Microsoft today released the first detailed look at how Windows 8 will improve (?) on the current Windows 7. (Considering the debacle over Windows Vista, predecessor to the current version, I hope they get it right this time!) Here's some of what the company had to say about it.
Windows 8 is a reimagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface. A Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.
. . .
Here are a few aspects of the new interface we showed today:
- Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.
- Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.
- Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
- Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
- Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.
- Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.
We also showed effortless movement between existing Windows programs and new Windows 8 apps. The full capabilities of Windows continue to be available to you, including the Windows Explorer and Desktop, as does compatibility with all Windows 7 logo PCs, software and peripherals.
Although the new user interface is designed and optimized for touch, it works equally well with a mouse and keyboard.
. . .
And this isn’t just about touch PCs. The new Windows experience will ultimately be powered by application and device developers around the world - one experience across a tremendous variety of PCs. The user interface and new apps will work with or without a keyboard and mouse on a broad range of screen sizes and pixel densities, from small slates to laptops, desktops, all-in-ones, and even classroom-sized displays.
There's more at the link. Here's a video preview of Windows 8.
I find the emphasis on touch to be interesting. If Microsoft can make the touch-screen what it has always promised to be, but never fulfilled, that might be a major advance in the human-machine interface. The question is, of course, whether existing screens will work with Windows 8, or whether we'll have to invest in new hardware to make it work. That might be prohibitively expensive (at least for me!).
Now, if Microsoft will please arrange for Windows 8 to identify, and do something really nasty to, those responsible for computer viruses, Trojan horses, logic bombs, spam e-mail and phishing attacks . . .
Peter
8 comments:
Do you want to see what an operating system should look like?
Take any older machine you've got laying around. It can be up to 6+ years old. Anything with a high-grade Pentium 3 processor (900mHz) or P4 will do, and at least 512megs RAM. Go download Linux Mint 11, 32bit "full featured" flavor, on DVD:
http://www.linuxmint.com
That is the single best flavor of Linux available today. It's astoundingly good and completely free, part of a worldwide geek protest against Microsloth's domination. It's a cousin to the MacOS and sibling to an Android smartphone, but much more powerful than either.
Free yourself. Nobody needs to own your rig but you, or control what you do with the hardware you already have, or force you into expensive upgrades via artifical software slowness and bloat. You don't have to put up with malware threats, or any number of other forms of madness both Apple and Microsoft want to throw at you for their profit.
Redmond WA's version of what we used to know as planned obsolescence from Detroit automakers-til the Japanese taught Detroit what a car should be.
Bill has some major comeuppance coming-sooner the better.
I'll follow the "wait for the release of SP1" rule, since it's about time for Microsoft to release another turkey.
You're close, Comrade--it's "wait for version 3, SP1." If this redesign is as big as they say, it'll be like starting from scratch. Wake me at version 10.11 for Workgroups.
Meh. I'll stick with MacOS and Linux.
Speaking of Windows, did you ever get through that Wordpress issue you were having?
@DaddyBear: No, still stuck. I'm about to scrub my entire hard disk and reinstall from scratch! I'm also going to try the Linux distro Jim recommended above - if I can get the ISO to burn cleanly! I've made two copies so far, and neither works.
*Sigh*
Perhaps it's time to try the CD version?
Mint Linux is Debian, right? That means that it's the same underlying stuff as Ubuntu?
Is there a "Dummies" book that explains all these systems in detail? I would love to change my computer platform but am really scared to even think about it. So, I'm saving for a Mac. But, in the meantime, it would be nice to have something that doesn't scream virus risk all the time.
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