Some of the screenshots will look very familiar to Windows 7 users, however notice the addition of a Ribbon to My Computer, and a greatly improved task manager.

To check out Windows 8 yourself, read how to install Windows 8 on a virtual machine.

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More Windows 8 Screenshots.

Windows 8 Build 8102 Screenshots – Part I is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

After a few mistakes downloading and installing Windows 8 Pre-Beta on a virtual machine (no fault of Microsoft’s – just me being stupid), I eventually got it to install smoothly in record time.  Start to finish the whole process took me under 15 minutes, and that was using a SATA drive and not my SSD drive which was too small.

We’ll be publishing screenshots of all the new features we can find in Windows 8 Pre-Beta in the days to come, starting with the Windows 8 installation screenshots below.

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Windows 8 Pre-Beta (Build 8102) Installation Screenshots is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Now that the Microsoft Build Conference has ended, you can now download a pre-beta copy of Windows 8.  As this is an early build of Windows 8, it is not recommended that you install this on a production machine as it might not be stable enough.  Also, some features in this build may not make it through to the final version of Windows 8.

To download windows 8 pre-beta, click on the relevant like below.  If you’ve installed the Windows 8 Build and need help or just want to discuss Windows 8 features, then you can do so below or in our new Windows 8 forum.

Windows 8 Developer Preview with developer tools English, 64-bit (x64)

Download

Windows 8 Developer Preview English, 64-bit (x64)

Download

Windows Developer Preview English, 32-bit (x86)

Download

Windows 8 Pre-Beta ISO Download Links is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Following Apple’s recent decision to phase out DVD drives in its PCs, it seems that Microsoft is planning on following suit with Windows 8.  DVD playback is built into Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate, thanks to a deal between Dolby and Microsoft.

However, on a recent earnings call Dolby Chief Financial Officer revealed that no such deal will be in place for Windows 8:

Whether this will lead to PC manufacturers doing deals with Dolby remains to be seen.  By making this decision, it is possible that Microsoft are betting that most Windows 8 users won’t want or need a DVD drive in their shiny new Windows 8 PC.

I most certainly won’t miss having a DVD drive as I rarely use one.  None of my PCs have a DVD drive installed, although I have a portable DVD drive I keep in a cupboard that I take out maybe once every 3 months.  Last week my wife bought a CD for the first time in years, and it was quite comical trying to remember how to remove the copy protection to make a copy as it had been so long.

Will you miss having a DVD drive in Windows 8?  What do you think will be Windows 8 Min Spec?

Source: All About Microsoft

Windows 8 To Ditch DVD Support? is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Mosaic Mango Editon is based on the popular Mosaic project which we featured at the start of last month.

Mosaic adds Windows 8 Metro UI widgets to the Windows 7 desktop, and Mosaic Mango Edition gives the widgets  a Windows Phone 7 Mango look & feel.

Mosaic - Mango Edition

Download

To read more about the project, click here.

Download Mosaic Mango Edition is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Over on our sister site Windows 7 News & Tips, Martin reviewed a new application called Pulmon that allows you to add Metro UI tiles from Windows 8 to your Windows 7 desktop.  Pulmon is in beta, so make sure you backup before you install this utility.

Click here to read Martin’s review.  We’ve also added the download to our download section.

Pulmon

Download

More: Pulmon

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Want to see your name in lights?  We are now accepting guest posts from our readers.  You can submit guest posts either for this site, but also for our sister site Windows 7 News.

What are we looking for?  Anything related to Windows 7 or Windows 8, but especially submissions that are topical and encourage discussion amongst our readers.

If you’re interested, then read the Windows 8 guidelines here or the Windows 7 guidelines.

If you don’t have 300 or more words in you, and just want to share something quickly with readers then the new Windows 8 Forums are available.  Registering is just as easy – you can connect your facebook, twitter, google, wordpress, yahoo or OpenID account. Or, you can create a fresh account with this site.

Write For Windows 8! Submit A Guest Post is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

I’ve just discovered that their was a problem with the splogger protection on the new Windows 8 Forum, that was blocking ALL registrations.  If you tried to register earlier, please try again to register.

Apologies for the hassle.  If you haven’t registered yet, read more here.

