Windows 8 Logon screen.
Will the creaking Windows operating system ever be able to reinvent itself and gain some of Apple’s cool? It might just – Microsoft will today reveal its Windows 8 OS to developers at a conference in California. Do the kids of today think iPhones aren’t all that cool? Martin Fichter, acting president of HTC, certainly thinks so, reported Geekwire. Is it time for Microsoft to swoop in and steal some Apple slices? Windows 8 will work on tablets, desktops and laptop computers, and will be released in 2012.
“We re-imagined Windows. From the chipset to the user experience,” said Windows division president Steven Sinofsky, quoted on WindowsITPro.
- Getting hold of those hipster hearts. “If this new effort looks anything like Vista, you might prepare for disappointment,” said Rebecca Greenfield on The Atlantic Wire. But Windows 8 “just might be the next it thing.” It’s just the right time to release something that will “win the hearts of hipsters.” It’ll have some cool stuff, like a “touch-first interface,” said AllThingD’s Ina Fried, meaning you can swipe and pinch your way through the day’s computing. Way cool, huh?
- Using Windows 8. Tim Anderson on The Guardian gave a rundown on the interface. It’s an operating system “with a dual personality: for tablets, and for desktops.” The tablet bit will be called Metro, and has “chunky tiles” for ease of use, which Microsoft calls “the immersive user interface.” You don’t see the address bar or other controls when surfing the web. You can run two apps side by side, and can buy apps from the Windows store which crucially will allow users to try before they buy. It’s “clean and responsive.” The Desktop version on the other hand is pretty much business as usual, the only change being that the old Start menu has gone.
- Charmed life. MSN revealed the existence of “Charms”, which allow you to search across applications and work with different devices. The apps currently bundled with the system are fun but basic.
- The good and the bad. Flesheatingzipper said that the problem was “all that legacy Windows underneath.” The tablet side of Windows 8 “looks like little more than a really good skin.” It’s still “a full version of Windows.” “What a bummer.”
