’s face it almost everybody did, you had two choices. Windows XP or Linux. Despite XP’s popularity Linux hung around for some considerable time, but less than a year after the launch of Windows 7 you could not buy a single netbook, not anywhere, with either XP or Linux preinstalled. Everything came with Windows 7.
This was an astonishing achievement for Microsoft. The company had stated clearly during the development of Windows 7 that the operating system was being specifically engineered to run on low-power, low-performace netbooks and that’s exactly what it did. We’re now regularly seeing Windows 7 laptops with 8 or 9 hour battery lives, double what you’d find in the average laptop.
Clearly Microsoft stormed straight into the netbook market and won overnight. Now though can Windows 8 do the same with tablets?
There can be no doubt that Apple is the tablet king, and will remain so for many years yet, but Android is not without its problems. There are so many variants, some specifically suited to tablets and some not, that are currently residing on tablet devices that consumers can get confused. Why go for all this choice and complexity when the iPad is so much simpler and straightforward? Then there’s the malware problem, and it’s a major problem that Google have so far completely failed to address. While the general public won’t be too aware of this, they will become more aware in the time before Windows 8 launches, of this we can be sure.
So this leaves Microsoft with an opportunity. They’re talking up Windows 8 on tablets in exactly the same way they talked up Windows 7 on netbooks. The new Windows 8 tablet interface too, which is based on their Windows Phone Metro UI, has been universally well-received and with more than a year to go until it’s launch, Windows 8 is already generating enormous amounts of hype, press coverage and consumer interest.
Microsoft won’t need to do much to keep this momentum going either. The ball is now rolling and people are excited. The news that tablet manufacturers are now eyeing up Windows 8 keenly will come as welcome news to most and is sure to keep the hype going.
The major test will be next year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where all the hot computing products for 2012 will be unveiled. There will be a whole raft of Android tablets there I’m sure with a new version of Android. It could be though that Windows 8 tablets don’t just take centre stage, but that it completely steals the show.
All in all, future prosperity in the tablet market is by no means certain for Google. In Windows 8 they’ll have a competitor that’s polished, competent, popular and coming out fighting. We could then see a massive shift in the tablet market in 2012.
8 Windows 8 Wallpapers
Windows 8 isn’t quite here yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start prepping ourselves for its release. I know many of you all love to customize your desktops with various themes and wallpapers, so it’s never to early to start! I’ve put together a little pack of Windows 8 wallpapers for you guys so you can get started. Now these aren’t the official Microsoft Windows 8 wallpapers, because obviously Windows 8 hasn’t been released yet.
However some of them are taken from the Windows 8 leaks and others are just concept wallpapers for Windows 8. Either way they all look brilliant and if you’re looking to spice up your desktop they should do just that.
Unfortunately, that’s as specific as the famously enthusiastic CEO cared to be, and no new features or details about the release were discussed, though we can glean some tidbits from his remarks.
First, as evidenced by the upcoming ARM port of Windows, one of Windows 8′s focuses is adaptability and modularity – more than any previous version of the OS, Windows 8 will be written to power everything from tablets to netbooks to high-end workstations, or as Ballmer put it, ”Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors.”
Ballmer went on to talk about the need for more intuitive computing, in the form of hardware and software that can more accurately respond to natural input instead of arcane search terms: “Today on a PC, it’s file open, blah, blah, blah, respond, reply, forward. I can’t just say to my device, get me ready for my trip to Tokyo,” Ballmer said. ” We ought to make it so that the search engines, and the user interface of the device can take actions on our behalf.”
This is a theme that Microsoft has focused on before, especially in some of its ads for the Bing search engine. In Windows 8, it’s possible that these innovations will come in the form of more reliable and pervasive voice recognition, or perhaps through tighter integration with Bing itself (though this sort of cross-pollination could draw the ire of antitrust regulators).
So, there we have it: More proof that Windows 8 is on its way, right from the horse’s mouth. If the Windows 8 development cycle continues to mirror that of Windows 7, we should get an increasing amount of official information this summer (perhaps beginning at the All Things D conference) leading up to a public beta later in the year or in early 2012.
The interface will run separately to the main Windows desktop, which will still exist, but will use its own apps. These will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript. This comes as a surprise as many people might have expected the same or similar development languages to Windows Phone to be used. This would, in theory, make it much simpler to port applications across to the new platform.
You control apps just by swiping them around, for instance you can multitask just by swiping apps to the center of the screen and snap them much in the way you can with Windows 7. Microsoft have introduced what they call “fuzzy hit targeting” to accommodate the fact that fingers are much less precise than a mouse. The goal is to get legacy apps to work much better with touch. This will be a very welcome addition.
Everything works in a way that will be very familiar to Windows Phone users, if you look at the demo video (there’s a link at the end of this article) then you’ll see that apps don’t just appear, but swoop into view. In fact all the desktop items appear and move in a natural, flowing way. Microsoft have brought the same gesture controls they use with Windows Phone so the interface seems to respond to the strength of your touches, prods and swipes.
Internet Explorer is built into the new system and has been designed to run tablet apps full screen, all tablet apps will run in the browser. Microsoft have said this new interface won’t just be limited to tablets either, so convertible laptops and multi-touch desktops will also get the benefit of having it on board. The comparison will inevitably be made with Google’s new ChromeBooks in this regard, though being Windows all apps are stored offline. It may also reignite some complaints about Internet Explorer being central and vital to the new OS. How will other browsers fit into this tablet space? Will they even be able to? My guess is not though, as Microsoft will no doubt say those browsers aren’t designed for touch or tablets and will still be abailable to be used as the primary browser on the desktop if users prefer them.
Sinofsky did confirm a few things that we already know. These include that Windows 8 / Next is being engineered to run on very low power devices. He also said there was no word yet on when the operating system would be available. We would normally expect this to be announced early next year.