Apologies If You Tried To Register For The Forum Today is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Although we try our best to keep readers up to date with the latest Windows 8 News, we’d like to announce that we’ve created a new Windows 8 Forum to make it easier for readers to connect with other readers and to start their own topics and discussions.

The forums are fully integrated into the site, making access easy.  To visit the forums, just click on one of the links in the header or the sidebar. Registering is just as easy – you can connect your facebook, twitter, google, wordpress, yahoo or OpenID account.  Or, you can create a fresh account with this site:

So, go on register now and join the Windows 8 Discussion.

Join The New Windows 8 Forums is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

We’ve found another Windows 8 Theme to help you fill the gap until you can run Windows 8 legally as part of the Windows 8 testing program.

This Windows 8 theme contains:

- 8 Wallpapers.
- Windows 8 Start (New Style/ no more orbs).
- Windows 8 Longhorn Style Explorer.
- Windows 8 Logon Screen Style.
- Windows 8 System Properties.
- Taskbar Properties.
- Quick launch blue hovering(pinned feel).
- Taskbar Icon blue hovering(pinned feel).
- Taskbar Folder group will be Library Icon.
- Taskbar Group Size in 3 to be iconize.
- Shut down Button Startmenu( 7 Styler).
- New Search (7 Styler).
- Windows 8 (7 Styler) User Icon.
- Explorer Library Icon (7 Styler).

Ultimate Windows 8 Theme Collection

Download

Source: link

The Ultimate Windows 8 Themes Collection is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Enterprising designer Jozef has put together a very impressive Windows 8 Tablet Concept, called ‘Windows Slate 8‘ that attempts to combine the power of Windows 7 with the simplicity of Windows Phone 7.

It has a very appealing design and some of the elements would work well in Windows 8, for which preview videos are now available.

What do you think of Jozef’s design?

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More: Jozef’s blog

Windows 8 Tablet Concept is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Microsoft have switched naming policies for its main operating system a few times since Windows 1.0 was released in 1985:

• We had Windows 1.0, Windows 20 and then Windows 3.0/3.1
• Then Microsoft switched to years to name its consumer OS , starting with Windows 95 and then followed up by Windows 98 and Windows 2000
• Windows ME in 2000 saw a switch to product names (although ME did stand for ‘Millennium Edition’).  Hot on the heels of ME was Windows XP in 2001, which was replaced by Windows Vista in 2007.

Finally we had Windows 7, which at first was just a codename (previous codename was ‘Vienna’), buy eventually became the product name.  To read Why Windows 7 is version ’7′, read this post.

The replacement to Windows 7 was again codenamed ‘Windows 8′, but as pointed out on our sister site Windows 7 News, Microsoft have just confirmed that Windows 8 will be the official name for the next Build.  Let’s hope that at the conference held in September 2011, Microsoft release more details about Windows 8 release date.

At least we won’t need to change the name of this site!  I can’t wait to hear the next startup sound!

It’s Official: Windows 8 Name Confirmed is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

We were contacted today by one of our readers who has installed the latest Windows 8 Build 7989 on his tablet pc.  Below are the screenshots that we were sent along with some commentary for each exclusive screenshot.  Thank you very much Israeleet for sharing.

For more Windows 8 News & Rumors, remember to subscribe to this site using one of the options at the top of the right sidebar.

[Start slideshow]

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Windows 8 Build 7989 Screenshots + Metro UI is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Microsoft appear to be getting tough with sites that have been leaking Windows 8 features over the last couple of weeks.

Sites such as winreview.ru, PCPortal.org.ru and wst-place.ucoz.com have all closed, probably as a result of legal threats.  Winreview.ru posted on twitter that:

winrevuew.ru is not exists [sic] anymore because it is pointless project for me now.  not affiliated with MS requests

To read more:  Windows 7 News

Windows 8 Leak Sites Closed Down is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Some confidential Miicrosoft documents have been leaked online which give some clues as to what Windows 8 might include when it is released.

