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Windows 8 in 2012, Beta as Early as 2011

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:17:26 +0100

Windows 8 in 2012, Beta as Early as 2011
Milestone 1 has been reached, reportedly

Microsoft started dropping the first Windows 8 references as early as March 2009; yes, long before Windows 7 was finalized. And the next iteration of the Windows client and server operating systems are now taking shape in Redmond. The software giant already confirmed officially that Windows 8 client and Windows 8 Server are being developed in parallel. Just as it was the case for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Still, the company is mute on the evolution of Windows, including features, capabilities, the actual timetable, etc.

The successor of Windows 7 is planned for availability within three years after the GA of its predecessor. Microsoft said it would impose such a rhythm after the release of Windows Vista, promising to never again repeat the gap between Windows XP and the delivery of the OS initially codenamed Longhorn. It took the software giant less than three years after Vista’s general availability to offer Windows 7 to customers around the world, and the same is valid for Windows 8.

In this regard, Windows 8 is reportedly planned for release by mid-2012, some two years away. Mary-Jo Foley reveals that the planning stage for the platform has been already finalized, and that Microsoft already wrapped up the first Milestone for Windows 8. Some Softpedia readers might still remember that Windows 7 M1 (Milestone 1) was served to early adopters for testing at the end of 2007, with the first copies leaking as early as 2008, a year after Windows Vista hit store shelves.

150 million sold copies of Windows 7 later, we are now at a little after eight months since the latest major version of Windows was released, and almost a year since it RTM’d. Just the right time for Microsoft to start the actual coding for Windows 8.

The company is bound to produce a few Milestone releases of Windows 8, before actually taking it to the next level, and producing the first Beta build. If Windows 7’s development process offers any clues, Windows 8 could hit Beta as early as mid-2011, a year from now. Of course, all reports related to Windows 8 need to be taken with a grain of salt, since no actual details were confirmed by Microsoft.

Windows 8: Under the hood

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:05:06 +0100

The 'fundamentals' Microsoft is aiming for with Windows 8 include "a fast on/off experience, responsiveness, and a great level of reliability from the start".

The 'big three' are boot time, shutdown time and battery life ("Windows 8 PCs turn on fast, nearly instantly in some cases, and are ready to work without any long or unexpected delays") but Microsoft is also thinking about how long it takes to get things done - how long until you read your first email, see the home page in your browser or start playing media. PCs should feel like an appliance that's ready to use as soon as you turn on the power.

Mobile PCs should resume 'instantly' from sleep (in under a second from S3 sleep), and booting up will be faster because of caching, with a boot layout prefetcher and the ReadyBoost cache persisting even when you reboot.

As only 9% of people currently use hibernate (which will work more quickly in Windows 8 because system information will be saved and compressed in parallel), Windows 8 will have a new Logoff and Hibernate combination that closes your apps like shutting the PC down does and refreshes your desktop like restarting does, but actually caches drivers, system services, devices and much of the core system the way hibernation does.

Turning the PC back on will take about half the time a cold boot needs (and the slides point out that on many PCs the power-on tests take longer than the Windows startup, so BIOS makers need to shape up).

It will be the default option but it won't be called Logoff and Hibernate; Microsoft is debating terms like Shutdown, Turn Off, Power Down and thinking through how the other options for turning the PC off will show up in the interface.

You'll be able to use an encrypting hard drive to boot Windows 8 and they'll integrate with BitLocker and third-party security apps.

Improving battery life will be based on some deep changes to the kernel; removing an interrupt in the kernel scheduler completely and removing more of the timers that interrupt Windows when it's trying to save power.

Windows 8 might get the same option for powering down unused areas of memory to save power that's on the cards for Windows Server, it will block disk reads and writes and some CPU access when you're not doing anything on your PC and PCI devices can turn off completely when they're not in use (assuming the drivers for specific devices support it).

Windows 7 stopped laptops waking up automatically when they're not plugged in; Windows 8 will get a new 'intelligent alarm' that can wake them up for things like virus scans, but only if they're plugged in.

OEMs will get new test tools that check the performance, reliability, security and Windows Logo compatibility of the PC, as well as measuring performance in Outlook and IE. And depending on whether partners have "concerns" about it, Microsoft might give the same tools to journalists, IT pros and users.

