Windows has always come in different versions known internally as Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) that currently include the names “Home Premium”, “Professional”, “Enterprise” and “Ultimate”.  Historically, when the consumer and retail versions of Windows were developed separately the SKUs included titles such as “Windows for Workgroups” or “Windows 98″ and “Windows NT 4.0″.  It’s accepted then that each new versions of Windows will come with multiple SKUs.

There are some legalistic reasons for doing this as well which include the N editions that are make available within the European Union and are full versions of Windows but without Windows Media Player, and special editions for emerging markets.  This is very different to the approach taken by Apple where there are only two versions of each OS X release, “Desktop” and “Server”.

This week though somebody within Microsoft told me that we should expect just a single SKU for Windows 8 which came as a surprise to me.  Now I’m not taking this snippet of information as authoritative as it wouldn’t be the first time a Microsoft employee has misinterpreted some snippet of news from within the company and given me the wrong information, or perhaps even disinformation, who knows.  Therefore I wouldn’t assume that this information is gospel, but it does raise some very interesting questions.

Technically there could just be a single version of Windows 8.  It would be excellent news for home users who would gain access to useful features such as the Hyper-V virtualization client, as XP Mode was only supported in Windows 7 Professional and above.  It would also make it clear to people what features they were getting with the OS.  Any Systems Administrators might not be so happy though to have to hide the games, Windows Media Centre and the like in Group Policy, a task that would just be time consuming.

Also the aforementioned special editions that are sold within the EU wouldn’t be a problem either, as you would either buy “Windows 8″ or “Windows 8 N” (not that anybody ever does!).  But what about Windows 8 on ARM-powered tablets and what about cheaper editions for emerging markets?  For the latter they are commonly limited to running three programs at a time and don’t include many of the more business-oriented features.  If there was a single version of Windows 8 then it would either have to have a massive price-drop worldwide to match the price in these emerging markets, or Microsoft would have to abandon these markets completely.

There is also no word yet on whether Windows on ARM will even support the desktop.  After all the current desktop software for Windows would need to be re-engineered and nobody’s going to do that given the small size of the overall market and the low maximum price people are prepared to pay for tablets software.  The ARM version of Windows would have to be its own SKU anyway in practice, being completely incompatible with Intel architecture and probably only available to OEMs as well.

For these reasons and more I find it difficult to believe that there will only be one SKU for Windows 8, but my source in Microsoft seemed pretty determined that this will be the case.  We may have to wait several months for the announcement of what will really be happening with Windows 8 editions.  Until then it would be interesting to hear your views on this.  Why not tell us below!?

Could There be Just One Edition of 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’ve had the “Developer Preview” of Windows 8 and now that the beta is due in the next month we could find it being called the “Consumer Preview”, at least according to Janelle Poole, Microsoft’s director of public relations who in a statement at CES was found to have said…

We haven’t talked about the release date and we generally don’t. We are talking milestone to milestone, so for us right now, we’re talking about the next milestone being the Consumer Preview happening in late February.”

ZD Net blogger Mary Jo Foley reported the phrase yesterday for the first time and is wondering if this will indeed be the official title for the beta with perhaps the release candidate being the “Enterprise Preview”.  In her blog post she said…

Such a name also could help Microsoft’s PC partners who need a way to make new tablets and PCs that they’re bringing to market from now until the time that Windows 8 is shipping seem more up-to-date and palatable. (”This runs the Windows 8 Consumer Preview — so you know it’ll be able to run the final Windows 8 with no problem.”)

Let’s have a look at what this might mean though if it happens.  So far Microsoft have been promising somewhere near 300 features for IT Pros that were not ready in time for the Developer Preview release last September.  We still don’t know what most of these features are but some have leaked including new multi-monitor support features and the ability to pool the storage on your computer in a RAID-like system.

IT Pros are still very concerned about Windows 8 however, I’m giving a talk this Thursday to a large group of them in Manchester which is one of the UKs biggest technology hubs, and this isn’t the first such talk I’ve been asked to give.  What will they take from the name “Consumer Preview”?

It’s mostly likely I think that Microsoft are desperate for Windows 8 to be popular with consumers and that they want to reassure the general public that while they might be very late to the tablet game, by some three years or more, that they’re ready now and Windows 8 tablets are what they should be buying later in the year.

It’s true that Microsoft are pinning a great deal on this release and if it fails to gain serious traction in the consumer space, IT Pros will probably feel as though they were left behind for a pipe-dream.  The fact that Microsoft will want to focus very hard on consumers then will not come as a surprise to anybody, especially with major businesses only now migrating to Windows 7.

There is also the fact, as Mary Jo points out that “the current Windows organization doesn’t show code publicly at all until it’s pretty much set in stone and going to be tweaked very minimally.”  We can be pretty sure that the beta, or Consumer Preview will be very usable day to day in the same way that the Windows 7 beta was.  Microsoft already have a live Windows Update feature working with the Developer Preview (though it won’t update to the beta), but it’s possible that the beta might just update to the release candidate if it’s close enough to completion.

If enough millions of people then update their computers to the Windows 8 beta, then in theory all Microsoft need to do at the end of the process is to sell them a new product key online and people can continue using Windows 8 without having to reinstall.  We still know nothing about this though and it might not happen this way.

It is clear though that Microsoft at this point are focusing much more on consumers than in IT Pros.  This doesn’t mean they don’t care about, or aren’t going to cater for IT Pros.  It just means that the company has decided to put all of its marketing might behind the consumer angle in the same way they have in the last year with Windows Phone.

So next month we’ll see what happens with the beta and what it is called, as soon as we know we’ll report back to you here at Windows 8 News.

Will the Windows 8 Beta be the “Consumer Preview” 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.

Before you get all concerned about Windows 8 being doomed and Windows tablets being something that nobody will buy let’s get some perspective.  Monica Chen and Joseph Tsai at DigiTimes have today said that Intel-based Windows 8 tablets could cost between $599 and $899 dollars when they go on sale later this year.  This is exactly what they currently cost and shouldn’t be unexpected by anyone.