All in all this is a very attractive UI and one that’s bound to win fans and followers. Once again Microsoft have gone their own way, though there is a hint of Blackberry’s new tablet in this too. It’s great to finally see Microsoft taking tablets seriously and I am certainly looking forward to testing this on my own tablet PC.
Microsoft set out to build a new tablet-type interface for Windows 8 that could compete with the rapidly growing slate market that the iPad recently ignited. Microsoft’s problem was that they currently service approximately 95% of the worlds computers with their operating system, so keeping those customers happy and satisfying tablet customers with a UI that’s meant for touch is not only tricky, but was thought to be impossible.
Enter Windows 8. If you’ve read Mike Halsey’s post here on Windows8News, then you have no doubt seen that Microsoft is using a mix of Zune, Windows Phone and Media Center (Metro) to achieve their tablet UI, but interestingly, also includes the classic version of Windows which is always present. Some users, like Joshua Topolsky from thisismynext.com are intrigued by the UI, but disappointed by the addition of the classic Windows desktop. I feel that Microsoft’s “have your cake and eat it too” approach can and will work if they can get the two UI’s to work together seamlessly and from the looks of it, they’re just about there.
Think of it this way – imagine having an iPad that was fully iPad, but had a mode hidden away for running a full version of OSX if you wanted it to. You wouldn’t necessarily have to run OSX or even see it if you didn’t want, but I imagine Mac users would find this “compatibility mode” an extra feature that would make the iPad even that much more useful. And desktop users need not worry. If you don’t want the tile user interface, then you can easily move to the classic mode.
I think this approach makes sense for a company that needs to stay relevant with “old school” Windows and also needs to enter the tablet game with a viable option. Windows has always been about having the choice to what hardware, drivers, software and components you wanted to use. Doesn’t it make sense that you continue to have a choice over which interface your version of Windows uses as well? With Windows 8, you don’t have to settle for one or the other, you have the option and that’s kind of the point.
Is it the right move? Does Windows 8 look like a viable tablet option while not alienating the desktop? Let us know what you guys think of the new version of Windows and whether Microsoft’s approach is the right approach.
Enter Windows 8. If you’ve read Mike Halsey’s post here on Windows8News, then you have no doubt seen that Microsoft is using a mix of Zune, Windows Phone and Media Center (Metro) to achieve their tablet UI, but interestingly, also includes the classic version of Windows which is always present. Some users, like Joshua Topolsky from thisismynext.com are intrigued by the UI, but disappointed by the addition of the classic Windows desktop. I feel that Microsoft’s “have your cake and eat it too” approach can and will work if they can get the two UI’s to work together seamlessly and from the looks of it, they’re just about there.
Think of it this way – imagine having an iPad that was fully iPad, but had a mode hidden away for running a full version of OSX if you wanted it to. You wouldn’t necessarily have to run OSX or even see it if you didn’t want, but I imagine Mac users would find this “compatibility mode” an extra feature that would make the iPad even that much more useful. And desktop users need not worry. If you don’t want the tile user interface, then you can easily move to the classic mode.
I think this approach makes sense for a company that needs to stay relevant with “old school” Windows and also needs to enter the tablet game with a viable option. Windows has always been about having the choice to what hardware, drivers, software and components you wanted to use. Doesn’t it make sense that you continue to have a choice over which interface your version of Windows uses as well? With Windows 8, you don’t have to settle for one or the other, you have the option and that’s kind of the point.
Is it the right move? Does Windows 8 look like a viable tablet option while not alienating the desktop? Let us know what you guys think of the new version of Windows and whether Microsoft’s approach is the right approach.
How would you change Windows 8′s Tablet UI?
It’s just been a couple of days since Windows chief Steven Sinofsky unveiled the “next version of Windows’” new tablet user interface. It’s been almost universally well received, primarily because Microsoft have done the sensible thing and based it around their already popular Metro UI from Windows Phone and the Zune desktop software.
The new interface has raised some questions though and until people can actually get their hands on it (no pun intended) we’ll just have to make educated guesses.
One of these questions is how prevalent this new interface will be in the overall OS. Will it be something that you have to switch on? I ask this because on a desktop system it would be all too easy to accidentally open the tablet UI elements that are pulled in from the far left and right of your computer’s screen.
One of the biggest questions that’s being asked is why applications need to be pulled in from the left edge of the screen to switch between them. The system will be able to multi-task as it’s still Windows, but having to switch between apps by cycling through all of them seems, frankly, a bit of a faff.
One area of concern is over the apps themselves. Microsoft have said that these will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript and that they’ll run full-screen in a browser. This makes the interface much like Chrome OS from Google but does it make sense?
You would imagine that if the interface is going to really take off then it needs apps, and lots of them. Surely then would it not be sensible for Microsoft to tap into the already extensive developer community for Windows Phone who already have tens of thousands of apps ready that could be modified for the new interface?
This decision does puzzle me, as I would have expected Microsoft to allow Windows Phone app developers to use the same languages and tools they create their mobile apps in now, for also creating apps for Windows 8 tablets. Most of you would probably agree that this would be logical and sensible. That Steven Sinofsky, who never says anything he’ll have to back-track from, has said this would imply that a final decision has indeed been made.
Even though all we have to go on are a few screen shots and a couple of short videos, there’s still plenty for us to digest and it will take a while for us to do this properly. Until then I thought, as you’re all clearly as excited about this product as we are, that I’d throw the question out to you… “Just how would you change Windows 8′s new Tablet UI?”
Microsoft staff now allowed to refer to “Windows 8″
For months now Microsoft staff have resolutely refused to refer to the next version of Windows as “Windows 8″ under penalty of death (okay so I made up that last bit). Instead it’s been a hard and fast rule at the company that it was only ever to be called “Windows Next”. Windows chief and Microsoft Senior Vice-President Steven Sinofsky wouldn’t even go that far, only ever calling it “the next version of Windows”.
Then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a slip up at a recent developer conference in Japan when he told delegates that Windows 8 will be out next year. This was the first time that anybody in the company had officially referred to their next generation desktop operating system by that name.