Help and support is back
In Windows XP the Help and Support centre was a branded hub of tools and links; in Windows 7 it's far more minimal. Windows 8 will go back to the branded experience, with integrated search for support forums run by your PC manufacturer but add the Windows 7 troubleshooters.

It will also link better with the Action Center, with tools that show more clearly what's happening on your PC; what apps are running, what resources are being used (like Task Manager showing which apps are using the most network bandwidth), how and when things have changed and what they can do about it. It will also include an Application Management tool that will let you find what apps are causing performance problems and adjust or remove them.

The Windows pre-boot recovery environment will be simpler, combining the safe mode and 'last known good' options into one interface. It will use what Microsoft calls 'superboot' to remove malware and rootkits

If you have to reset your PC, Windows 8 will restore "all the files settings and even the applications" although you'll have to go to the Windows Store to download apps and get a list of apps that didn't come from the store, so it's not clear how automatic this will actually be.

Devices matter (almost) as much as PCs
One of the reasons that Windows took off in the first place was working more easily with devices - in those days, printers. Support for a wide range of devices is one of the reasons it's hard to other OSes to challenge Windows but Microsoft would like to get hardware manufacturers to do more with the sensor platform and DeviceStage interface it introduced in Windows 7.

With Windows 8, Microsoft wants to see "PCs use location and sensors to enhance a rich array of premium experiences. Users are not burdened with cumbersome tasks that Windows can accomplish on its own. Users are neither annoyed or disturbed by the actions the PC takes. Instead, the PC's behaviour becomes integrated into users' routine workflows. Devices connect faster and work better on Windows 8 than on any other operating system."

The 'current thinking' is for Windows 8 to include Microsoft's own Wi-Fi location service Orion (which has 50-100m accuracy in North America and Western Europe but falls back to using the location associated with IP addresses elsewhere, which can be as bad as 25km).

Orion will be used in Windows Phone 7 (as well as Hawaii, a Microsoft Research project to build cloud-enabled mobile apps which refers to Orion as a 'prototype service'). Microsoft partnered with Navizon in March to use their Wi-Fi and mobile network location database but the slides claim that Orion is buying a bigger database than Navizon's 15 million access points, giving it 40 million compared to Google's 48 million (neither matches the 120 million Skyhook gives the iPhone).

Location will be available to the browser as well as to any app that's written to use it (music players as well as mapping tools), and web apps will get access to webcams.

Microsoft is emphasising the privacy aspect of location and webcam use, with mockups of how apps can ask for location and users can choose to deny it or only allow it once. And it's also asking PC manufacturers how many devices they plan to put GPS in and offering a Device Stage interface for using a PND like a Garmin nuvi as a GPS source for your PC.

As we've said before, Device Stage will become the standard way you work with devices; Microsoft previewed the options you'll get with a featurephone and a webcam as well as GPS.

Along with GPS, Microsoft is expecting PCs to include infrared sensors as well as the ambient light sensors that are becoming common, and the accelerometers that are in tablets with rotating screens.

Put that together and the PC could know which way up it is, whether there's anyone in front of it - or near it and what the lighting is like in the room. So when you walk into the room your PC notices and wakes itself up so by the time you sit down the webcam is ready to recognise you - and no waiting or having to line your face up with a box on screen.

If this works, the camera will pick your face out of the room, like Photo Gallery finding a face in a picture (hopefully without thinking the face in a picture on the wall is you). When you walk away it goes back to sleep again.

We like the idea of rotation lock buttons on 'Lap PCs' so you can move them around to control a game without flipping he screen repeatedly; again, if you look away from the game, Microsoft envisages it pausing automatically and if you pass a slate to someone it will switch to their account automatically.

What's in: USB 3, Bluetooth hands free and headset profiles (mono and stereo audio).

What's out: Microsoft has no plans to support Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed, 1394 might be deprecated and Microsoft seems to expect USB 2 ports to be phased out in favour of USB 3 within the lifetime of Windows 8.

What's under consideration: Bluetooth Low Energy (from Bluetooth 4.0). What's not mentioned: Intel LightPeak, although Microsoft does ask if it's missing anything on its list of connectivity.

Windows 8 will know who you are
With better ways to log in to your PC, like your face, Microsoft is considering giving Windows 8 a way to "securely store usernames and passwords, simplifying the online experience".