In their article they say that…

Intel and Microsoft [are] both…unwilling to drop their related hardware and software quotes, and as a result, it could push consumers from wanting to purchase the devices.

This information should probably be taken with a pinch of salt, as should the whole story probably.  I wanted to comment on this story and add some balance to the argument.

It is true that the majority, probably over 80% of all Windows 8 tablets will be based on ARM designed processors.  This will be because these machines will have a significantly higher battery life than their Intel equivalents, be thinner and lighter in all probability and be cheaper as well.

One of the reasons for the price difference is that ARM-based motherboards don’t have to support all the hardware that an Intel board will.  There will be no support for external USB devices not even USB 3.0, no firewire, Thunderbolt or even support for SATA, Gigabit Ethernet and everything else that goes with a modern PC.

In part it is all these extras that drain the battery of Intel-based tablets faster, coupled with the fact that their ARM equivalents are lower-power and more efficient with the electricity provided to them.

Intel are working on new chips, though it should come as no surprise to anybody that they will be some way off and currently all the major tablet manufacturers will be eyeing up ARM as the way to make their sexy new Windows 8 tablets attractive to consumers.

Microsoft will not, as DigiTimes suggests, drop Intel as a supported chip manufacturer.  This can simply never happen without jettisoning not only Windows 8 as it stands but an entire ecosystem of hardware and software and billions of computers and users worldwide.

DigiTimes’ article is certainly sensationalist and it’s gotten a lot of coverage this evening.  It’s hardly factual or reasonable however to point out that when Intel Windows 8 tablets go on sale, the fact that they will cost the same as Windows 7 tablets do now will be a shock.  These tablets will commonly carry Core-i5 processors and 4Gb or more of RAM, as they do now, and be extremely powerful tools for IT Pros, designers and other professionals.  These tablets simply will not be targeted at the average consumer but instead at people who need the power to run full desktop suites on the go.

In a way it’s a shame to see articles such as this as they don’t help.  There is still a great deal we don’t know about Windows 8 and about how it will perform, especially on battery life, on the next generation of Intel chips.  We will find out, in the fullness of time, and we’ll discover how much these devices will cost us.

DigiTimes’ “sources” don’t seem to like either Microsoft or Intel very much at all, but frankly… balance is much more important.

Intel Tablets will cost more than ARM Tablets [Shock] 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.

New images have appeared of the Start Screen personalization options in the Windows 8 beta.  In the images, posted online by TheVerge.com you can see shots from what they say is build 8175.  They show that Microsoft are sticking to their guns on a background to the Start Screen that’s far less customisable than what we’ve been used to for years (though give it some time and Stardock will come up with something as they always do).

There’s no custom desktop image for example though there are eight background patterns to choose from.  Then there’s a choice of nine colours.  This isn’t what most people would call “customisation” but its a start and we could still see more appear by the time Windows 8 ships (making people writing books like me redo lots of screenshots!)

I’ll let you judge from the images below what you think and it would be very interesting to see your comments.  It could be argued for instance that if you want to work primarily with the Windows 8 ‘traditional’ desktop that the blue, black and grey shades might be less Metro-like than the green we’ve seen in the Developer Preview, and will make the new Metro pop-ups less intrusive.  It remains to be seen however what Microsoft will release next month.

New Windows 8 Personalization Images Emerge 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 closer we get to the actual release of Windows 8 ARM tablets the more I’m mulling over the pros and cons, and wondering just how successful such devices will actually  turn out to be.  At the moment Windows 7 tablets are pretty powerful machines.  They have a great many advantages over every other tablet with support for just about any USB device and the ability to run full desktop apps such as Microsoft Office.  Add to this a friendly tablet interface and surely you’re on to a winner!?  Alas then comes the problem.  There is only one but for most people it’s a deal-breaker, and that is the poor battery life that comes with running Windows on Intel x86 based chips.  A battery that dies on a tablet after about only four hours simply isn’t good enough and there’s no indications that things are going to change any time soon.

So a Windows tablet on ARM architecture must be the way to go then?  Well, actually no.  The problem with an ARM-based Windows 8 tablet is that you will not only forego the USB device support, but also the ability to run existing Windows desktop apps and suites.  You’ll have fantastic battery life but these two problems are, frankly, the reason most people want to use Windows on a tablet in the first place.

What they’ll be left with is essentially a blank slate (sic!) where all the software will be new and none of their existing Windows programs will run.  Is this what people want a Windows tablet for?  The Windows app store, despite Microsoft’s attempts to build developer excitement for Metro, will take some time to get going and build momentum.  It will be leagues behind the app stores for the iPad, Android tablets and even the HP TouchPad and Blackberry Playbook, and this situation will last for many months if not years.

So are Windows tablets going to prove disappointing for people?  Well, this is all in how Microsoft design the code and architecture of the ARM tablets.  If they go down the route of tablets as we know them now then they’ll be no more Windows than an iPad or a Samsung Galaxy Tab is now.  If they do find ways to run existing Windows software, that software will have to be recompiled or perhaps even completely re-engineered to run on them, and many if not most software companies won’t be interested in doing this given that the sales market will be comparatively small.

We might find out more about Windows ARM-powered tablets this week at the Consumer Electronics Show, but it’s becoming clear that Microsoft need to tell us what what types of hardware and software (if any at all) these devices will support when they come to market, probably in early 2013.  Until then if you’re considering buying a tablet I wouldn’t advise you to wait.  If you aren’t fussed about Windows desktop programs and USB devices then any tablet on the market these days will suit you (and prices on the Blackberry Playbook are tumbling) and if you want the full-fat Intel experience then there are a few Windows 7 tablets either out there or coming soon that will fit the bill for when the Windows 8 public beta begins.  But if you’ve been waiting for a tablet that runs Windows, supports all your desktop apps and has a great battery life, you could end up disappointed.

Are People Expecting Too Much from Windows 8 ARM Tablets? 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.

