Microsoft Previews Windows 8 for Tablets and PCs

[MacRumors]

Microsoft today officially unveiled its next-generation Windows 8 operating system, detailing how the company has "reimagined" the software to allow a single operating system to run on a variety of systems from tablets to desktops and Intel to ARM. The company's new "Metro" user interface emphasizes touch-centered input and full-screen apps much like the iPad, but also supports full mouse and keyboard input with the familiar underpinnings of earlier Windows versions.




Perhaps most notable for Apple observers is Microsoft's tablet effort with Windows 8, marking yet another significant effort to unseat Apple's iPad from its dominating position atop the tablet market. This is my next offers a hands-on look at Windows 8 running on a prototype Intel-powered tablet device from Samsung, sharing a number of details about the functionality of the operating system. But while Microsoft acknowledges that Windows 8 is a work in progress, the current tablet implementation appears to be a somewhat rough integration of the Metro touch experience with more traditional desktop computing. The report summarizes Windows 8 for tablets as follows:

There's a lot to digest here, and we've barely scraped the surface of Windows 8, so we're sure our impressions will change over time... much as the OS will hopefully congeal later in the development cycle. If we're going to be totally honest though, we'd describe Windows 8 right now as incoherent and contradictory. Touch response in the Metro UI is stellar, Contracts sound seriously useful, and snapping apps can make you more productive on a tablet, but whenever you want to get down and dirty with a traditional program, it's back to the traditional desktop interface. There are two Control Panels, two versions of IE, and core apps are nowhere to be found (i.e. Mail, a camera app, etc.) Meanwhile, if you want to do anything with the desktop interface (save things you've actually planted on your desktop) you'll probably find yourself thrown back to Metro since the traditional Start menu is gone. The whole user experience feels schizophrenic, with users having to jump back and forth between the two paradigms, each of which seem like they might be better off on their own. Still, as the title of the Microsoft show suggests, this is very much a work in progress and the apps and the tools are, well, still being built.

Questions also remain about architecture support, with the Intel-powered tablet running Windows 8 serving as a capable device but missing the benefits of ARM-based systems such as power efficiency. Microsoft promises that ARM support is an important component to the Windows 8 strategy, but the company is not yet able to offer hands-on time with such devices.

Powered by a 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M processor and a 64GB solid state drive, the system is absolutely no slouch on performance -- everything from scrolling in the browser to the Start screen is extremely speedy and the system boots incredibly quickly. However, fan noise is very noticeable, as is the heat coming out of the top vent, and a fast boot doesn't excuse the slow wake-up times compared to ARM-based cellphones and tablets.

It's for these reasons we were pretty disappointed to see the tablet running on x86 architecture, with only a token gesture to ARM during our session, but VP of Windows Planning Mike Angiulo assured us that the progress on ARM is coming along quite nicely. He maintains they wanted developers to have top-notch hardware that was capable of running multiple instances, and thus went with the Core i5 hardware.

A developer preview version of Windows 8 will be available for download later today.

Article Link: Microsoft Previews Windows 8 for Tablets and PCs

[troop231]

Downloading a copy tonight, can't wait

[MasterHowl]

uh oh

[chrmjenkins]

The trouble they will run into is where Metro isn't pervasive and some staple UI elements from Windows 7 and back are present. Could get a hobbled together feeling like Android has at times.

[codewrangler]

What a horrible interface. It really makes me want to throw up....really....

[andi242]

will this run in parallels / vmware?

...or what's this got to do with MacRumors?

[Mattsasa]

Originally Posted by troop231

Downloading a copy tonight, can't wait

how can I become a microsoft dev?

[Peace]

" The company has "reimagined" the software to allow a single operating system to run on a variety of systems from tablets to desktops and Intel to ARM."

Sounds familier for some reason. hmmm

Who has done that before..

[troop231]

Originally Posted by Mattsasa

how can I become a microsoft dev?

Sign up on the msdn website.

[notjustjay]

The quoted report sounds like typical Microsoft. Great ideas, hampered by an execution that looks like it was done by too many people with too many ideas. They say a camel is a horse designed by a committee, and many Microsoft products seem to exemplify this.

[taeclee99]

Lipstick on a pig.