The information appears to have been presented at a Microsoft ‘Ecosystem Forum’ conference back in April.  Details that I have managed to glean about Windows 8 from the documents include:

• Adding GPS support to Windows 8 netbooks and laptops via the system motherboard or WWAN module
• Further sensor improvements – HID, accelerometers, proximity sensors (cool – PC wakes up when you walk into the room!) etc
• Focus on the “big 3s”: Boot Time, Shut Down Time, Batter Life continuing where Windows 7 left off – “Experiences: Time to first email received, Time to home page, Time to calendar or media playback…Windows 8 PCs turn on fast, nearly instantly in some cases, and are ready to work without any long or unexpected delays.  when customers want to check e-mail, sports scores, or play media they love to reach for their PCs because they can get to what they want quickly”
• Faster On from 0 Watts and Instant Sleep resume performance for mobile PCs
• Better restoration tools and ‘Connected Help and Support” – ‘Windows 8 can be restored to the factory default easily.  when resetting a Windows 8 PC, all of the files, settings and even the applications are restored.  End users have confidence in resetting their PC without having to call support

Thanks to Daniel for the documents.

New Information Leaked On Windows 8 is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

In tandem with our sister site Windows 7 News, we’ve been giving away over $9000 worth of software and hardware this month.  So far we’ve had some amazing prizes, and on Day 9 of our $9k Christmas Giveaway we are giving away one of our best prizes.  Today the lucky winner of our main reverse auction over will win $300 of free computer memory of their choice from Crucial Technology!  If you’re looking to give your Windows 7 PC a performance boost then adding good quality fast memory will do the trick.  To play all you have to do is visit our Christmas Giveaway auction site and start bidding in our reverse auction- all bids are free!

To read more and how to play click here.

If that wasn’t enough we are also giving away today:

• Uniblue PowerSute Worth $100
• WinX DVD Ripper Worth $29.99

Over on sister site ghacks we are also giving away hundreds of dollars of software away everyday – click here to visit their Christmas Giveway.

Win $300 Of Free Crucial Memory

Win $300 of high quality PC memory courtesy of Crucial Memory. Winner gets to choose their own memory up to a value of $300. Get bidding now! The lowest bid wins!

Crucial is a key brand in the Lexar Media family of products. As Memory Experts Crucial are the only DRAM supplier that’s part of a major memory manufacturer.

Crucial are one of the leading suppliers of high-quality memory that has been qualified and approved by most major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). On their website you can find innovative tools that will make it easy to choose compatible memory and recommended upgrades.

Visit Crucial Memory now for your next memory upgrade.

Win $300 Of Crucial Memory For Your PC! is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Several sites have been keeping a close eye on the job postings at Microsoft Careers, to see if there are any indicators on there as to what direction Windows 8 may go in.  In total in November they spotted seven job postings for Windows 8 and windows server 2008 R2.

One interesting job posting was for a software engineer to work on delivering critical updates through Windows Update for Windows 8:

The WinSE UX Test team is one of the most fun teams in Windows Sustaining Engineering to work with! We release hot-fixes, security patches and Service packs for all Windows platforms on a regular basis. We help keep our customer install base humming through a significant portion of the lifecycle of the product. If the experience of shipping deliverables to millions of people on a regular basis energizes you, if you enjoy working on issues that impact those millions of our customers all the time, if you enjoy being in the limelight, and if you enjoy the thrill of solving critical problems, you have come to the right place!!!

The WinSE UX test team needs an strong SDET to develop new test automation, write robust test plans, designing test cases, debug reported issues across Windows Shell and related UX, help establish sound test engineering processes, and influence and contribute to the serviceability of Win8. As an SDET on this team, you’ll design, implement, and execute various types of test automation, including functional, integration and release tests. You will also have several opportunities to write test tools, and work on security bugs, and will be interacting with PM and Dev counterparts in a dev/test/pm trio, and various partner teams. In this team, you will have an opportunity to ship important updates for Windows to solve critical reliability, performance and security issues via the Windows Update mechanism. This position requires strong communication and collaboration skills, and a drive for results. Overall, this position is best suited for a strong SDET looking for an opportunity to showcase your skills and innovate.

Another software engineer job posting asked for a Windows 8 tester:

The Windows International Test OOB (Out of Band) team is handling a variety of International test projects including Windows Small Business Server (SBS), Home Server, stand-alone out of band releases for Windows 7/Windows 8, and down-level support packages requested by different business divisions by utilizing a state-of-the art vendor outsourcing model.