A hidden “easter egg” has been found in the Windows 8 Developer Preview by WinUnleaked.tk that reactivates the transparency on the very nice looking new Aero Lite interface, while disabling much of the extra eye-candy that comes with the full Aero glass effect on the desktop.

On initial inspection it’s unclear exactly how this new Aero Lite Glass differs from the standard Aero Glass effect, though closer examination reveals that it’s much simpler and forgoes effects such as highlights around the minimize, maximize and close buttons.  Also the back and forward buttons are a much simpler Metro style, which many people might prefer.

To activate this you just need to follow these simple instructions…

Navigate to the \Windows\System32 folder

Launch WindowsAnytimeUpgradeResults.exe

Given the title of the program that you launch to achieve this effect it’s unlikely this will still work with the final version of the operating system.  What is also unclear though is whether or not this second Aero will be available in Windows 8 as an option.  The fact that it exists now though will probably mean that it will be available afterwards as a registry hack.

Aero Lite Glass Easter Egg Found in 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.

One of the more interesting features in Windows 8, certainly from my perspective as the author of “Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out” is the ability for Microsoft’s new operating system to self-repair and reinstall itself.  This isn’t actually as clever as it sounds but as a simplistic explanation it’ll do.

Microsoft have today though offered more insight into this process, called refresh and reset.  In a post on the Building Windows 8 blog they said “As we began planning for Windows 8, we asked ourselves: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you could just push a button and everything is fixed?’ We really wanted to focus on the concept of ‘push button’, which translated into a design goal that represents a simple to use, predictable, and fast solution.  The point of this is…

With Windows 8, there are a few key things that we set out to deliver:

• Provide a consistent experience to get the software on any Windows 8 PC back to a good and predictable state.
• Streamline the process so that getting a PC back to a good state with all the things customers care about can be done quickly instead of taking up the whole day.
• Make sure that customers don’t lose their data in the process.
• Provide a fully customizable approach for technical enthusiasts to do things their own way.

While this sounds like a wonderful solution to all your woes, it’s still not quite as wonderful as it sounds.  The two options will allow you to perform one of these tasks…

• Reset your PC – Remove all personal data, apps, and settings from the PC, and reinstall Windows.
• Refresh your PC – Keep all personal data, Metro style apps, and important settings from the PC, and reinstall Windows.

You’ll notice this says it will keep “Metro style apps” and doesn’t mention desktop apps.  This is because Microsoft will have a much tighter quality control on Metro apps and cite reasons in the blog including reinstalling bad apps and having little or no control over some installer types as the reason.  In fairness there probably are very good technical reasons why this is the case so there’s no need to disbelieve them here.

Windows 7 comes with an image backup system however in all editions that can be used with Startup Repair to restore your copy of Windows with all of your programs and settings intact.  Fortunately this hasn’t been forgotten and Microsoft have built it into the Rest options.

With this in mind, we’ve made it possible for you to establish your own baseline image via a command-line tool (recimg.exe). So when you get a Windows 8 PC, you will be able to do the following:

1. Go through the Windows first-run experience to configure basic settings.
2. Install your favorite desktop apps (or uninstall things you don’t want).
3. Configure the machine exactly as you would like it.
4. Use recimg.exe to capture and set your custom image of the system.

It’s not completely clear yet how this will work with the existing backup options, where a friendly wizard interface will walk you through the image backup process.  It is unlikely however that a command line will be the only way to do this.

So how long will it actually take to perform a refresh or a reset?  Microsoft timed the results on the machines they gave out to developers at their BUILD conference last september.

The refresh and restore options will also work from the new style Windows boot menu, should your copy of Windows be unable to start.

In Windows 8 Beta, there will also be a tool that you can use to create a bootable USB flash drive, in case even the copy of Windows RE on the hard drive won’t start. You’ll be able to start your PC with the USB drive, and fix problems by refreshing your PC or performing advanced troubleshooting. And if your PC comes with a hidden recovery partition, you’ll even have the option to remove it and reclaim disk space once you’ve created the USB drive.

It’s great that Microsoft are making these features more accessible and easier to use.  It is ironic however that the more stable and trouble-free Windows gets, the more troubleshooting and repair features are introduced.

Clearly these tools won’t suit everyone so I’m not concerned about whether there will be another edition of “Troubleshooting…”  I’ve also found on my own Windows tablet that the Developer Preview of the OS didn’t feel there was enough space to store all the rescue files and, as such when I went to try the tool it failed to work.  It might be that on some tablet devices where flash storage is at a premium, this may be the case in the future.

Microsoft offer more details of Windows 8 Reset / Refresh 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 today confirmed that Kinect will be coming to the PC early this year “not as a hack but as a commercial product with dedicated PC hardware”.  Some changes include a shorter USB cable and new firmware to allow close-up usage of the device.

It is probably safe to assume the new Kinect for PC will also be smaller than the one for the Xbox, due to the need to fit it into tight spaces on people’s desks.

In a blog post today the company said…

Kinect offers PC users (and developers) some unique capabilities that change the way people interact with their computers, including:

• Skeletal tracking
• Motion sensing
• Voice recognition
• Facial recognition

It is with Windows 8 that the Kinect is probably going to make the biggest impact, the decide will no doubt be usable with the new Metro interface that’s coming with the company’s next generation OS.  Being able to operate your PC apps with gesture controls, apart from bringing Minority Report’esque coolness to the PC for the first time, will also help those people who don’t have touch screens with their existing PCs.

In many ways this could save Windows 8 as the Kinect is already a much sought-after device, not just with the Xbox 360 but with a great many different people, including robotics and other researchers.  This will no doubt lead to a whole new range of Windows apps designed to harness the power of Kinect.  Obvious applications are programs for children and the disabled.

It will be with gaming though that the most interesting things will happen.  PC gaming has been on the decline for some time now and the advent and increasing popularity of all-in-one machines, which do not have the latest and fastest gaming hardware, are hammering more nails into the gaming coffin.  Could Kinect for the PC reinvigorate this?  Certainly with the big first person shooter titles, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Kinect will probably never be used.  The device could drive up the number of smaller and easier games however.