Sinofsky’s department issued a clarification very shortly afterwards, saying “It appears there was a misstatement. To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.”
Ballmer is well known for putting his foot in it occasionally, but nobody really minds (except perhaps Steven Sinofsky). This event seems to have triggered a wholesale policy change within the company though as Microsoft staff are now officially allowed to refer to 2012′s impending Windows release as “Windows 8″. There is a caveat with this however.
This caveat is that no formal naming has yet taken place for the product and, as a result of this, it is subject to change and the name Windows 8 should in no way be construed as the final name for the operating system. Windows 8 is a code name used to refer to the product internally and nothing else.
It’s actually quite comical that given the importance of the product to Microsoft, with the inclusion of tablet functionality, the move to ARM processors and all of the other really major changes taking place with this version, that so much attention has been given to what we’re ultimately going to call it when, let’s be honest, it looks like a no-brainer.
So we do now have another name by which everyone, including those within Microsoft, are allowed to refer to the product. It’s new to them even though the rest of the world has been talking about it for almost two years.
For all the latest news and information regarding the next version of Windows, don’t forget to head back here to WindowsNextNews… oh, no that’s not right!
Whose Windows strategy do you prefer? Sinofsky or Veghte?
There can be no doubt that since Steven Sinofsky took over as the head of Windows at Microsoft in 2009, the development programme for the operating system has become much more secretive.
Under Bill Veghte’s watch the Vista programme was very open, many argue too open which is perhaps why Sinofsky has taken the approach he has. During the Vista beta (and a fairly open alpha too), which went on for approximately 18 months, there were numerous builds including many that I remember clearly were utterly unstable. Also many features that Microsoft announced for Vista, including the much heralded WinFS file system, never made the final release.
When Sinofsky too over he brought with him the secrecy he’d insisted upon when running Microsoft Office. Suddenly the only beta that was available was a feature-complete, near final version. After that we had a release candidate and then the finished product.
Many beta-testers, including myself, were vocally critical at the time of Sinofsky’s approach. “Why have a technical beta if you’re only going to turn it into a bug hunt” was something I said with some frequency, and I wasn’t alone. Many beta-testers joined in with this chorus because with the XP and Vista beta programmes we’d all been used to a far more open programme with much more communication from Microsoft, and genuine input into the final version of the product. I can say that I contributed directly to a feature change in Vista, and I’m very happy about that. I can’t say that about Windows 7.
This left many people feeling that, with more input Windows 7 could have been far better, and you’ll get no argument from me on this. The question needs to be asked though that if this had happened would Microsoft have been able to get Windows 7 delivered on their strict three year timescale? You can assume here they probably wouldn’t.
There are potential benefits to the secrecy as well. Many people were extremely disappointed with the features that never made it into Windows Vista. With Windows 7 there was none of that, no pulled features that we knew about and no product that in the end would have disappointed fans and customers. Regards getting feedback from customers, it can be argued that this is what the time since the release of the previous version of Windows is for.
I’m now looking forward to the Windows 8 beta. I don’t know when I’ll get it, but Microsoft certainly seem keen on my getting a copy as early as possible, which is good news as I’m a Windows MVP. In some ways its been frustrating not having a copy already but what would I have done with it? When you’re in my position as an author a copy that’s feature complete is the best thing to have but you need access to the code in enough time to get a book written which can take up to six months. As an editor on Windows8News it would have been nice to get it earlier and as a tech enthusiast I couldn’t get it early enough.
I’m curious how you feel though. While Windows 8 has seen a great many more leaks than Windows 7 did (almost all of which in the light of the recent tablet interface announcement from Microsoft now seem trivial), which approach from Microsoft do you prefer? Open and involved or secretive and locked-down?
Microsoft May Build Its Own Windows 8 Tablet?
Rumours have recently hit the web that Microsoft could be gearing up to enter the tablet market, but this time with an actual tablet, not just an OS. According to a report by Digitimes, Microsoft is considering launching its own brand of tablet PC. The tablet will obviously feature Windows 8 and should launch by the end of 2012.
Microsoft are said to be working with Texas Instruments and Taiwan based manufacturers according to rumours coming from the supply chain. Of course Microsoft haven’t confirmed this rumour.
I’m not completely certain about this prospect however. I know it does work very well for Apple, if you want their OS, you have to have their hardware and vice versa. It works for them, but what makes Microsoft different is the fact that they do offer you choice. You can choose from a plethora of different laptops,netbooks and PC’s when you want to have Windows 7. Microsoft are following the same tactic with Windows Phone 7 as well.
Microsoft VP Hints At Windows 8 Release In Fall 2012
Microsoft generally keep pretty tight lipped on the release date for their new operating systems. They generally don’t like anyone to know too much about their new projects understandably, so I was quite surprised when they showed off a preview of it early this year at the AllThings D event.
While they did show off that preview to us, they kept quite on any details regarding the release date. However recent hints from the corporate vice president for Strategic and Emerging Business Development Dani Lewin pretty much confirms that Microsoft are planning to bring out Windows 8 in Fall 2012.
He told us to look at Microsofts release schedule in the past or “the crystal ball” as he referred to it. He said to assume
“what happened in the past is a reasonable indicator of what our forward looking timelines will be and just speculate–we’ve made the point about having a developer conference later this year, and then typically we enter a beta phase, and then in 12 months we’re in the market, so let’s make that assumption,”
Generally Microsoft holds it Professional Developers Conference during the early fall. This years conference in scheduled to kick off September 13th. That would be an ideal time for Microsoft to announce the release of Windows 8 assuming that it hits the market a couple of weeks later.
If we look to the past at Windows 7, Microsoft had a 9 month beta period of Windows 7. The 12 months that Dani Lewin mentioned seems awfully long, especially when you consider that Microsoft are probably looking to get this new OS out on the market as soon as they can. The flip side of this is that if Microsoft are planning on a 12 month beta period, that means we will be getting our first “official” taste of the software from Microsoft towards the end of this year.