As a team member in this position, you will write test plans for World-Readiness- (Globalization & Localizability) as well as Localization Testing, and develop and manage test tools and guidelines. You will also perform globalization code reviews as part of the OOB process using tools and globalization guidelines. In addition, you will have to engage with Program Managers, Developers, International Project Managers and partner SDETs to collaborate on specification reviews, scheduling as well as budgeting and planning. Test execution will be done by vendor test resources in Beijing, China, so management of remote vendor resource will also be required.

To see details on the other job postings, which give insights into Windows 8 security, click here.

More Job Postings Hint At Windows 8′s Future is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

In tandem with our sister site Windows 7 News & Tips we are giving away over $9000 this December.  Yes, everyday between Dec 1st and Dec 24th we are giving away prizes worth over $300!!

Entry is free and you can enter as many times as you want.  All you have to do is visit our Christmas Giveaway and start bidding for free on the prizes you want to win.  It’s a reverse auction so the lowest unique bid wins.

Auctions will run from 24 hours each day starting at 8PM PST – keep checking the site for details of the new prizes added daily that you can win!

Start bidding now!!

Also visit ghacks where Martin is also giving away thousands of dollars in prizes!!

We’re Giving Away $9K This December!! is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Last month a number of sites, including this one, picked up on rumours that Windows 8 would support 128 bit processors.  The main ‘source’ of the windows 8 128 bit rumours was a Robert Morgan who was a “senior member of Microsoft’s R&D team” who leaked information about Windows 8′s 128 bit capabilities on his LinkedIn profile.

However, it looks now like the information was fake and that Robert Morgan never actually existed:

• The LinkedIn page has since been removed (cached version)
• When questioned about Robert Morgan, Microsoft have replied that “Microsoft has no comment regarding Robert Morgan”

i.e. Microsoft have made no attempt to quash or confirm any leaks that have been made, maintaining the official radio silence around Windows 8.  As George has stated on our sister site, the official position from Microsoft is that Windows 8 is under development and that’s all they are prepared to say for now.

That’s not to say that Windows 8 won’t support 128bit processors, but it looks like this particular leak was probably started by sites looking to benefit from the traffic.  It was a nice story, but unfortunately it looks like we are still waiting for the first set of concrete information concerning Windows 8.

Windows 8 128 bit Rumours Were Fake? is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

More and more evidence is emerging that Windows 8 will be released in 2012.  At this years Professional Developer’s Conference (PDC 2009), budding attendees managed to get their hands on two Windows roadmap slides that show ‘Windows 8′ launching in 2012:

Now these slides don’t really provide any information that we didn’t know; Microsoft typically leave 3 years between each release and with Windows 7 launching this year, Windows 8 was always likely to be in 2012.  It is unlikely that Microsoft would pull Windows 8′s launch forward to 2011 because it would impact Windows 7 sales with customers delaying upgrades, and unlikely they would delay until 2013 as Windows 8′s development seems to be progressing quite nicely.

Source: Microsoft Kitchen

Windows 8 ‘Confirmed’ for 2012 Launch is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Resident editor Mike Halsey has just published on Windows 7 News, the latest post in his series ‘Looking Forward To Windows 8, What Microsoft Missed In Windows‘.  In part 5, he covers improvements he would like to see to Windows 7′s libraries and search  in Windows 8:

I’ve spoken before about Libraries being an excellent example of this. You can add folders to libraries, even on Homegroup connected PCs, but why can’t you filter those folder by content type, or have a library of all your Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) files? This is a very annoying omission and one that makes the otherwise excellent Libraries feature much less useful than Microsoft would like it to be.

To read the full post, click here.  Below you can find links to the earlier instalments in the series:

• Looking Forward To Windows 8, What Microsoft Missed In Windows, Part I
• Looking Forward To Windows 8, What Microsoft Missed In Windows, Part II
• Looking Forward To Windows 8, What Microsoft Missed In Windows, Part III
• Looking Forward To Windows 8, What Microsoft Missed In Windows, Part IV

Looking Forward To Windows 8, What Microsoft Missed In Windows 7, Part 5 is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

The dust hasn’t yet settled on the launch of Windows 7 and I’m fairly certain that in the new year, Microsoft will not only release Windows 7 SP1 but also (finally) some details of Windows 8.  Windows 7 is a brilliant OS, but there is still room for improvement.  What features would you add to your Windows 8 Wishlist?  My wishlist would include the following items:

1. Better dual monitor support: I want wallpapers that stretch across multiple wallpapers
2. Fewer versions: I think Microsoft are confusing too many users with the various versions.  Windows 7 was a step in the right direction with fewer versions; hopefully Windows 8 will no more than 3 versions
3. Customisable boot screens: (although hopefully windows 8 will boot so fast you won’t see it!)
4. Better multimedia network support: I run a number of media centers and it’s near on impossible to share playcounts, playlists etc across machines.  I want features like knowing what films on my server haven’t been watched
5. Ditch the taskbar: Integrate an improved flip or something better i.e just make a virtual taskbar appear anywhere on the screen on demand
6. An updated Windows Explorer: come on Microsoft, it’s getting a bit long in the tooth now and needs to be retired
7. A complete rewrite of the Windows code: with backwards compatability via an emulator
8. User account synchronisation: Why should I have to setup my bookmarks, folders, settings, preferences, files etc on each and every machine?  I want to login to any machine in my Homegroup and pickup where I left off
9. Better Updating & Maintenance: I would love it if Windows 8 ‘healed’ and ‘fixed’ itself in the background
10. Storage Array: My Windows Home Server just tells me how much storage I have available, rather than looking at each disk individually.  I hope Windows 8 treats storage this way, allowing users to allocate storage to users or to create ‘virtual drives’

Ten Items On My Windows 8 Wishlist is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Long after Donald Rumsfeld has died, he will be known (sic) for one of the worst quotes ever:

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.

Now although information about Windows 8 will eventually become available, rather than the lack of information to this day about WMDs, Windows 8 details still remain sketchy.  Here are Windows 8′s Known Knowns:

1. It will be called Windows 8 and there’s even a Windows 9 in the pipeline
2. It will be released no earlier than 2012 – it is unlikely it will be released in 2011
3. It will have new networking features
4. It will include 128 bit support and will see the end of 32 bit Operating Systems
5. It won’t be Microsoft’s last client based OS - Steve Ballmer says that won’t happen for 10-20 years.

Hopefully soon we will unravel Windows 8′s known unknowns and unknown unknowns!

Windows 8′s Known Knowns is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

To celebrate the launch of Windows 7 and (hopefully) the start of some news from Microsoft on Windows 8, Windows 7 Themes have pulled together a mega pack of 1250 Windows 8 Wallpapers:

The wallpaper package includes a lot of different wallpapers: dual-screen, panorama (ultra-wide wallpaper), firefox, mac, windows vista and 7, cars, nature, underwater scenes, gaming, 3D, CG, sexy babes, etc.

1250 Windows 8 Wallpapers takes up quite a lot of filespace, so the authors have pulled together a torrent to make it easier to download the wallpapers.

More: Wallpaper Download Link

Download 1250 Windows 8 Wallpapers is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Have you visited the Windows 8 Forum?  If not, then maybe you should today.  There are nearly 4,000 active users in the forum that we share with our sister site Windows 7 News, and a number of Windows 8 posts and rumours are starting to appear.

Register Now!

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Windows 7 when it launched on October 22nd will include versions for both 32 bit and 64 bit users.  It’s successor Windows 8 expected in 2011 was expected to only come in a 64 bit version, because Windows Server 2008 R2 was released in 64 bit form only and the next Windows OS was expected to follow suit.

However it is now believed that Windows 8 might ship in 64bit AND 128 bit versions, based on the linkedin profile of Microsoft employee Robert Morgan:

Working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and longterm projects. Research & Development projects including 128bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan. Forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP, and IBM.

Robert Morgan is working to get IA-128 working backwards with full binary compatibility on the existing IA-64 instructions in the hardware simulation to work for Windows 8 and definitely Windows 9.

Whether or not Windows 8 will support 128bit remains to be seen, but at this stage Microsoft are at least considering it.  I’m not sure how likely this will be though; 64 bit adoption is still low and although this will increase by 2011 I just fear that adding 128bit to Windows 8 will create a poor customer experience like Vista 64 bit, where driver availability was poor.