Microsoft have also long talked about being able to play the same game across the PC, Xbox 360 and Windows Phone, though this hasn’t really happened yet.  Having Kinect on a PC could enable people to play on two screens on their PC and Xbox in their home simultaneously.

Suffice to say the long-overdue arrival of the Kinect sensor for the PC is going to be a huge event, and Microsoft are hitting the ground running with incentives for companies that want to harness it for the PC (and they’re not just limiting this to games developers either) with “the BizSpark Kinect Accelerator incubation programme, which will give 10 tech-oriented companies using Kinect (on either Windows or Xbox360) an investment of $20,000 each and other benefits.” among other incentives on the Microsoft Developer Network.

By the time Windows 8 launches we’ll have a good feel for how Kinect will fit with the who PC architecture, how flexible, popular and effective it will actually be, and crucially, if it can give Windows 8 the edge and keep this often criticised operating system firmly on top.

Kinect Coming to the PC “Early 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.

One of the biggest problems with life online is passwords and security.  Either you have one password that’s used everywhere, which presents security problems, a few passwords separating things like email from shopping, which again presents risks, or a different password for everything which is ideal but very difficult to manage and remember.

Windows 7′s Credential Manager was supposed to go some way to solving this problem but most people wouldn’t even know the feature exists.  Now Microsoft have detailed how the credential manager is being enhanced for Windows 8 in a way that will enable it to manage all your passwords for you.

Password storage and management software is now commonplace, with many people worldwide using third-party software that stores all your passwords and automatically fills them in on websites for you.  This will now be part of Windows 8.  In a blog post today the company said…

With Windows 8, we provide support for both the safe storage of username/password combinations, and technology to support alternate authentication; that is, we try to make it easier for you to enhance the security of your passwords, and easier to use newer and stronger techniques for protecting your digital identity.

The aim is for Windows 8 to remember your passwords for each site you visit so that you can have a different password for each.  Just logging into Windows 8 using your Live ID, on whatever computer you want to do this on, will enable the host OS to fill those passwords in for you.

Windows 8 simplifies the task of managing unique and complex passwords in two important ways. The first is by providing a way to automatically store and retrieve multiple account names and passwords for all the websites and applications you use, and do so in a protected manner. Internet Explorer 10 uses the credentials that we store to remember names and passwords for websites you visit (if you choose). In addition, anyone building a Metro style app can use a direct API to securely store and retrieve credentials for that app.

On the fact of it this is a really great idea and is a cool way to stay safe and secure online and manage your passwords too.  On the other hand we all now use a variety of operating systems because life has changed.  There’s WebOS, iOS, Android, Blackberry OS, Windows, Linux and a whole lot more in day to day usage.  While Microsoft would inevitably port this functionality to the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone so that it works there too, the end result would be locking yourself into Microsoft’s eco-system for the sake of some extra safety and security online.

Now I’m not opposed to the Microsoft lock-in, in fact the only other OS I use day to day is WebOS on my tablet, but I’m not sure the extra safety and security this offers is worth it.  Do you really want to have long-complex passwords known to Microsoft and probably not to yourself that you won’t be able to use the next time you want to check your eBay account on a friend’s iMac?  I’m not convinced that I do.

Ultimately for some people this feature will be a complete godsend, but those people will probably be the types who just have a single PC and who don’t really need email and browsing on the move.  For the rest of us I’d recommend sticking to a safe and secure password strategy, at least for now.  My handy poster guide to creating secure passwords is below for you to print out, keep and share with friends and family.

Microsoft Outline Windows 8 Identity Protection, and why you might not want it to 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 today unveiled the new Windows Store which will be rolled out across all WIndows platforms including Windows Phone and Xbox 360 by the time Windows 8 launches.

The company wants to make apps in the store easy to find, but with the biggest computing platform on the planet, this may be a much harder task than it might at first appear to be. 

There have been some very interesting snippets of information that have come out of this presentation.  The most significant of these is the announcement that Microsoft “will open the store to customers when [they] release the beta of Windows 8 and that’s going to be in late February of 2012.  This is later than many people expected and might be an indication that the backlash from people over the Developer Preview has put the project back slightly from it’s intended timetable; the Windows 7 beta appeared a few days after being unveiled at the January 2009 Consumer Electronics Show.

In this presentation Microsoft were only talking about and showing off the new Windows app store.  In the screenshot above we can see a new eBay app.  The store will be viewable by search engines meaning that reviews of apps can be seen online.  This will be a very good move for many developers.

As expected revenue sharing for apps will start at 70%, the same amount developers get from the Apple store.  When an app has made $25,000 though the revenue share will rise to 80%.  Alas this doesn’t help the smaller developers who would never have apps that will make this much money.

At least we now know when the Windows 8 beta will be out so we can stop wondering when it will be, and instead ask the question has it been delayed from January?  The answer to that we won’t know until we get a final release date for the product.  One question this doesn’t answer though is if this late February release will be the public beta and if testers will get the beta earlier.  With Windows 7 Microsoft surprised many by releasing the public beta just 10 days after private testers got it.  Will they repeat this with Windows 8?

You can watch the Windows Store launch video below.

Windows 8 Beta coming “Late February 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.

With the end of the year rapidly approaching, and the launch year for the next version of Windows almost upon us analysts are now beginning to make their predictions for what will be the biggest tech of 2012.  One of the predictions made by research firm IDC is that “Windows 8 will launch with split success”.

So what does this mean?  ZD Net blogger Mary-Jo Foley looked further into this and IDC said…

Windows 8 will be largely irrelevant to the users of traditional PCs, and we expect effectively no upgrade activity from Windows 7 to Windows 8 in that form factor.

Mary Jo sais that “IDC’s skepticism on uptake isn’t out of left field. Other company watchers (including yours truly) have wondered about the applicability of the Metro tiled interface on anything other than a tablet.” though some technology bloggers including Paul Thurrott have been raving about the new OS.  I myself have been deeply sceptical but I’m reserving my judgement until I see the beta next month because of what I’ve been told privately is coming by Microsoft, which is sadly nothing I’m allowed to say here.