Windows 8 Build 7989 Leaks
There’s been another leaked build of Windows 8, this time build 7989. The build has a full title of 7989.winmain.110421-1285.615974c7346f7374 and was first reported as being available in the private forums of a beta website. Now though many are saying it’s available elsewhere on the net too.
There have been several major leaks of Windows 8 builds in the last couple of months, however there’s no real information on how old these builds are. Either way this is bound to drive excitement about the product despite the fact that many of the features within this build might either change radically, be replaced by something else or dropped from the final product completely.
Here at Windows 8 News will always temper these leaks with a note of caution. There’s no confirmation that this build is genuine and it’s been out for more than long enough now for virus and malware writers to have injected code into it before releasing it to torrent sites.
You should always therefore be very careful when downloading anything that isn’t directly from an official company website.
The formal announcements about Windows 8 from Microsoft are expected to be made this autumn. Here they will unveil all the new features of the OS and also detail the timescale for closed and public beta programmes. The final release of the OS is expected around October 2012, though this commentator expects that it could be available next August in time for the all-important back to college PC buying period.
There is no information on what, if anything, is new in this build or if it includes all the tablet functionality that Microsoft demonstrated at an event last month.
Windows 8 Rumour Hints at Interesting Future for Windows Phone
Earlier this year when the CEO of Intel said his company would be releasing Windows 8 on a phone people laughed. How could you possibly get something as heavy as Windows running smoothly on a phone, especially with it’s non-touch-friendly interface.
Then of course things began to change. First Motorola released it’s Atrix phone which can plug into a netbook-style keyboard dock and convert to a computer, then Microsoft showed off Windows 8′s new Windows Phone-esque tablet interface to almost universal acclaim.
Only a few months later then and the thought of running Windows 8 on a phone, especially as smartphones are now beginning to ship with dual core processors and 1Gb of RAM, isn’t such a wild possibility.
Now an interesting rumour from RedmondPie adds fuel to the fire. They have been examining some of the APIs of the most recently leaked build, v7989 and have discovered a reference in the Sensors controls that suggests the OS will support SMS short messaging.
Windows 8 to get Hyper-V Virtualisation client
It’s long been suspected that Microsoft would include virtualisation technologies in Windows 8. This is because the largest problem facing Windows is the need for legacy support, which can account for 80% of the latches and updates delivered to the operating system, and is also a major factor in some older software not working. This is a particular problem in business where a considerable amount of legacy software is used.
Now Microsoft’s Server virtualisation client, Hyper-V, has been been found in the latest leaked build of Windows 8, confirming what many people suspected.
This virtualisation client will do away with the need for plug-in software such as Virtual PC or XP Mode as it means the operating system will support virtualised environments natively. This could mean something even more pronounced for Windows 8 however. ZD Net Mary Jo Foley wrote yesterday about a French Microsoft Security and Technical Director who outlined a scenario in which almost all Windows 8 applications would run in a virtualised environment.
The advantages of this approach would be immense. For starters this means that Microsoft would be able to completely do away with support for legacy applications in the OS and, possibly all the underlying code in the operating system that also support it. It’s this code that requires the huge number of Windows Updates we currently get every month.
It also means that, we knew this bit already, a virtual machine of Windows 7 would be included with the OS, known as Windows 7 Mode. It’s possible that XP Mode will also be included.
If Microsoft are sensible, and the inclusion of Hyper-V into Windows 8 seems to indicate that they are. These legacy operating systems could well be locked-down so that they require neither anti-virus software or updates as XP Mode does at the moment. This is the single largest problem with XP Mode currently.
The alternative it to find a way to plug these virtual machines into Windows Update so that all of them are updates simultaneously. This would actually increase the total number of updates received under Windows 8, but if the VMs required updating, it would be the most sensible way to do it.
The benefits of incorporating software virtualisation into Windows 8 are enormous, the core Windows 8 code is much smaller, leaner and fitter and massively more stable and secure. All the problems are shoved off into easily configurable virtual machines. The downside is that anybody using these features would essentially have two, perhaps even three, core operating systems to update and maintain.
This is a headache Microsoft needs to make sure that people don’t get as it might well turn people off using the new OS in small business or home environments if they see configuring and updating it to be too much of a chore. After all, Windows 7 is now good enough for most people.
It’s likely that we could expect to only see the Hyper-V system in x64 versions of Windows 8 as the system is currently only available on 64-bit processors for Windows Server, and has not yet been seen in x86 leaks of Windows 8. This could essentially leave the x86 version of Windows, which are now in sharp decline anyway, without any legacy software support.
The proper implementation of virtualisation technologies though would make an already extremely secure operating system even more so, by vastly reducing the surface area for attack. We could then expect to see Windows overtake other operating systems including OS X and GNU/Linus to become the most secure operating system on the planet. Now that would certainly be an interesting day.
Windows 8 Build 7989 Screenshots + Metro UI
We were contacted today by one of our readers who has installed the latest Windows 8 Build 7989 on his tablet pc. Below are the screenshots that we were sent along with some commentary for each exclusive screenshot. Thank you very much Israeleet for sharing.
Hi guys, I am proud to announce that I have installed the latest leak on my tablet. There are a TON of features of which I noted down and took photos of. Moreover, I am proud to announce that I’ve got the metro ui working. It’s a clone- but it does the job, and very well. The final verdict: Windows 8 build 7989 is a snappy version of Windows 7 Ultimate with a variety of new awesome features we find quite amusing. It still has many bugs and we do not recommend using this as your daily build just yet- but if we can expect a .dll patch to the Metro UI file or a new leak (perhaps 7995?) then we’ll see what happens.
Windows 8 To Include 3D Support?
According to a recent report from Windows8Italia, Windows 8 will include native support for 3D monitors. They’ve reported that after installing and running Windows 8 Build 7955 they’ve discovered that Microsoft has built in native support for 3D monitors into its latest OS
They found references to 3D transitions in the OS which would be similar to the “tilt” feature found in Windows Phone 7. 3D monitors are still very rare and I feel it will be a while before they actually catch on but Microsoft is clearly thinking ahead here.
