Windows 8: Microsoft’s Boldest Reinvention In Years

At first glance
On June 2011, Microsoft officially unveiled the most anticipated upcoming version of Microsoft Windows- Windows 8 at the Computer Electronics Show (Computex 2011).The most impressive features portrayed were the improved touch features and a totally refurbished user interface. Microsoft also claimed that Windows 8 will use the processor and the physical memory more proficiently, to allow smoother operation.Important features

  • The start menu has been replaced by the new start screen, which includes live application tiles. The applications on the start screen include Investments, User Personal Page, Windows Store, and User’s MSN account
  • Windows 8 includes a new “Hybrid Boot” option that uses “advanced hibernation functionality” on shutdown to decrease start up times
  • Windows 8 will support a wide range of different 16:9 screen resolutions
  • A stripped down “Immersive” version of Internet Explorer, similar to the mobile version of the Internet Explorer has been included
  • An additional new attribute is the ability to create a Portable Workspace, an installation of Windows 8 on a USB storage device

Windows 8 – an OS made for touch use
Windows 8 bears a strong resemblance to the Windows Phone 7’s software using tiles for swapping rather than clicking to navigate. The new version of windows works efficiently for laptop and desktop PCs with a keyboard and a mouse as well as on light and thin tablets with touch screens. Like all modern tablet operating systems, the new windows will display an onscreen keyboard. The User Interface appears clean and self-evident, and it employs some coolest UI advancements for multitasking that a lot tablet users need desperately.

There’s no suspicion that Microsoft was influenced by Apple. In an interview Windows President Steven Sinofsky explained to meeting co-host Walt Mossberg that “a word we utilized a lot in improving it was ‘modern’, and also how to believe of it in a different path that handles a bunch of the things that people say or see they are handled in an iPad.”

Major drawbacks
The new version has created a major problem for the WPF+.NET developers as the fear the gradual shift from the FULL platform to Silverlight. Also Microsoft has always been scared to hurt any of its potential customers, so it characteristically piles up loads of features and ends up with a Frankenstein monster like Microsoft Office.

If Windows 8 stands up to the expectations of its users, it can resolve some of the major limitations presented by an iPad or an Android tablet.