Certainly it can be assumed that Windows 8 won’t be popular in Enterprise environments where many companies have yet to roll out Windows 7.  They certainly won’t consider another move within three years or more.

But will desktop PC users snub Windows 8?  Well Microsoft will say it’s selling brilliantly no doubt, because it will be shipped with new PCs.  Demand from consumers though may force PC manufacturers to offer a downgrade option to Windows 7 in the way they were forced to with XP.  Microsoft may attempt to stamp on this however by withdrawing Windows 7 from sale.

If you are an IT Pro and think that Windows 8 isn’t for you then my advice would be to wait until the beta is out.  Much is going to change and you and still still may not be convinced but the additions that weren’t ready for the Developer Preview and the improvements made because of feedback since then could be enough to placate a good few people.

There’s no doubting though that the move to Metro is significant and not without its problems, especially for IT Pros on the desktop and on laptops.  My own laptop has a touch screen, so I’ll definitely be using Windows 8 on that when the beta comes out, but my desktop computer doesn’t and so there I’m reserving judgement for now.

On tablets though IDC are predicting that sales of Windows 8 tablets will be “disappointing”.  Could this be because they don’t see Windows 8 tablets as a viable proposition or could it be because of rumours that ARM-powered tablets won’t go on sale until some time in 2013?  I personally think that Windows 8 tablets will sell extremely well and will offer some extremely tough competition to Android tablets because of the familiarity people have with the name “Windows”.

In other Windows 8 news a new screenshot has leaked, apparently from build 8165 of the improved Start Screen.  The image doesn’t really show us much that we either hadn’t seen before or weren’t expecting.  The named groups feature is working and tiles can be easily resized.  There’s not much new other than that though you can see the screenshot below.

Will Windows 8 be “Largely Irrelevant” to PC users? 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 all know that Windows 8 can start up faster than any version of Windows before it.  Now Microsoft have released information about the improved installation experience and said that Windows 8 will install with just 11 clicks of the mouse, an 82% improvement over Windows 7.

Obviously this 11 clicks experience won’t be for everyone.  Depending on how you want to install Windows 8 it could be many more, but anything that can improve installation, particularly the speed of it, has to be welcomed.

There is a huge amount of information that has been released by Microsoft today, but one of the most important things to note is that Windows 8 will allow you to install the operating system if you still have XP on your computer.  Before you really needed to either format the hard disk and lose all of your files, or have Windows move them to a Windows.old folder where many people would never find them.

Now, Windows 8 is able to preserve your files if you are moving to the OS from XP.  This will make the upgrade path much simpler and will be broadly welcomed.

Windows 8 is al the first version of Windows that will be available for download.  It’s still a 5Gb installer but this could finally be a good way to get a copy of your installation disc if you buy a PC where the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) disc isn’t included.  We will need to wait and see what Microsoft and OEMs do here.

Microsoft has been quite open about the fact that OEMs not shipping installation DVDs is an effective anti-piracy measure.  Before people were taking their DVD and installing Windows on other computers in the home.  Microsoft obviously want to discourage this behaviour.

It is welcome to see however that this downloadable installer can be either saved as an ISO file and burned to DVD later or copied directly to a USB Flash Drive.  The former’s choice of not burning it straight away will presumably be for compatibility reasons with XP, which doesn’t support native ISO burning.  The latter option I can see being extremely popular.

The whole installation process this time around is designer to just be “simpler”.

During planning for Windows 8, we wanted to hear from customers who chose not to upgrade to Windows 7 even though their PCs would run it. In 2010 we commissioned a study of how people make PC purchase decisions, and talked to customers in three global markets to find out more. While the list of reasons as to why a customer chose not to upgrade varied by market, we have received notable feedback that upgrading the PC was perceived as difficult. So even though many customers wanted to upgrade, the current setup experience might be something that just wasn’t easy enough to make them feel confident in doing so.

Other improvements we have already seen in the Developer Preview such as touch support for the WIndows 8 installer, making it considerably simpler to install the OS on a tablet.

The company also go on to talk about improvements they have made to the Windows Upgrade Advisor.  They say that 20 million people downloaded and used this during the first six months of Windows 7, though this number really still is very small in the grand scheme of Windows 7 installations.

When it comes to moving from one edition of Windows, be that XP, Vista or Windows 7 to Windows 8, Microsoft are clear what you can and can’t move.  They specify Windows Settings, Applications and User Account and Files.  The table below shows just what you can and can’t move to Windows 8.

It may annoy many Vista users that they will have to reinstall all their applications after upgrading to Windows 8.  On the surface it might seem easy to transfer apps to the new OS.  Microsoft will have technical reasons for this however annoying it may be for people.

There’s much more in this blog post as these Microsoft Windows 8 posts tend to be huge and complex.  For the most part this is the most important content, though we will continue to pick at all the details and bring you more information in the next few days.

Windows 8 will Install in 11 Clicks 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.

With Windows 8 Microsoft are moving the goalposts in user interface design considerably and there has been much debate over the relative pros and cons of taking this approach.  With Windows 8 though if you don’t like the new Metro touch UI then you’re out of luck switching to the ‘traditional’ desktop as well.  Here the ribbon is being implemented in Windows Explorer and is being pushed throughout the operating system.

The ribbon, first introduced in Office 2007, has split opinion and many people still dislike it if they are forced to use it or not.  In fact the ribbon has been around for so long now that a great number of people who are now using it at home or at work, have decided firmly that they can’t find things, they don’t like it and that it’s not for them.  This isn’t a snap judgement on the parts of these people, this is their considered view after a great deal of use.

The people who like the ribbon, including myself, have similar arguments that they couldn’t find anything before it came along and as new interface that can standardise things across multiple operating systems, software applications and platforms, it’s a very welcome addition.