However I still have some slight reservations about this. I’m not sure whether or not those “3D Transitions” are just 3D ones like what we already have with the aero flip function on Windows 7 (windows key +tab) or if they will be true 3D transitions that literally jump out at you. The report is rather unclear from this perspective and merely states “Native Support for 3D monitors” so I’m not completely sold on this.
Other things the report mentions include some other features they stumbled upon. They found references to a Windows Store which allows licenses to be synchronised across computers and devices. The Windows Store is apparently written in HTML which means it will be accessible via a browser, but at the moment it’s only accessible to those permitted by Microsoft.
A couple of other little features they discovered include support for hyphenation dictionaries, a SmartScreen feature for Windows explorer, the ability to synchronise passwords and credentials across computers , support for mobile networks as well as the ability to suspend and resume processes in task manager.
Most of these we’ve already covered here and Windows 8 News so there’s not a whole lot new there on that front.
It will be interesting to see how much of these features actually come to light, we actually posted on the latest Build 7989 the other day with more in it.
What do you think about 3D support? Will it be needed? Will it even be in Windows 8?
Let us know in the comments below
Can Windows 8 Turn Round Tablets the way Windows 7 did for Netbooks?
It’s been well known for ages now that research consistently shows that the mobile operating system most people want to see on their devices is Windows. This doesn’t come as any great surprise given that people like familiarity and Windows is, for many people, as comfortable as an old shoe. It was interesting to read my colleague Jason’s article yesterday on our sister site, Windows7News, about how tablet manufacturers are becoming disillusioned with slow sales of Android tablets and are now looking to Windows 8 to boost their profits.
This raises a very interesting and important question. Can Windows 8 do for Microsoft on tablets what Windows 7 did to the netbook market? When Windows 7 launched if you wanted to buy a netbook, and let’s face it almost everybody did, you had two choices. Windows XP or Linux. Despite XP’s popularity Linux hung around for some considerable time, but less than a year after the launch of Windows 7 you could not buy a single netbook, not anywhere, with either XP or Linux preinstalled. Everything came with Windows 7.
This was an astonishing achievement for Microsoft. The company had stated clearly during the development of Windows 7 that the operating system was being specifically engineered to run on low-power, low-performace netbooks and that’s exactly what it did. We’re now regularly seeing Windows 7 laptops with 8 or 9 hour battery lives, double what you’d find in the average laptop.
Clearly Microsoft stormed straight into the netbook market and won overnight. Now though can Windows 8 do the same with tablets?
There can be no doubt that Apple is the tablet king, and will remain so for many years yet, but Android is not without its problems. There are so many variants, some specifically suited to tablets and some not, that are currently residing on tablet devices that consumers can get confused. Why go for all this choice and complexity when the iPad is so much simpler and straightforward? Then there’s the malware problem, and it’s a major problem that Google have so far completely failed to address. While the general public won’t be too aware of this, they will become more aware in the time before Windows 8 launches, of this we can be sure.
So this leaves Microsoft with an opportunity. They’re talking up Windows 8 on tablets in exactly the same way they talked up Windows 7 on netbooks. The new Windows 8 tablet interface too, which is based on their Windows Phone Metro UI, has been universally well-received and with more than a year to go until it’s launch, Windows 8 is already generating enormous amounts of hype, press coverage and consumer interest.
Microsoft won’t need to do much to keep this momentum going either. The ball is now rolling and people are excited. The news that tablet manufacturers are now eyeing up Windows 8 keenly will come as welcome news to most and is sure to keep the hype going.
The major test will be next year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where all the hot computing products for 2012 will be unveiled. There will be a whole raft of Android tablets there I’m sure with a new version of Android. It could be though that Windows 8 tablets don’t just take centre stage, but that it completely steals the show.
All in all, future prosperity in the tablet market is by no means certain for Google. In Windows 8 they’ll have a competitor that’s polished, competent, popular and coming out fighting. We could then see a massive shift in the tablet market in 2012.
8 Windows 8 Wallpapers
Windows 8 isn’t quite here yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start prepping ourselves for its release. I know many of you all love to customize your desktops with various themes and wallpapers, so it’s never to early to start! I’ve put together a little pack of Windows 8 wallpapers for you guys so you can get started. Now these aren’t the official Microsoft Windows 8 wallpapers, because obviously Windows 8 hasn’t been released yet.
However some of them are taken from the Windows 8 leaks and others are just concept wallpapers for Windows 8. Either way they all look brilliant and if you’re looking to spice up your desktop they should do just that.
The new interface has raised some questions though and until people can actually get their hands on it (no pun intended) we’ll just have to make educated guesses.
One of the biggest questions that’s being asked is why applications need to be pulled in from the left edge of the screen to switch between them. The system will be able to multi-task as it’s still Windows, but having to switch between apps by cycling through all of them seems, frankly, a bit of a faff.
One area of concern is over the apps themselves. Microsoft have said that these will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript and that they’ll run full-screen in a browser. This makes the interface much like Chrome OS from Google but does it make sense?
You would imagine that if the interface is going to really take off then it needs apps, and lots of them. Surely then would it not be sensible for Microsoft to tap into the already extensive developer community for Windows Phone who already have tens of thousands of apps ready that could be modified for the new interface?
This decision does puzzle me, as I would have expected Microsoft to allow Windows Phone app developers to use the same languages and tools they create their mobile apps in now, for also creating apps for Windows 8 tablets. Most of you would probably agree that this would be logical and sensible. That Steven Sinofsky, who never says anything he’ll have to back-track from, has said this would imply that a final decision has indeed been made.
Even though all we have to go on are a few screen shots and a couple of short videos, there’s still plenty for us to digest and it will take a while for us to do this properly. Until then I thought, as you’re all clearly as excited about this product as we are, that I’d throw the question out to you… “Just how would you change Windows 8′s new Tablet UI?”