Your Windows account might connect more directly to the cloud than just having a Windows Live ID, logging into web sites on your behalf; there's very little detail on this but it could revive the CardSpace technology introduced in Vista but not widely adopted.

Put it all together and you get some welcome improvements. It's impossible to say if Microsoft can come up with a simple enough programming system to appeal to the developers it wants to create Windows apps to rival Apple's App Store.

Until we see some code in action it's also hard to say if the 'instant on' and better battery life will transform the PC experience to compete with lightweight systems based on Android (or if Microsoft can deliver them) and make the PC scale from the tablet to the heavyweight systems we have today – which Windows has to do if it's going to stay the dominant PC OS.

Everything else here is incremental – as it would have to be if Microsoft really expects to release Windows 8 by 2011, but it's potentially disappointing if it comes in 2012 and there's nothing else exciting in Windows 8.

New Windows Logo Concept For Win8 and other M$ products

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:03:51 +0100

New Windows Logo Concept For Win8 and other M$ products

The Windows logo has suffered a range of transformations over the past two decades, and while the fundamental design has kept its consistency, the visual identity of Microsoft’s proprietary operating system has evolved along with the platform. Just the other day, the company’s Windows Recession Sweepstakes focused on having participants point out which of the various Windows logos they prefer. A video published recently on YouTube reveals some rather edgy approaches to overhauling the logos for Windows and additional Microsoft products, from the MGX (Microsoft Global Exchange).

While the video can no longer be accessed, having been pulled down, some screenshots are still available, revealing new concept logos for Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox, Bing and Office, courtesy of Engadget. Users should keep in mind the fact that the logos included in this article are nothing more than concepts. In this regard, Microsoft emphasized that Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox, Bing and Office will continue to be marketed under their current visual identities.

The designs included in the MGX are only experiments set up to illustrate the flexibility of the software giant’s joined brands. However, users should not expect to see major rebrands for any of the product mentioned above.

Still, there is one aspect of the video which was actually confirmed officially by Microsoft. The Redmond company will be getting a new motto to go along with its brand. According to the software giant the new tagline is “Be What’s Next.” Microsoft has yet to reveal the official date when the new motto will go live, or under what circumstances it will be featured alongside the now traditional logo for the company. “be What’s Next” is certainly illustrative of a break from tradition, emphasizing a new Microsoft, that not only focuses on the future, but that is also an invitation to embrace it.

here is a short flash video clip of the logos in motion:

Code: [Select]

http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/957b8774

8 amazing things Windows 8 will do

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:02:35 +0100

8 amazing things Windows 8 will do

PC users have been speculating on the features that might be offered by Windows 8 for some time. However, thanks to Microsoft planning documents shared with HP and other OEM partners that were leaked online recently, we've been to take a wholly unexpected sneak peak at Windows 8.

Microsoft only released Windows 7 last year, but it hasn't stopped PC users speculating on what the next OS, Windows 8, will offer.

Luckily for the public, Microsoft planning documents shared with HP and other OEM partners were leaked recently, providing a wholly unexpected Windows 8 sneak preview.

Some of the details are sparse, and Microsoft's plans are likely to change significantly between now and the actual release of Windows 8. But, based on Microsoft's current planning, here's a look at 8 amazing things you'll be able to do with Windows 8:

Log in to your PC with your face, instead of a password

By 2012 sensors such as microphones, cameras, GPS, accelerometers, and temperature and magnetic sensors will be common in most PCs, allowing Windows 8 to interact with the user's environment in new and interesting ways.

One scenario uses facial recognition software to verify a user's identity.

"Amish walks into his home office," Microsoft writes in one of many fictional scenarios outlined in the Windows 8 slide.

"The proximity sensor on his PC detects motion, and wakes the PC. By the time Amish sits down, his PC is powered up. It scans his face and logs him in. Finally, when Amish gets up and leaves, his PC notices that he's gone and locks itself and powers down."

Windows 8 may also eliminate the need for remembering passwords across multiple websites.

"Password pain has reached a tipping point," Microsoft says.

"Windows 8 could include a way to securely store usernames and passwords, simplifying the online experience"

Make Windows 8 follow you across devices

Microsoft wants to make your Windows identity user-centric, rather than machine-centric, meaning your settings and preferences would roam with you as you move from a desktop to a laptop, and to smaller devices like slate machines (read: a Windows 8 version of Apple's iPad).