With Windows 8 though Microsoft will be fighting not against naysayers and ribbon haters but Human nature itself.  Human beings are resistant to change.  It’s in our nature.  It’s the reason why cars all have three pedals in the same place and why television news broadcasts are still structured the same as they were in the 1950s.  Bringing so much change to the table with Windows 8, with both the Metro UI and the changes to the desktop, could be a step too far for many people.

When Apple introduced the iPhone they didn’t change the traditional UI that we’ve all come to know and love too much.  Google’s Android too is a success in no small part because it isn’t changing the way we do things too much.  Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system however, good as it is, has been criticised by many people for being too different and too unlike what people expect and are used to.

The Metro UI in Windows 8, which we will still see major changes to in January, has been broadly well received though personally I’m not so keen on it.  The acid tests will be how consumers react to it and if a consumer backlash forces PC companies to continue offering Windows 7 as a downgrade option with new PCs in the way they had to with Windows XP.  The big test however will be how business reacts.  Metro will require the retraining of, let’s face it, millions of staff worldwide.  No matter how easy, simple and intuitive it may be to use, there is still a learning curve and many people will instantly shy away from something that’s such a departure from what they’ve been using for the last decade and a half.

The last time there were major changes, with Windows 95, there was similar uproar, but back then the changes weren’t anywhere near as significant as they will be this time.  Windows 8 is Microsoft’s biggest gamble and whatever happens in the next few years it is guaranteed to divide opinion and face resistance from many.

How Much Change is Too Much Change? 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 biggest disadvantage of running Windows 7 on a tablet computer is the battery life of the devices.  This isn’t the fault of Windows but is the fault of the hardware its designed to run on.  Existing Intel and AMD chips will run out when running Windows 7 for around 4.5 hours.  The arrival of Windows 8 running on ARM designed chips will extend this, we presume, to seven hours or more and bring Windows tablets in line with the battery life you would expect from an Android tablet or the iPad.

But what about the benefits of running Windows 8 on an Intel or AMD-powered tablet?  While the masses might flock to the new ARM tablets, I believe there is a very strong case to be made to buy yourself a Windows tablet using existing hardware, and get it before Windows 8 is released.  Let me explain.

Windows on x86 and x64 hardware has many advantages that the new ARM version will likely never have.  The most obvious of these is the ability to run full desktop applications, and having used the Samsung Series 7, which is the demo tablet Microsoft gave away at the BUILD conference where they unveiled Windows, and having used Windows 7 on another quad core tablet, I can say that this is actually a far better experience than you might expect.

The additional benefits though come in the form of support for additional hardware.  This includes printers, TV tuners and much more besides.  I have two tablets, an HP TouchPad which gets the general lounging on the sofa use, and a Windows tablet.  What I can do with the Windows tablet that I could never do with the TouchPAd is place it in a charging dock with a USB TV tuner plugged in the back and use it as a bedside television.

At the moment the success of a tablet rests solely on the quantity and quality of the apps available for it, and I find this disappointing.  It means that tablets are essentially very limited in functionality.  With full support for all the hardware available for a standard PC you can greatly expand the usefulness of the device, and get much more for your money; let’s face it tablet’s still aren’t cheap.

The downside with this is that when Windows 8 becomes available, all the tablet manufacturers and PC manufacturers will be wanting to create machines using ARM chips.  This will make them power efficient, slightly cheaper and better for consumers.  Those companies will at the very least scale back the models they provide that run on existing x86 and x64 architecture and may even cease production of such models completely.

At the moment there are some excellent Windows 7 tablets available (I even have one to give away this week) but you might want to think about buying one before WIndows 8 launches if you want to be able to harness the full software and hardware potential of a PC with the device.  If you don’t buy one now, you might find you simply can’t in less than a year.

The Inherent Advantages of Windows on x86 and x64 Tablets 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.

Back in January the CEO of Intel said he was looking forward to Intel putting Windows 8 on smartphones.  This was taken at the time of confirmation that Microsoft’s next generation OS could indeed be a cross-platform operating system and replace the still-new Windows Phone OS.

Then earlier today Steve Ballmer told the Microsoft shareholders meeting that “We’ve got broad Windows initiatives driving Windows down to the phone with Windows 8.” which got a lot of people very excited.

Now the PR people have clarified what Ballmer meant and said that Windows 8 will indeed NOT be coming to phones…

“He was making a statement along the lines of what we’ve already publicly stated around providing a consistent experience across various devices but all carrying the Windows name.”

What does this mean?  We in all probability it means very little.  It is going to mean more work for Microsoft in that they will still have multiple operating systems across their different platforms for Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox to manage and maintain.  It does mean though that Windows Phone won’t be susceptible to the same types of malware attacks that could face Windows 8 in the coming years though.  This is not only good news for consumers and businesses, but also great news for Microsoft overall as a malware threat to the platform could finish it off completely.

It does make sense for Microsoft to have a cross-platform user experience, whatever you think of Metro, and the debate will roll on about whether a UI design that works well on a smartphone is actually suitable for other platforms.  I will say again though that many aspects of Metro are set to change for the beta and we mustn’t judge what we currently see based on something that isn’t even a beta.

Windows 8 is NOT coming to Phones 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’m getting less and less impressed with Windows chief Steven Sinofsky, and I don’t mind saying this as I happen to know he doesn’t much like me either, but it looks like the reason Microsoft’s Courier tablet project failed was because of a decision he personally took, and not because the technology didn’t work reliably after all.

As a reminder, Courier was a Microsoft prototype tablet that made the whole world sit up and go “Ooh!”  Based around two seven-inch screen that folder together like a book, it offered journaling and editing features far beyond anything offered by the competition, or even Microsoft itself.

Now, CNet have published what is apparently the inside story into why the Courier project was cancelled.  It now seems that the project simply didn’t tie up with the plans Sinofsky had for Windows 8.  The Courier team, led by J Allard, even approached Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates directly to try and gain support but Sinofsky’s arguments won out in the end and Courier was cancelled.

