Microsoft has finally lifted the veil, and anyone with an Internet connection can get a look at a pre-beta version of Windows 8 Desktop. For those who haven’t seen it yet, the new Windows has not one but two desktops. The first, which is called "the Desktop," swoops in from the left and looks like the familiar Windows 7 desktop, right down to the little hummingbird. Any pre-Windows 8 applications - the only ones that exist on the planet, as I write this - run on that desktop.
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Clayton Morris from FOX News reports that HP is currently doing "proof of concept work" testing the Preview Edition of Windows 8 on TouchPad tablets without webOS installed. According to unnamed sources within HP, the company is having internal discussions about reviving the defunct webOS-based version after the supposed second fire sale wave takes place on an unspecified date. The company is also considering building an entirely new device instead with Windows 8 in mind.
Windows Phone handsets could just be the beginning for Nokia. In an interview with The Verge’s Thomas Ricker, CEO Steven Elop hinted that his company could be entering the tablet market and releasing a Windows 8 slate when that new operating system is ready.
So, Apple’s been granted a patent on the ‘Slide to unlock’ feature present on the iPhone and iPad. Where does this leave Windows 8 which features a similar unlock mechanism? How does it work? Well, here’s how, in the words of Steve Jobs: "To unlock the phone, I just take my finger and slide it across. Wanna see that again? We wanted something you couldn’t do by accident in your pocket. Just slide it across … BOOM!"
I have to be honest with you: For about the past year, I've had some serious doubts about Microsoft's place in the technology world. Don't misunderstand me, Microsoft has many fantastic products and technologies, but with the shift to the cloud (and fears of outsourcing for IT pros) and Microsoft not gaining share fast enough in very important areas (mobility, virtualization, etc.), I was beginning to question Microsoft's place as well as my place in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Microsoft's Ryan Haveson takes to the Building Windows 8 blog today to give us one of our first looks at a Windows 8 feature not included in the Developer Preview: new Task Manager features drastically increase its usefulness on multicore systems, especially on servers with large numbers of logical processor cores.
Hewlett-Packard's decision today not to spin off its PC manufacturing business bodes well for Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 tablets. Earlier this year, HP famously announced that it was killing its HP TouchPad tablet, running on the WebOS operating system, as well as considering spinning off its PC business. Today, new CEO Meg Whitman announced HP was keeping its PC unit, and in a conference call, said the company planned to take advantage of the increasing numbers of workers wanting to bring in and use their own devices for work.
Microsoft is expected to launch the next version of the Windows OS – Windows 8 – in the second half of 2012. It recently showcased the developer preview of Windows 8 at its Build conference. Windows 8 will be targeted at both the computer and tablet markets. While it is the dominant platform in computers, it will compete primarily with Apple‘s iOS and Google‘s Android in the tablet segment. Dell and HP, the largest computer manufacturers have already started planning and working on Windows 8 tablets. [1] They will be launching their tablets soon after the official launch of Windows 8
Monday brought reports of a leaked Microsoft road map revealing an August 2012 commercial launch schedule for Windows 8. Prior to that, the beta will reportedly arrive during CES 2012 this coming January along with the WinStore Beta, an online market community technology preview (CTP), and the first "Tango" update for Windows Phone. Windows 9 is even slated for a late 2014 reveal.
After much secrecy, Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 at the Build conference in Anaheim CA in mid-September 2011. The Developer's Preview is available for download here. The preview is surprisingly stable; this article was written in Windows 8 using SkyDrive.
Exploring Windows contents has been modified in Windows 8, leaving users uncertain whether to hate it or love it. As you may have heard, Microsoft Office Ribbon concept was implemented, alongside some other improvements, and some were disappointed. The "good" thing is you can switch almost all elements back to the old Windows 7 view, but then what's the point of using Windows 8 in the first place? We will be presenting all Windows Explorer 8 elements in an objective view, to get you more familiarised and ready to embrace Microsoft's new concept.
According to a statement given by an Intel executive earlier this week, Windows 8 will ship on Ultrabooks next year. Intel is apaprently looking at the upcoming OS to provide the necessary leverage for the devices to properly take off in the market. Tom Kilroy, Senior vice president and general manager of worldwide sales for Intel touched on the issue on Tuesday during an interview held at the company’s third quarter earnings call. Kilroy said that there can be as many as 60 Ultrabook designs available in the market by next year.