For months now Microsoft staff have resolutely refused to refer to the next version of Windows as “Windows 8″ under penalty of death (okay so I made up that last bit). Instead it’s been a hard and fast rule at the company that it was only ever to be called “Windows Next”. Windows chief and Microsoft Senior Vice-President Steven Sinofsky wouldn’t even go that far, only ever calling it “the next version of Windows”.Then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a slip up at a recent developer conference in Japan when he told delegates that Windows 8 will be out next year. This was the first time that anybody in the company had officially referred to their next generation desktop operating system by that name.
Sinofsky’s department issued a clarification very shortly afterwards, saying “It appears there was a misstatement. To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.”
Ballmer is well known for putting his foot in it occasionally, but nobody really minds (except perhaps Steven Sinofsky). This event seems to have triggered a wholesale policy change within the company though as Microsoft staff are now officially allowed to refer to 2012′s impending Windows release as “Windows 8″. There is a caveat with this however.
This caveat is that no formal naming has yet taken place for the product and, as a result of this, it is subject to change and the name Windows 8 should in no way be construed as the final name for the operating system. Windows 8 is a code name used to refer to the product internally and nothing else.
It’s actually quite comical that given the importance of the product to Microsoft, with the inclusion of tablet functionality, the move to ARM processors and all of the other really major changes taking place with this version, that so much attention has been given to what we’re ultimately going to call it when, let’s be honest, it looks like a no-brainer.
So we do now have another name by which everyone, including those within Microsoft, are allowed to refer to the product. It’s new to them even though the rest of the world has been talking about it for almost two years.
For all the latest news and information regarding the next version of Windows, don’t forget to head back here to WindowsNextNews… oh, no that’s not right!
There can be no doubt that since Steven Sinofsky took over as the head of Windows at Microsoft in 2009, the development programme for the operating system has become much more secretive.Under Bill Veghte’s watch the Vista programme was very open, many argue too open which is perhaps why Sinofsky has taken the approach he has. During the Vista beta (and a fairly open alpha too), which went on for approximately 18 months, there were numerous builds including many that I remember clearly were utterly unstable. Also many features that Microsoft announced for Vista, including the much heralded WinFS file system, never made the final release.
When Sinofsky too over he brought with him the secrecy he’d insisted upon when running Microsoft Office. Suddenly the only beta that was available was a feature-complete, near final version. After that we had a release candidate and then the finished product.
Many beta-testers, including myself, were vocally critical at the time of Sinofsky’s approach. “Why have a technical beta if you’re only going to turn it into a bug hunt” was something I said with some frequency, and I wasn’t alone. Many beta-testers joined in with this chorus because with the XP and Vista beta programmes we’d all been used to a far more open programme with much more communication from Microsoft, and genuine input into the final version of the product. I can say that I contributed directly to a feature change in Vista, and I’m very happy about that. I can’t say that about Windows 7.
This left many people feeling that, with more input Windows 7 could have been far better, and you’ll get no argument from me on this. The question needs to be asked though that if this had happened would Microsoft have been able to get Windows 7 delivered on their strict three year timescale? You can assume here they probably wouldn’t.
There are potential benefits to the secrecy as well. Many people were extremely disappointed with the features that never made it into Windows Vista. With Windows 7 there was none of that, no pulled features that we knew about and no product that in the end would have disappointed fans and customers. Regards getting feedback from customers, it can be argued that this is what the time since the release of the previous version of Windows is for.
I’m now looking forward to the Windows 8 beta. I don’t know when I’ll get it, but Microsoft certainly seem keen on my getting a copy as early as possible, which is good news as I’m a Windows MVP. In some ways its been frustrating not having a copy already but what would I have done with it? When you’re in my position as an author a copy that’s feature complete is the best thing to have but you need access to the code in enough time to get a book written which can take up to six months. As an editor on Windows8News it would have been nice to get it earlier and as a tech enthusiast I couldn’t get it early enough.
I’m curious how you feel though. While Windows 8 has seen a great many more leaks than Windows 7 did (almost all of which in the light of the recent tablet interface announcement from Microsoft now seem trivial), which approach from Microsoft do you prefer? Open and involved or secretive and locked-down?
Microsoft are said to be working with Texas Instruments and Taiwan based manufacturers according to rumours coming from the supply chain. Of course Microsoft haven’t confirmed this rumour.
I’m not completely certain about this prospect however. I know it does work very well for Apple, if you want their OS, you have to have their hardware and vice versa. It works for them, but what makes Microsoft different is the fact that they do offer you choice. You can choose from a plethora of different laptops,netbooks and PC’s when you want to have Windows 7. Microsoft are following the same tactic with Windows Phone 7 as well.
While they did show off that preview to us, they kept quite on any details regarding the release date. However recent hints from the corporate vice president for Strategic and Emerging Business Development Dani Lewin pretty much confirms that Microsoft are planning to bring out Windows 8 in Fall 2012.
He told us to look at Microsofts release schedule in the past or “the crystal ball” as he referred to it. He said to assume
“what happened in the past is a reasonable indicator of what our forward looking timelines will be and just speculate–we’ve made the point about having a developer conference later this year, and then typically we enter a beta phase, and then in 12 months we’re in the market, so let’s make that assumption,”Generally Microsoft holds it Professional Developers Conference during the early fall. This years conference in scheduled to kick off September 13th. That would be an ideal time for Microsoft to announce the release of Windows 8 assuming that it hits the market a couple of weeks later.
If we look to the past at Windows 7, Microsoft had a 9 month beta period of Windows 7. The 12 months that Dani Lewin mentioned seems awfully long, especially when you consider that Microsoft are probably looking to get this new OS out on the market as soon as they can. The flip side of this is that if Microsoft are planning on a 12 month beta period, that means we will be getting our first “official” taste of the software from Microsoft towards the end of this year.
There’s been another leaked build of Windows 8, this time build 7989. The build has a full title of 7989.winmain.110421-1285.615974c7346f7374 and was first reported as being available in the private forums of a beta website. Now though many are saying it’s available elsewhere on the net too.
