Microsoft Previews Windows 8 with Cues from iPad and App Store

[Thunderhawks]

Well.... it will be a defining release for MS... Such a big departure from the norm, if it doesn't catch on, it will hurt.

Personally... i think it will be confusing for a desktop or laptop. Nice for a tablet, but too much screen changing for desktop where you just want to click to another window.

But things must progress and the standard folder/icon UI has been around for a long time. But again... not a fan of tiles. They look uninspired and plain.

Same here.

This needs a LOT of work. Anytime one has to read a lot instead of clicking on an intuitive icon.

And, why clutter up a space with filler tiles. The smaller an area to manage the better.

MS needs to get some really better graphic designers. Most of their artwork looks blah and uninspired. It does not pop at you.

Apple also has a few clunkers (itunes logo, Thunderbolt etc.) but for the most part they have excellent icons.

While the idea of touch screen is good in theory (people naturally point and put their fingers on the screen), I'd prefer voice control and I don't like smeared up large screens.

Maybe a good promo collaboration coming:

WINDEX for Windows 8

 

[Jayomat]

looks good, especially the fact that you can have app "side-by-side" is great. I hope they realize that for tabs etc. aswell.. good times =)

iOS really looks ancient and stale. We have this homescreen look since 2007, and while it is generally good and really easy to use (which is why people loved it in the first place), I don't think it's the end of "evolution" of Touch-based UIs and really lacks some functionality people want. And please don't forget that the standard aero UI is still there, you don't have to use any of this..

I'm excited for win8 as well as iOS5.. !!!!!

 

[NSeven]

Like anything Microsoft do... Who actually cares..

 

[0815]

So are they going to get rid of the name "Windows" and call it "Microsoft Tiles 1.0" instead?

I mean, the name Windows really isn't a good fit anymore since the windows are getting replaced by tiles (and 'windows' are only in the legacy view).

I really like that they take a fresh look at things - something that was really needed. It is still too early to judge on anything this it will be still a long time until this comes to the market. For an early stage prototype, this looks pretty good (not perfect, but that is to be expected from an early prototype where they toy with ideas)

 

[AidenShaw]

If there is someone using a 5 year old machine with XP on it... they are certainly not gonna run out and buy a copy of Windows 7 (would it even run?).

It most likely would run - but one might need to upgrade the RAM. Some budget video cards might not work, so you might need to upgrade those as well.

I check Fry's May 12 2006 sale, and virtually every system there would work as long as the 1 GiB RAM requirement is met.

In that ad, the MBP was a 1.83 GHz Core Duo with 512 MiB RAM and an X1600 graphics. The Imac had the same specs. Bump the RAM to 2 GiB, and these would be good Windows 7 systems. Not as snappy as a Core i7, but fine.

Windows 7 System Requirements

Most of the older XP machines won't run Windows 7 well, and IE 9 won't run on XP.

Agree if "older" means 6 to 10 years old. Five years ago was when the Core Duo was the headline CPU, and 3+ GHz Pentium 4 was the standard CPU (from Intel). Adding RAM would be important, since Win7 should have at least 2 GiB for good performance - and 512 MiB seemed to be the norm for mid-2006.

 

[Steve121178]

Like anything Microsoft do... Who actually cares..

I'm sure Apple will copy it...

 

[tdream]

Same here.

This needs a LOT of work. Anytime one has to read a lot instead of clicking on an intuitive icon.

And, why clutter up a space with filler tiles. The smaller an area to manage the better.

MS needs to get some really better graphic designers. Most of their artwork looks blah and uninspired. It does not pop at you.

Apple also has a few clunkers (itunes logo, Thunderbolt etc.) but for the most part they have excellent icons.

While the idea of touch screen is good in theory (people naturally point and put their fingers on the screen), I'd prefer voice control and I don't like smeared up large screens.

Maybe a good promo collaboration coming:

WINDEX for Windows 8

They are not going to copy Mac style because everyone will accuse them of that. People like you. At least it is different and will appeal to android users too as they generally tend to have a lot of widget interfaces.

Overall I think Microsoft is reacting to Apple when they previewed Lion last year. Apple's rumors about Macbooks eventually running on ARM hardware has motivated Microsoft to do the same and both companies are converging their OSes to run on these low power platforms. Lion will have iPad style like interface and most of the apps on Mac don't require the power of a core2duo or icore processor. At least Microsoft are in the game and remaining slightly competitive. Still prefer icons myself but will look forward to using Windows 8.

 

[RWinOR]

Interesting, HTML5. Could this be another nail in the Flash coffin. Is another major OS abandoning Flash?

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Like anything Microsoft do... Who actually cares..

I'm sure Apple will copy it...

Copy what? Copy more complexity, more cruft?

This is the same old Windows. The same baggage with a layer over it.

Apple's approach is completely the opposite. And it's the one that actually works.

 

[Lone Deranger]

I've heard the claim that "Apples last longer than PCs" so often, but the XP stats seem to make that claim doubtful. There are a lot of old XP machines that just keep chugging along.

Operative word being 'chugging'.

"chug 1 | ch əg|
verb ( chugged , chugging ) [ intrans. ]
emit a series of regular muffled explosive sounds, as of an engine running slowly"

 

[Steve121178]

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Copy what? Copy more complexity, more cruft?

This is the same old Windows. The same baggage with a layer over it.

Apple's approach is completely the opposite. And it's the one that actually works.

I cast my line and you took the bait.

