Windows 8, for the computer of tomorrow

Windows 8 will be ideally suited for universal use of tablets, both in movement and in the office.

Faced with the inability of manufacturers of desktop computer to really evolve and provide smaller components, users, more and more accustomed to smartphone-sized machine will tend to use the tablets as a substitute, by connecting them to a keyboard and a monitor. And Windows 8 is perfect for that.

The Developer version is available since September 2011 and the final version is expected in April 2012.

Demo video

It's a touch interface giving access to standard applications or other services such as videos, weather service, etc. ... which replaces the screen with icons.
Tiles have notification, they show always the current state of the application they represent.

It seems that all applications can run both by touch or with the mouse or keyboard, and the start interface, as seen above is composed of tiles like on Windows phone, and is built in HTML 5 and JavaScript.
New applications for Windows 8 will thus use an interface in HTML, confirms the vice president of Windows Experience.
These apps will be online or connected to the Web, but with full access to local resources.

"We are clearly influenced by the mobile phones", the official said.

Microsoft has designed the perfect weapon to thwart Google Chrome OS and Meego which appear on netbooks. They have a market share because they are free, but most users prefer to the former a system that can run local applications (as are mobile phone applications).

Design of the new Metro interface

To resolve the conflict between the interface with Metro made ​​for immersive applications on PC or tablets, and other common applications that users will not want to give up, Windows 8 offers two independent interfaces.
- Metro for touch screens. It is also the interface of Windows Phone 7.
- Windows desktop for common applications.
The second will be loaded only when needed. It will be improved, Microsoft has already shown the new file manager and its ribbon interface.

explorer ribbon

The interface will adapt to whatever is the current task. Icons in relation to the latter will appear in each user action.

For graphics, Aero Lite is a light version of Aero for limited configurations, based on Metro.

It is not said if Windows Desktop will work on a tablet. There is no reason to not allow it and it will become really useful, because a tablet connected to a keyboard and a video monitor, is a perfect replacement for a cumbersone PC.

Windows 8 internal design

Applications in the immersive interface Metro can be coded in HTML 5 or any native language or with XAML and the Jupiter interface. Metro replaces the browser which remains an application among others.
These Metro applications are the only  that run on PCs and tablets. They will be very easy to make and will be synchronized with  online services.
In the long term they should replace conventional native applications.

Immersive applications

The word keeps coming up in the blog posts dedicated to Windows 8 (see links). What is an immersive application?
This means that the interface of the application  disappears completely in favor of the useful part, text or images needed by the user.
In a typical application, the content fits into a frame with buttons, menu bars etc ... All this becomes invisible or becomes instruments similar to real objects with which the user interacts.

The Metro interface and HTML 5 programming will be for immersive applications. Typical applications will keep their interface on Windows desktop.

Support for ARM processors

So far, Microsoft proposed a system for office, one for servers and Windows Mobile 7 Phone for smartphones. Conversely, Windows 8 will be universal, its weight will depend on the material, a lightweight version will run on a tablet or smartphone, and it will support ARM processors widespread on mobile devices.

According to Intel's vice-president, the ARM version (WOA) will not run applications designed for previous versions of Windows including Seven. But this was contradicted by Microsoft,  the classical desktop works well on ARM processor and Microsoft applications like Office, Excel, Powerpoint work well on this platform. For older applications, they must be recompiled due to the lack of emulator.

New features

Windows Store and other drawbacks

Everything does not look so rosy for the future system, as Microsoft seem to get inspiration from Apple, which is not ideal for programmers.
Apart from software used within the company, developers must go through the Windows Store to add an application to Metro.
Microsoft will charge a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of software. It can remotely remove software already installed on your machine.

For a  computer to be permitted to use Windows 8, it must have a boot program certified by Microsoft.  But Microsoft denies that this may prevent you install Linux and have a dual boot. The choice of activation will depend of the user.

The fake welcome screen

Not to miss the tradition of April 1 fools, a welcome screen of Windows 8 was leaked. Although it displays in great characters the date of April 1, and it seems fanciful to say the least, the information was picked up by several sites in all seriousness!
It's actually a wallpaper of Windows 7 to which was added some fanciful text.

The Windows 8 welcome screen!

Or maybe this one?

Analysis

Three scenarios are possible for the new Metro platform:

  1. It is heavily adopted and sets a new standard for tablet and desktop computers.
  2. The majority of users prefer to return to the classic platform and in this case, this leads to the decline of Microsoft, as tablets are replacing desktop computers.
  3. It is adopted by users, but is in competition with equivalent platforms from other suppliers (iOS, Tizen, Chrome OS, ...). In this case Microsoft loses its leadership in the software.

The third scenario seems most likely.

See also

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