Eight Forums have manged to track down Robert via linkedin and they claim that he’s agreed to give them an interview  and he’s letting their readers ask questions.  Questions have to be submitted by October 11th.  If he really has agreed to do the interview, I’d be amazed if he still had a job at Microsoft on October 12th as news on Windows 8 is clearly embargoed at the moment.

Windows 8 To Be 128 Bit? is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

There’s been no sign of any official news or Windows 8 media, but that hasn’t stopped talented designers pulling together their own.  Rajesh Patel has created six Windows 8 Wallpapers that are available for download:

[Start slideshow]

More: Tweaking Windows

(Unofficial) Windows 8 Wallpapers is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

There have been a number of fake Windows 8 leaks over the last couple of weeks, most of them probably packed with viruses and spyware which I’d advise readers to steer well clear off.  As soon as a verified leak appears, you will hear about it first on this site.

My money is on a Windows 8 leak appearing in November after Windows 7 has been launched.

How Long Until We Get Our First Windows 8 Leak? is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Windows 7 isn’t out the door yet, but Microsoft seem to be making good progress with Windows 8.  A roadmap slide from Microsoft’s Italian subsidiary has Windows 8 penciled in for a 2012 release:

Note though that Windows 8 is down as approximately 2012.  Even still, it looks like Microsoft are sticking to their 2.5-3 year release cycle, with Windows Vista launching Jan 2007 (it was late), Windows 7 in October 2009 and Windows 8 in 2012.

Windows 8 is also denoted as ‘codemane Windows 8′ – does this mean that ‘Windows 8‘ will not be called Windows 8?

I’m expecting big things from Windows 8.  Although Windows 7 is a great release and adds several much needed improvements to Windows Vista, it’s still too familiar for me and doesn’t feel ‘new’ enough and I’m looking forward to getting a new OS to get my teeth into!

Windows 8 To Launch In 2012? is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Windows 8′s name was chosen because it will be the 8th version of Windows. Double-checking this isn’t as easy as you may think and trips up many people. Here are the Windows versions that preceded Windows 8:

1. Windows 1.0
2. Windows 2.0
3. Windows 3.0
4. Windows 95 (Windows 4.0)
5. Windows 2000 (Windows 5.0)
6. Windows Vista (Windows 6.0)
7. Windows 7 – Launching October 22nd 2009
8. Windows 8!

Now, some of you who are paying attention will notice that Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows Millennium. This is because:

• Windows NT was actually treated asw Windows 3.1
• Windows 98, 98SE and Windows Millennium shipped as 4.0.1998, 4.10.2222, and 4.90.3000

Now, to make matters even more confusing Microsoft have versioned Windows 7 as Windows 6.1. However, they are still treating it as ‘Windows 7′ because of the significance of the release.

There you go – hope that makes sense now!

Why Windows 8? is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

We have our first set of Windows 8 Wallpapers! The Windows 8 Transformation Pack is from the same team who pulled together some of the early Windows 7 Wallpapers.

Within the pack are are Windows 8 Wallpapers and Windows 8 Login Screen backgrounds.

Windows 8 Transformation Pack

Download

More: Windows 8 Transformation Pack

Windows 8 Transformation Pack is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

You only have 2 days left to enter the $200 competition to design a new logo for Windows 7 News and Windows 8 News.  There’s 2 days left to go and we need to pick a winner from the 190 entries so far.

Because there have been so many entries we need your help selecting a winner.  Some of the entries are pretty awful, but some have potential.  I’ve added some of my favourites below, but all of the entries can be seen at logomyway.  If you’re a budding designer there’s still time to enter.

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$200 Logo Competition Ends In 2 Days is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Eagle eyed Stephen over at techwoo spotted the following in the LinkedIn profile of a Microsoft PM, which seems to indicate that Windows 8 will have some new networking features:

Evaluating and collating technical and business requirements for developing new networking features in Windows 8.

Designing features, functional specification and prototype for Windows 8.

I can only hope that Microsoft improve Windows 7′s HomeGroup capabilities, which mean well, but don’t quit deliver for me.

Windows 8 Will Have New Networking Features is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

The following video was not created by Microsoft, but by a UI team in Copenhagen.  It nevertheless still shows some amazing new user experience features that would really make Windows 8 an amazing advance in the Windows series.

Check it out below!