After releasing the developer build of Windows 8 in July Microsoft has been actively updating their Building Windows 8 blog with reports on decisions and explanations of how certain aspects of the new Metro UI within Windows 8 will work.
As I write this, it's been over a month since Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 at its epic BUILD Conference in Anaheim, California. Since then, I've tried to spend as much time as I can in the new OS, not just via the Samsung tablet that Microsoft loaned me at the show, but on as many of my own PCs as possible. It's been a bit difficult, frankly. And the difficulties I'm seeing are echoed in a growing cacophony of online complaints from power users around the world.
The Windows 8 lockscreen is a new element introduced by Microsoft in the latest edition of the Windows operating system. Unlike its predecessors, Windows 7, Vista or XP, Windows 8 requires a lockscreen because it’s a touch-supportive OS. As in the case of all the touch screen smartphones, it acts like a barrier between accidental inputs and their concretisation. Apart from its main goal, this feature brings at least five new elements that can help you with your every-day routine, elements that can be customised to your own taste and need.
After installing the Windows 8 desktop developer preview, I didn't expect all that much out of the server flavor. But between what I saw and what I've heard since the Windows Build conference in September, I'm surprisingly impressed -- and mildly intimidated.
The Free Software Foundation seems to have caused a bit of a stir the other day by calling on PC users to stand up for their freedom to install free software onto their systems and demand that OEMs be responsible in how they use the UEFI ’secure boot’ feature on Windows 8 PCs.
With the release of Microsoft Surface 2.0 due early next year,a new video has “Surfaced” showing Windows 8 Developer Preview running on Microsoft Surface 1.0. Josh Blake from Infostrat has done a demo of the Windows 8 developer preview running on Microsoft Surface 1.0 at his place.
Recently, in response to the brouhaha over its reported effort to implement a specification called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) that could make it impossible to run Linux on Windows 8 PCs, Microsoft officials responded with an extensive post that explains exactly what kinds of flexibility UEFI (Secure Boot) will offer. However, members of the Linux community in Australia have formally opposed UEFI, and many critics of Microsoft's defense of it argue that Microsoft is simply going to hand off the right to exclude Linux from Windows 8 PCs to hardware manufacturers, some of whom may choose to do so. Now the debate is getting a second wind, and a writer in the Windows corner has one of the best points yet.
Searching within Windows, much like tackling the Task Manager, has always one of the most nightmarish components. It was ugly, disorganized, and slow. Not anymore. Part of Microsoft's "now Windows is actually pretty great" initiative means making search un-horrible. Finally.
Like most features in Windows, search has evolved over the years. In Windows 7, users can type the name of an item in the search field at the bottom of the Start Menu to locate programs and other files. But by default, the initial search results are limited to what can fit in the window, forcing users to click on a link to see more results in a full window. The results also show files from a range of categories, including applications, documents, music, images, e-mail messages, contacts, and even Control Panel settings.
The iPad established the tablet market nearly two years ago. Competition has come in the form of a BlackBerry tablet called the PlayBook, the webOS based TouchPad, and a plethora of tablets running Android, but none are proving up to the task. When you think tablet, you think iPad, just like when you think MP3 player, you think iPod.
A group that advocates for software user rights has launched a petition against technology in Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 operating system, saying it could turn PCs into Windows-only machines. The technology in question, Secure Boot, is designed to prevent malware from infecting computers during startup, before Windows and all of its built-in security features are launched.
Ultrabooks with Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 OS are due to reach market next year, and the OS could help propel demand for the devices, an Intel executive said this week. More than 60 ultrabook designs could become available next year and "11 or so designs" will be available by the end of this year, said Tom Kilroy, senior vice president and general manager of worldwide sales at Intel, in an interview following the company's third quarter earnings call on Tuesday.
If you buy Microsoft’s explanation for the company requiring a version of UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) on PCs that can run Windows 8, it’s there to protect users from next-generation malware. If you think that’s the only reason for the UEFI to be in there, I have a nice bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. The UEFI requirement is also there to block Linux and other alternative operating systems from booting on Windows 8 PCs. In response to this open-source operating system threat, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has started a petition to urge original equipment manufacturers (OEM)s to give people a way to easily opt out of Microsoft’s Windows 8 UEFI cage.