[michaelz]

Hybrid system for both multi-touch and mouse+keyboard is what apple should have in OS X Lion. I hope Microsoft can do it right this time.

[zipster]

I love the idea of live tiles.

Icons are yesterday's way of representing apps.

[ghostface147]

Originally Posted by troop231

Downloading a copy tonight, can't wait

Ditto, but I will be running it in the VM.

[justinfreid]

If Microsoft ends up shipping a tablet with a fan the whole team that designed the product needs to be fired.

[ArztMac]

Tablet with a fan... LOL!

[Mattsasa]

Originally Posted by codewrangler

What a horrible interface. It really makes me want to throw up....really....

I really hate having to use windows, but I think this interface is a step in the right direction.

I also believe windows 8 will kill android tablets,

and damage ipad sales.

this will also probably lead to windows phone 8, which will probably also eventually overtake android.

I am really curious to see how the average consumer reacts to this, some will love it, some will be scared to death.



they really pushed touch on laptops and desktops, but no one will want to hold there arm in that position.. even if it feels nice

----------

Originally Posted by troop231

Sign up on the msdn website.

k cool... price?

[alent1234]

Originally Posted by Peace

" The company has "reimagined" the software to allow a single operating system to run on a variety of systems from tablets to desktops and Intel to ARM."

Sounds familier for some reason. hmmm

Who has done that before..

microsoft in the 1990's. windows NT ran on 3 or 4 different CPU's and the workstation and server versions were essentially the same thing.

i read in a blog long ago that microsoft actually started this back in 2001 or 2002. bill gates even had Windows CE that was a stripped down kernel to run in mobile devices in the 1990's

[siner55]

Windows 8 so called "tablet UI" looks so disorganized & ugly. plus this update does't bring much to the desktop experience of windows .

[Peikko]

Ah, so many different impressions on the preview package, always a challenge to pick an article to quote in the news post, eh?

Anyways, for a change of pace, here's another set of thoughts from Engadget's article.

[...]

Wrap-up

With the introduction of OS X Lion, Apple gave us a glimpse at what a post-PC operating system might look like, and now Microsoft's gone and pushed that idea to the limit. If Cupertino's latest was a tease, than Windows 8 is full frontal. And we have to admit, we like what we see. Sure this may not be the final build, or anywhere near it, but for whatever flaws it may have, the UI being offered in this developer preview is really something special. Time will tell if the "one ecosystem to rule them all" approach will catch on, but for now it's time to give props where props are due -- at least until we can get our hands on a final build.

[Flitzy]

Originally Posted by codewrangler

What a horrible interface. It really makes me want to throw up....really....

Exactly.

Not impressed really - and what's with the home screen? Talk about awful.

[KPOM]

Originally Posted by taeclee99

Lipstick on a pig.

I disagree. This looks very promising. There are still plenty of opportunities for Microsoft to screw this up (and they have a "tick-tock" history of screw-up followed by fix-up), but the Metro UI might work very well with tablets. The Samsung Slate looks pretty good (MacBook Air-class hardware in a tablet design). The rapid boot times are welcome.

Windows 8 is far more radical a redesign than OS X Lion was. Apple clearly sees separate OSes for the foreseeable future, while Microsoft is doubling down on its decade-old bet that the desktop OS should also be the tablet OS. For the first time, however, Microsoft appears to be designing the OS for use on tablets rather than making the feature an afterthought. Plus, it runs on ARM processors, so it opens up the possibility for a desktop OS running on mobile equipment.

[nagromme]

One product being all things to all users/devices sounds great!

I don’t expect the reality to be as good as the sound But credit to Microsoft for trying some new things, as evidenced by Windows Phone 7. (Unlike so much we’ve seen with Android, Microsoft truly didn’t ape the iPhone!)

I believe that iOS and Mac OS are better products for being separate—and cross-pollinating to share their respective advances. But it’s very unlike Microsoft (or at least Ballmer) to see why that is.

[zipster]

Honestly, this looks promising.

Unlike Lion, which is a load of crap.

[alent1234]

Originally Posted by Mattsasa

how can I become a microsoft dev?

$800 for a MSDN subscription. or ask your employer to buy it.