Copenhagen User Experience from Copenhagen Concept.

Unofficial Windows 8 Concept Video is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

To celebrate the launch of Windows 8 News we’ve decided to run another competition! We need two logos, one for Windows 7 News and one for Windows 8 News, that will look amazing in the header and also as a thumbnail image. The competition offers any budding designers not only an opportunity to win $200, but to also display their talents to a large base of users, as all entries will be displayed on the site because readers will choose the best logo and the winner.

Rules:

1. No limit to the number of entries
2. Entries to be submitted via logomyway
3. Thumbnail logo must be 120×120
4. Main logo must be no bigger than 250 x105
5. Must work on white background
6. Decision of the editors will be final

If you’re not a designer, then don’t forget you’ve still got a week to enter our competition to win a funky $200 beanbag.

Design A New Logo For Windows 8 News And Win $200 is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Microsoft will start taking pre-orders tomorrow for Windows 7. Users who place Pre-orders for Windows 7 before the end of the special offer could save up to $100 off the full list price.

If you live in the US, Canada or Japan you can now pre-order Windows 7 for a limited time, so hurry and place your order now to save up to $100:

• Windows 7 Home Premium: Usually $120 now $50 for a limited time
  
• Windows 7 Professional: Usually $200 now $100 for a limited time

As Windows 7 ‘s launch on October 22nd draws nearer, all eyes will start turning to the next development release, Windows 8.  Don’t worry, we’ll keep you up to date with all the latest Windows 8 news and rumours right here on this site.

Windows 7 One Step Closer To Launch is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Although Microsoft don’t intend to make a big splash when launching Windows 7, it will probably be Microsoft’s finest release yet if the feedback from testers and readers on our sister site Windows 7 News is anything to go by.

There’s still plenty of room for improvement in Windows 8.  Mike from the Windows 7 News editorial team has published a series of posts detailing what he’d like to see in Windows 8:

• Looking Forward To Windows 8 Part I
• Looking Forward To Windows 8 Part II
• Looking Forward To Windows 8 Part III
• Looking Forward To Windows 8 Part IV

Features Mike would like to see improved in Windows 8 include a better explorer, improved libraries and game support.  Personally I would like to see more options for organising multiple windows.  Aero Peek helps, but I don’t want to go over to the sidebar everytime I want to locate one of the many windows I have open.  There has to be a better solution that ALT+TAB and Aero Peek.

What features would you like to see in Windows 8?

Windows 8 Feature Wishlist is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Windows 7 is almost complete and due to be launched on October 22nd, and Microsoft are already turning their attention to creating Windows 8.  To some this may seem premature, but putting together a new OS takes a considerable amount of work and much longer than the 3 years gap between Windows releases.

A recent  job posting on the Microsoft job site gives some hints as to what we can expect in Windows 8:

For the upcoming version of Windows, new critical features are being worked on including cluster support and support for one way replication. The core engine is also being reworked to provide dramatic performance improvements. We will also soon be starting major improvements for Windows 8 where we will be including innovative features which will revolutionize file access in branch offices

We are looking for a strong lead who has the right blend of technical passion, leadership skills and testing experience. From a technical standpoint, we are looking for a candidate having an understanding of and a passion for large scale distributed systems. From a leadership point of view, you will need to be able to build the vision for the team, work with your development and PM counterparts on engineering excellence and effectively drive the quality of the component. In terms of testing experience, the ability to define and deliver test solutions affecting all release criteria (functionality, scalability, performance, stress, longhaul, security, etc.) is a must.

As more details of Windows 8 features become available, you’ll find them first on this site.

Microsoft Hiring For Windows 8 is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Dedicated to bringing you all the news & rumours about Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 8, which will replace Windows 7 in 2012/13. New to the site? Check out the Windows 8 FAQ. We also recommend:

• The Archives to search all posts, checking out the latest Windows 8 Screenshots, Windows 8 Wallpapers & Windows 8 Videos
• Visiting our sister site, for the latest Windows 7 News

Need help with Windows 7? Then join the Windows 7 & 8 Forum (over 3,500 members) for expert advice.

Welcome To Windows 8 News! is a post from Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips - The Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumours & Screenshots. Visit Windows 8 News, Rumors & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 8 News, Rumors, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.