J Allard left Microsoft shortly afterwards and has been very quiet since while Sinofsky has unveiled a Windows 8 tablet interface that couldn’t be more different to Courier.  The Courier team believe that they fought too hard against Sinofsky and the Windows team, and that Courier might have lived if they’d have worked more closely with them instead with one member of the team saying “If you get Sinofsky on board from the start, you’re probably going to market.”

This is a tremendous shame as, once a Microsoft research project gets cancelled, it’s extremely unlikely that it will ever be revived.  Recently though, ZD Net blogger Mary Jo Foley has written that a Courier-type app is on its way for the iPad and a Windows 8 version is a possibility.

It’s still unclear just how useful overall Courier might have been, but it’s more evidence to support the notion that Steven Sinofsky seems to be acting in a more Steve Jobs’esque way and I personally don’t believe, if true, that this is a good thing.  The Courier project was finally shut down in April 2010.

Why Courier Died 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 know that high-up people at Microsoft read Windows8News because occasionally they send me emails telling me off for something I’ve said, I never thought we could be really influential though.  Only yesterday I bitched wrote about how Microsoft have so far completely sidestepped the possibly thorny issue of using a Windows 8 tablet in a portrait orientation (I’m not going to say mode again).  Now the company have come out with a blog post talking about this very thing.

Okay, so it’s probably a happy coincidence, but it gave me a nice lead in to this article    In the post they say…

We initially thought that landscape or portrait orientation was mostly influenced by personal preference.  Each person that we watched rotated the device and each expected the device and UI to work with them at that moment.  What was surprising was that as people become more familiar with the device and the apps they cared about, the most unique influencer on whether they rotated the device was the type of content on screen. If the content and experience felt better in landscape, people naturally used the app in landscape-mode.  If the content and experience felt better in portrait, the app was used in portrait.

This makes complete sense.  What they’ve not said however is how the Start Screen itself will behave when in portrait orientation.  This might not be finished yet but it’s important because Microsoft have been talking so much about “muscle memory” the the like where we naturally remember the locations of objects based on aspects such as size and colour.

Given also that users can organise the Start Screen tiles however they want, it does now raise the question of if the Start Screen will rotate at all and if so, how the tiles will be rearranged.  If the company has put a great deal of thought, and clearly they have, into this muscle memory issue, to make things as each to find as possible on the new Start screen, having the tiles auto-rearrange when holding a tablet the other way up would no doubt be counter-intrutive.

If the Start Screen tiles don’t rearrange when you rotate a tablet though the Start screen could potentially only show four tiles instead of twelve.  Microsoft did say this…

We’ve designed Windows 8 to be ergonomically comfortable in all orientations. We found that a comfortable posture for using a tablet in landscape is to hold in both hands and touch the screen with your thumbs. For this reason, we’ve designed the majority of the experience to be easily accessible under your thumbs. We also optimized the system to scroll horizontally, which feels fast and fluid in landscape as well as in portrait mode.

The blog post goes on to detail more technical issues associated with developing apps that will happily rotate and work in both portrait and landscape (mode).  This is obviously incredibly important.  The number of apps on Windows Phone that don’t do this is simply staggering and on a tablet it’s simply not going to be acceptable.

Windows 8 is, as I regularly remind people, a work in progress.   We wait to see what Microsoft will do about screen rotation on the new Start Screen.

Microsoft finally talk Portrait 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’m running a very unscientific survey today where I’ve been asking people if they use tablets in Portrait or Landscape (I’m not going to say Mode as many people do as it’s not really a mode) and so far the results have been very surprising with 75% of the respondents saying they use their tablet in landscape.

I find this odd for the reason that many people keep telling us that portrait for a tablet is more natural in portrait, more like a book.  But it did get me thinking about Windows 8 and Microsoft’s new Metro UI.  Now in portrait and landscape it shouldn’t make too much difference when using Metro as, while the rotation features of the OS aren’t yet working in the Developer Preview, we can be sure that the Start Screen tiles will rearrange themselves then you change your tablet to portrait.  This will mean that however you hold your tablet you should see roughly the same number of tiles on the Start Screen.

This will be Microsoft’s plan of course, to create a ‘desktop’ operating system that works just as well the other way up (No, I don’t mean in Australia!).  When you look at Android tablets they are invariably shown off in landscape, almost never in portrait which seems like the sole preserve of Apple’s iPad, another tablet I regularly see people using in landscape, though perhaps less than other tablets.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire will no doubt encourage people to use the tablet in portrait, as Amazon want users to treat it as an eBook reader, but will they actually do this?

With computers we have been working in landscape since the dawn of time, and the advent of the consumer widescreen display cemented this in modern society.  It probably true then that we naturally gravitate towards a landscape display because that’s within our comfort zone.  It could be for other reasons however.  I use my tablet in landscape as I often find that apps such as mail and games such as solitaire leave things on screen either too small or too squeezed.

So I wanted to ask you here how you use your tablet and why?  There is a great deal of psychology involved in this I’m sure and perhaps a full academic study has already been undertaken.  It’s completely understandable that owners of Amazon’s Kindle would use the machine in portrait.  Not only, with the keyboard model, is it designed to be upright that way, but you’re reading a book and these are predominantly portrait.

It’s interesting to note here why Microsoft have only showed us Windows 8′s Metro UI running in landscape.  Perhaps they have been advised that it’s enough of a shock as it is and demonstrating the UI in portrait too would have unsettled too many people.  Human beings are generally resistant to change after all and might be frightened off by something that looks too alien to be Windows but that claims to be that very product.

So feed back to us here in the comments whether you use your laptop in portrait or landscape, why that is and, frankly, if the fact that you and the reason for it have ever even occurred to you.  It will be fascinating to read what you have to say.

Do you sit in Portrait or Landscape? 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.

It’s almost becoming a weekly reminder but Microsoft have once more come out to remind the world that the developer preview is an early build of Windows where a great many new features (if you remember that long list we were shown at the BUILD conference where they only showed us a handful of features) simply haven’t been finished yet.