There have been several major leaks of Windows 8 builds in the last couple of months, however there’s no real information on how old these builds are. Either way this is bound to drive excitement about the product despite the fact that many of the features within this build might either change radically, be replaced by something else or dropped from the final product completely.
Here at Windows 8 News will always temper these leaks with a note of caution. There’s no confirmation that this build is genuine and it’s been out for more than long enough now for virus and malware writers to have injected code into it before releasing it to torrent sites.
You should always therefore be very careful when downloading anything that isn’t directly from an official company website.
The formal announcements about Windows 8 from Microsoft are expected to be made this autumn. Here they will unveil all the new features of the OS and also detail the timescale for closed and public beta programmes. The final release of the OS is expected around October 2012, though this commentator expects that it could be available next August in time for the all-important back to college PC buying period.
There is no information on what, if anything, is new in this build or if it includes all the tablet functionality that Microsoft demonstrated at an event last month.
There have been several major leaks of Windows 8 builds in the last couple of months, however there’s no real information on how old these builds are. Either way this is bound to drive excitement about the product despite the fact that many of the features within this build might either change radically, be replaced by something else or dropped from the final product completely.
You should always therefore be very careful when downloading anything that isn’t directly from an official company website.
The formal announcements about Windows 8 from Microsoft are expected to be made this autumn. Here they will unveil all the new features of the OS and also detail the timescale for closed and public beta programmes. The final release of the OS is expected around October 2012, though this commentator expects that it could be available next August in time for the all-important back to college PC buying period.
There is no information on what, if anything, is new in this build or if it includes all the tablet functionality that Microsoft demonstrated at an event last month.
Windows 8 Rumour Hints at Interesting Future for Windows Phone
Earlier this year when the CEO of Intel said his company would be releasing Windows 8 on a phone people laughed. How could you possibly get something as heavy as Windows running smoothly on a phone, especially with it’s non-touch-friendly interface.
Then of course things began to change. First Motorola released it’s Atrix phone which can plug into a netbook-style keyboard dock and convert to a computer, then Microsoft showed off Windows 8′s new Windows Phone-esque tablet interface to almost universal acclaim.
Only a few months later then and the thought of running Windows 8 on a phone, especially as smartphones are now beginning to ship with dual core processors and 1Gb of RAM, isn’t such a wild possibility.
Now an interesting rumour from RedmondPie adds fuel to the fire. They have been examining some of the APIs of the most recently leaked build, v7989 and have discovered a reference in the Sensors controls that suggests the OS will support SMS short messaging.
Windows 8 to get Hyper-V Virtualisation client
It’s long been suspected that Microsoft would include virtualisation technologies in Windows 8. This is because the largest problem facing Windows is the need for legacy support, which can account for 80% of the latches and updates delivered to the operating system, and is also a major factor in some older software not working. This is a particular problem in business where a considerable amount of legacy software is used.Now Microsoft’s Server virtualisation client, Hyper-V, has been been found in the latest leaked build of Windows 8, confirming what many people suspected.
This virtualisation client will do away with the need for plug-in software such as Virtual PC or XP Mode as it means the operating system will support virtualised environments natively. This could mean something even more pronounced for Windows 8 however. ZD Net Mary Jo Foley wrote yesterday about a French Microsoft Security and Technical Director who outlined a scenario in which almost all Windows 8 applications would run in a virtualised environment.
The advantages of this approach would be immense. For starters this means that Microsoft would be able to completely do away with support for legacy applications in the OS and, possibly all the underlying code in the operating system that also support it. It’s this code that requires the huge number of Windows Updates we currently get every month.
It also means that, we knew this bit already, a virtual machine of Windows 7 would be included with the OS, known as Windows 7 Mode. It’s possible that XP Mode will also be included.
If Microsoft are sensible, and the inclusion of Hyper-V into Windows 8 seems to indicate that they are. These legacy operating systems could well be locked-down so that they require neither anti-virus software or updates as XP Mode does at the moment. This is the single largest problem with XP Mode currently.
The alternative it to find a way to plug these virtual machines into Windows Update so that all of them are updates simultaneously. This would actually increase the total number of updates received under Windows 8, but if the VMs required updating, it would be the most sensible way to do it.
The benefits of incorporating software virtualisation into Windows 8 are enormous, the core Windows 8 code is much smaller, leaner and fitter and massively more stable and secure. All the problems are shoved off into easily configurable virtual machines. The downside is that anybody using these features would essentially have two, perhaps even three, core operating systems to update and maintain.
This is a headache Microsoft needs to make sure that people don’t get as it might well turn people off using the new OS in small business or home environments if they see configuring and updating it to be too much of a chore. After all, Windows 7 is now good enough for most people.
It’s likely that we could expect to only see the Hyper-V system in x64 versions of Windows 8 as the system is currently only available on 64-bit processors for Windows Server, and has not yet been seen in x86 leaks of Windows 8. This could essentially leave the x86 version of Windows, which are now in sharp decline anyway, without any legacy software support.
The proper implementation of virtualisation technologies though would make an already extremely secure operating system even more so, by vastly reducing the surface area for attack. We could then expect to see Windows overtake other operating systems including OS X and GNU/Linus to become the most secure operating system on the planet. Now that would certainly be an interesting day.
Windows 8 Build 7989 Screenshots + Metro UI
We were contacted today by one of our readers who has installed the latest Windows 8 Build 7989 on his tablet pc. Below are the screenshots that we were sent along with some commentary for each exclusive screenshot. Thank you very much Israeleet for sharing.
Hi guys, I am proud to announce that I have installed the latest leak on my tablet. There are a TON of features of which I noted down and took photos of. Moreover, I am proud to announce that I’ve got the metro ui working. It’s a clone- but it does the job, and very well. The final verdict: Windows 8 build 7989 is a snappy version of Windows 7 Ultimate with a variety of new awesome features we find quite amusing. It still has many bugs and we do not recommend using this as your daily build just yet- but if we can expect a .dll patch to the Metro UI file or a new leak (perhaps 7995?) then we’ll see what happens.