"Windows accounts could be connected to cloud to make it easy to roam settings and preferences," Microsoft says.

Users of tomorrow may have a laptop for productivity applications, writing e-mail and organising photos, movies and music, and a slate optimised for web and media consumption, causal gaming, IM and social networking, and reading and sorting email. With the same Windows 8 login across devices, a user might start a game on one machine and then finish it on another.

Importantly, the software licence will roam with a user, Microsoft says in one slide.

Use iPad-like touchscreens

Microsoft is telling partners it will outdo Apple by building a better touch screen for slate PCs. Windows 8 will also support accelerometers and location-awareness for gaming and other functions, while adjusting the screen brightness to changes in light.

"Users are able to hold their slate/tablet PCs in any orientation and Windows will smoothly and automatically change the screen orientation to accommodate," Microsoft says.

"Users never have to think to interact using touch on their slates. Users can type confidently and efficiently on the soft keyboard with touch. The soft keyboard is easily launched, text prediction is more accurate, the UI is more usable, and throughput is increased for everyone. We can adapt to changes in ambient light, so that the display is always easy to see."

Watch HD movies on your wireless TV

Windows 8 will integrate with a variety of technologies to let users pick out TV shows and movies and stream them to any screen. Turn on your laptop, find a movie online or in your hard drive, and with a click of a button you'll be able to watch it on whichever TV screen you choose.

"Users can easily discover and connect to a wide variety of modern displays like wireless televisions and monitors, wireless docking stations, and USB-connected monitors," Microsoft says.

"The user can easily light up displays around him with all his content and media, whether it is online or local. Developers can build modern experiences around display devices by leveraging Windows 8 support for premium media experiences, such as stereoscopic 3D and wireless TVs."

Download apps from the Windows App Store

A new app store based on the model made popular by Apple is mentioned in many of Microsoft's Windows 8 slides. While Microsoft insists that users still need an operating system in the age of the internet, the App Store is one of the ways in which Microsoft is adapting Windows to the web world.

There isn't a lot of information about what types of apps the store will contain, but Microsoft is trying to appeal to developers by letting them create apps in whichever language they prefer. The hope, obviously, is to provide a wide array of applications to rival the offerings of the Apple and Android stores.

Kill a virus, but keep your personal data

Viruses, unfortunately, often force users to restore their machines to the factory settings, a painful process that involves loss of applications and personal data. Microsoft, however, is working on a new reset option that will retain files and personalisation settings while giving users an easy way to reinstall applications.

In one of the scenarios detailed in Microsoft slide decks, a user named 'Jon' (no relation to me) decides to reset his Windows 8 PC.

"Jon notices that his Windows 8 PC is starting to perform poorly and he can't figure out what to do," the slide says.

"He presses the reset button and chooses to reset his windows 8 PC. ... knowing that all his stuff is safe. Windows 8 automatically retains files and personalisation settings, and migrates the user accounts. Windows is restored to the factory image and restarts. After restarting Jon can launch the App Store to reinstall applications he purchased there and see a list of other applications that he had installed outside of the App Store."

Boot your machine near-instantly

Microsoft seems to be putting a premium on improving the start times in Windows 8. A March 2010 Windows Planning Survey polled 545 customers about 21 user activities, and found that starting the computer tops the list when it comes to 'highest importance/lowest satisfaction in terms of speed and performance'.

Mean boot times have decreased from 40 seconds to 27 seconds from Windows Vista to Windows 7, according to the slides, but Microsoft wants greater improvement.

"Boot performance is getting better but it is not 'instant on'", as one slide says.

Technologies in development could cut boot time in half, Microsoft's planning slides suggest. Windows 8 may also include a "new off state combining the best of hibernate with a boot/shutdown look and feel".

Take more control over your machine

One goal of Windows 8 is to simplify the user experience, but Microsoft also wants to give the savviest users new ways of interacting with the operating system. The new user interfaces will make it easier for PC owners to understand the resources their machines use, and improve start-up times and power efficiency by killing unneeded processes and applications.

"Windows 8 will arm users with an effective set of tools that will both deepen their understanding of the state of their PC and enable them to fine-tune their PC experience," Microsoft says.

"Users will be presented with helpful and intuitive views of the system, applications running, resources being used, helpful personal and historical context, along with actionable, timely and pertinent advice and suggestions."