Regarding Windows 8, I've been running Windows 8 Milestone 2 & 3 builds and whilst it's still early days, it's great. I'm speaking as someone who has user experience of the OS, rather than someone who's full of heresy and BS...

 

[ct2k7]

Cues from iPad? I don't think so.

 

[Optimus Frag]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

The iOS and iPad DNA is clear in that video but I've got to say that does look like some cool stuff Microsoft have put together there. Can't deny it.

I'm sure Apples OS11 (whenever it appears) is more cooler however.

 

[deadkennedy]

Much as I love OSX and will be using Lion, I think that looks pretty good. Microsoft have made some pretty brave design choices in the past year!

Please, the power of OSX is not just the polished UI. It is the power of Terminal, Darwin, POSIX, PLUS the polished UI. Windows can make the best UI in the world but they can never get back into the herd of quality OS's because of deviations they made early on.

 

[0815]

Cues from iPad? I don't think so.

Agreed. As much as I probably fall into the class of a Apple Fanboy ... I like what I see here - it is something new and unique - and still to early to tell if the final version will be usable on a big desktop, but looks like a nice fresh idea for tablets and netbooks. But at least you have to credit Microsoft for thinking out of the box ("think different")

 

[Sturmi12]

Please, the power of OSX is not just the polished UI. It is the power of Terminal, Darwin, POSIX, PLUS the polished UI. Windows can make the best UI in the world but they can never get back into the herd of quality OS's because of deviations they made early on.

Even if you don't like to hear it, Windows is a quality OS.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

looks interesting. I think it will actually be pretty cool on tablets... kb/m though, not so much. This also seems to just be a "layer" on top of normal old windows when they get down to the file system and stuff. I kind of like the idea of tiles. Merges apps with widgets (which have been rather lame and useless thus far). Will be interesting to see more of this in the future and some kb/m impressions.

 

[BJMRamage]

Have to watch the videos here sometime but from what I gather the cues from iPad are that people love the simplicity of the interface and apps. This is where MS is taking their OS to that same approach.

Over the years MS has glossified their UI and made things a tad transparent, basically taking the same tried and true approach and modifying it slightly in the hopes that shiny bells and whistles will make it better in the mind's eye. While Apple has had a similar approach, they modify their OS in a better way, making the application real estate larger rather than MS approach of making the side bars and buttons bigger which means less application data/info.

If this is structurally different and not simply an old OS with a new OS Costume than this will run smoothly, however adding more layers over the old will make this clunky on cheap laptops…a reason I HATE our current PC craptop.

I think the idea of seamless switching between mobile and desktop/laptop is headed in the right direction. Lean out the OS and make the switch seamless and maybe iCloud will help with that too.

 

[skinned66]

So the "pretty" part of it is HTML5 and not flash?

Microsoft would use silverlight before they would use flash.

 

[kalsta]

Wow… Microsoft is really taking some risks with this UI!

I see some people knocking the graphic design… Are you kidding? This can't be the same guys who brought us 'Aero'. Aero always looked like it was designed by some kid on work experience and later tweaked by committee. By contrast, this has some class to it. I thought it was a pretty slick demo too — one that makes me want to try a Windows 8 tablet when they hit the shelves.

BUT…

Wait...

First they tried to say that their Windows 7 worked perfectly fine for tablets (which is of course wrong).

Now they have designed an UI that is clearly designed for small touch devices and want to tell us that this works for computers just as well?

Did I miss something or is it safe to say that these people are totally confused?

I'm wondering the same thing… How well can one interface really handle the very different styles of user input? It was one thing for them to get it wrong with the tablet in its infancy… but this time they're playing with a 90% Windows market-share. Well, if nothing else, it makes things interesting!

But at least you have to credit Microsoft for thinking out of the box ("think different")

That you do!

 

[petvas]

Steve Jobs was right to say that the iPad changes everything...

 

[ivladster]

Ummm, are they for real

This is insane. Microsoft has no respect towards user experience for their customers. This seems like a dying act to get some attention. How can you go from Windows 7 to this. This is a HUGE, RADICAL, INSANE change. It's almost as different as switching from PC to MAC. User interfaces suppose to change gradually to something better with one goal on the horizon. How does Microsoft expect a 50 year old to switch to this completely new way of thinking.

 

[petvas]

Microsoft presented to us something completely new but let us think about it for a sec. What has Microsoft actually done here? They were under pressure to bring something out to compete in the tablet market. On the other hand, they have to protect their markets and they think that the best way of doing this, is by capitalizing on the Windows brand. they had also said many times that Windows is the answer to everything.
Consider all of these facts, it is no wonder what happened with Windows 8. A hybrid OS, built for everything but phones. I think that the new GUI isn't just a skin, but actually a shell. The new interface is by no means appropriate for a desktop computer. It can impress people by its simplicity, but nothing more. For serious computing people will still be using the classic GUI, so there are no advantages there. Microsoft is trying to marry different technologies together, but that cannot have a good ending. What they haven't understood is that they are putting Windows share in danger here.

 

[Flitzy]

You can put lipstick on a pig but, at the end of the day, it'll still be a pig.

Put all the window dressing you want, it'll still run horribly like Windows 7, Vista, and the rest of them.

 

[petvas]

You can put lipstick on a pig but, at the end of the day, it'll still be a pig.

Put all the window dressing you want, it'll still run horribly like Windows 7, Vista, and the rest of them.

Windows 7 is by no means bad. It is a very good OS.