According to a recent report from Windows8Italia, Windows 8 will include native support for 3D monitors. They’ve reported that after installing and running Windows 8 Build 7955 they’ve discovered that Microsoft has built in native support for 3D monitors into its latest OS
It’s been well known for ages now that research consistently shows that the mobile operating system most people want to see on their devices is Windows. This doesn’t come as any great surprise given that people like familiarity and Windows is, for many people, as comfortable as an old shoe. It was interesting to read my colleague Jason’s article yesterday on our sister site, Windows7News, about how tablet manufacturers are becoming disillusioned with slow sales of Android tablets and are now looking to Windows 8 to boost their profits.
However some of them are taken from the Windows 8 leaks and others are just concept wallpapers for Windows 8. Either way they all look brilliant and if you’re looking to spice up your desktop they should do just that.
Windows 8 To Include 3D Support?
According to a recent report from Windows8Italia, Windows 8 will include native support for 3D monitors. They’ve reported that after installing and running Windows 8 Build 7955 they’ve discovered that Microsoft has built in native support for 3D monitors into its latest OS
They found references to 3D transitions in the OS which would be similar to the “tilt” feature found in Windows Phone 7. 3D monitors are still very rare and I feel it will be a while before they actually catch on but Microsoft is clearly thinking ahead here.
However I still have some slight reservations about this. I’m not sure whether or not those “3D Transitions” are just 3D ones like what we already have with the aero flip function on Windows 7 (windows key +tab) or if they will be true 3D transitions that literally jump out at you. The report is rather unclear from this perspective and merely states “Native Support for 3D monitors” so I’m not completely sold on this.
Other things the report mentions include some other features they stumbled upon. They found references to a Windows Store which allows licenses to be synchronised across computers and devices. The Windows Store is apparently written in HTML which means it will be accessible via a browser, but at the moment it’s only accessible to those permitted by Microsoft.
A couple of other little features they discovered include support for hyphenation dictionaries, a SmartScreen feature for Windows explorer, the ability to synchronise passwords and credentials across computers , support for mobile networks as well as the ability to suspend and resume processes in task manager.
Most of these we’ve already covered here and Windows 8 News so there’s not a whole lot new there on that front.
It will be interesting to see how much of these features actually come to light, we actually posted on the latest Build 7989 the other day with more in it.
What do you think about 3D support? Will it be needed? Will it even be in Windows 8?
Let us know in the comments below
Can Windows 8 Turn Round Tablets the way Windows 7 did for Netbooks?
It’s been well known for ages now that research consistently shows that the mobile operating system most people want to see on their devices is Windows. This doesn’t come as any great surprise given that people like familiarity and Windows is, for many people, as comfortable as an old shoe. It was interesting to read my colleague Jason’s article yesterday on our sister site, Windows7News, about how tablet manufacturers are becoming disillusioned with slow sales of Android tablets and are now looking to Windows 8 to boost their profits.
This raises a very interesting and important question. Can Windows 8 do for Microsoft on tablets what Windows 7 did to the netbook market? When Windows 7 launched if you wanted to buy a netbook, and let’s face it almost everybody did, you had two choices. Windows XP or Linux. Despite XP’s popularity Linux hung around for some considerable time, but less than a year after the launch of Windows 7 you could not buy a single netbook, not anywhere, with either XP or Linux preinstalled. Everything came with Windows 7.
This was an astonishing achievement for Microsoft. The company had stated clearly during the development of Windows 7 that the operating system was being specifically engineered to run on low-power, low-performace netbooks and that’s exactly what it did. We’re now regularly seeing Windows 7 laptops with 8 or 9 hour battery lives, double what you’d find in the average laptop.
Clearly Microsoft stormed straight into the netbook market and won overnight. Now though can Windows 8 do the same with tablets?
There can be no doubt that Apple is the tablet king, and will remain so for many years yet, but Android is not without its problems. There are so many variants, some specifically suited to tablets and some not, that are currently residing on tablet devices that consumers can get confused. Why go for all this choice and complexity when the iPad is so much simpler and straightforward? Then there’s the malware problem, and it’s a major problem that Google have so far completely failed to address. While the general public won’t be too aware of this, they will become more aware in the time before Windows 8 launches, of this we can be sure.
So this leaves Microsoft with an opportunity. They’re talking up Windows 8 on tablets in exactly the same way they talked up Windows 7 on netbooks. The new Windows 8 tablet interface too, which is based on their Windows Phone Metro UI, has been universally well-received and with more than a year to go until it’s launch, Windows 8 is already generating enormous amounts of hype, press coverage and consumer interest.
Microsoft won’t need to do much to keep this momentum going either. The ball is now rolling and people are excited. The news that tablet manufacturers are now eyeing up Windows 8 keenly will come as welcome news to most and is sure to keep the hype going.
The major test will be next year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where all the hot computing products for 2012 will be unveiled. There will be a whole raft of Android tablets there I’m sure with a new version of Android. It could be though that Windows 8 tablets don’t just take centre stage, but that it completely steals the show.
All in all, future prosperity in the tablet market is by no means certain for Google. In Windows 8 they’ll have a competitor that’s polished, competent, popular and coming out fighting. We could then see a massive shift in the tablet market in 2012.
8 Windows 8 Wallpapers
Windows 8 isn’t quite here yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start prepping ourselves for its release. I know many of you all love to customize your desktops with various themes and wallpapers, so it’s never to early to start! I’ve put together a little pack of Windows 8 wallpapers for you guys so you can get started. Now these aren’t the official Microsoft Windows 8 wallpapers, because obviously Windows 8 hasn’t been released yet.
However some of them are taken from the Windows 8 leaks and others are just concept wallpapers for Windows 8. Either way they all look brilliant and if you’re looking to spice up your desktop they should do just that.
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