Of these are many enhancements to the new Start screen, most of which seem to be coming about from user feedback and complaints from users.  A great many usability changes are on the way for Metro, though it will largely remain the same due to avoid annoying all the developers Microsoft was trying so hard to woo a month ago.

It’s both surprising and unsurprising the venom some people have displayed in their reactions to the Windows 8 Developer Preview, it is truly an operating system that’s splitting opinion.

I have spoken to several insiders at Microsoft who publicly wish that people would stop talking about the Developer Preview.  All of them though privately admitted to me that they’re frustrated with the way this release has been handled, and in some cases, that it was made public rather than just through developer channels.  This is entirely, they told me, because of the press and public reaction the product has garnered so far.

There’s still no word yet on when the beta will be ready though there could now be pressure on Microsoft to rush it out, in an attempt to silence the seemingly ever growing number of critics.  As someone with contacts in Microsoft, and as someone who knows some bits about what’s coming soon (sorry, can’t say) I really hope they don’t.  In recent years Microsoft have fallen into a good one, bad one cycle with each alternate edition of Windows doing really badly.  You only have to look at their track record to see Windows ME and Windows Vista doing badly while Windows 98, Windows XP and Windows 7 were hugely successful around them.

While Microsoft are repeatedly asking people to stop talking about Windows 8 until the beta, I’m really beginning to understand why, and have some sympathy with them for saying so.  The Windows 8 Developer Preview is clearly nothing more than a simple Windows shell with all the functionality stripped out of it.  That functionality is still to come and might change the game completely.  The danger for Microsoft is that if it takes too long, or people continue to criticise Windows 8 in the way that they are, that people simply won’t be interested in giving it a fair chance when it finally appears.

To prove my point just think back to Windows Vista which received such bad press in the run up to its launch, that people simply stopped caring about it.

For my own mind I’m undecided about Windows 8 and if/how it will change our computer usage.  I’m going to now wait for the beta and judge it on that.  I can’t avoid it as I’m already committed to writing two in-depth books about it but I’m going top give it a fair hearing at the appropriate time.  In the mean time, Microsoft will probably remind us again next week that this is not indicative of the finished product.

Windows 8 “Isn’t Finished”, Microsoft Reminds us again! 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 published a ‘very’ long blog post today explaining their justifications for the new Start screen in Windows 8, especially in regards to usability and finding and running applications.  The main reasons for implementing the new Start screen are based around aspects such as reducing DPI sizes on modern monitors making small things harder to hit, scrolling and searching in the Windows 7 Start Menu becoming difficult because of this and larger icons being easier to hit on screen, both because of their size and because the brain finds it easier to remember where things are in a two dimensional space, rather than a single one dimensional one.

I’ll deal with the main points in the blog post, as they offer some valuable insight into Microsoft’s decisions and choices for Windows 8.

Start Screen Icons vs Start Menu Folders

 In Windows 8 we assume that there are even more apps (and sites) than the XP/Vista/7 eras and so we needed even more scale. We also wanted to provide an at-a-glance view and a navigation model that requires much less dexterity. By using the full screen, we can now show more apps without the need to scroll or navigate hierarchy. By flattening the hierarchy, we provide a way for you to leverage the iconography of the apps and remove the burden of clicking through folders trying to find an app under its manufacturer’s name. Over time this will also address another common complaint, which is that when renaming, combining, or reorganizing folders (which you might do in order to keep the menu from wrapping) you would lose the ability to uninstall cleanly, and thus subject yourself to a periodic garbage collection of your Start menu to avoid dead links.

In addition to the limited real estate, apps in All Programs are buried under folders and subfolders of hierarchy, without any iconography to help you navigate to the right place. To make matters worse, things are often jumping around as you expand and collapse folders looking for the right app, making the experience even less efficient. Some have noted that this limitation is a design regression from the Windows XP Start menu. While technically that is true, we are fundamentally working with a menu, and as such, it is a single column with hierarchy that requires significant dexterity to navigate. The feedback around the scale of the old Windows XP design was resoundingly negative over time and led to the redesign for Vista and Windows 7.

Microsoft say here that for IT Pros with larger screens there will be more apps available in the main view on the single screen, 80 on a full HD monitor as opposed to just 20 in the All Programs list of the Windows 7 Start menu.

They go on to say how they have now also modified the Apps search screen however based on user feedback.  People were saying it was difficult to find the app they needed when some sub-apps for their main software sometimes had obscure names and were difficult to find in an alphabetical list.  In the screenshot below, Microsoft show that in current builds, Apps are displayed by folder more in keeping with the current method in the Start Menu.

Spatial Recognition and Muscle Memory

The blog goes on to explain how Windows 8 takes advantage of Human psychology where icons are concerned.

The grouping of tiles in the Start screen was designed with these principles in mind. We know that sizes of groups will naturally vary based on the kinds of items that you’re throwing together. Not only does this flexibility help with organization, but it also helps by creating a heterogeneous layout where shapes and sizes vary from group to group. This makes it easier to find a tile when you know it’s in a small group with an uneven edge on its right side or in a large group that looks like a full rectangle.

Start Screen Customisation

Microsoft say that better customisation options for the Start Screen are coming in the beta.

The personalization of the Start screen is one of the features that we want to make great, and we’re still iterating on it and to make it better. In the Windows Developer Preview, you can already try flexible group sizes, unpinning tiles, and resizing wide tiles to square tiles. And in the Beta, you’ll also be able to use other improvements based on this dialog, in addition to creating, naming, and rearranging groups.

Jumplists and the Start Screen

One of the most interesting aspects of the blog is how it addresses Jumplists.  They do this by quoting a tweet from a user of the Developer Preview.

@tN0 wrote:

“Implement Jump Lists to the Live Tiles at the Start screen. Swiping up on a tile or right click could bring up a Jump List.”

Having a way to quickly access content within an app is a great feature and we’re happy to see the enthusiasm and increasing usage for jump lists in Windows 7. We have developed something new for Metro style apps that builds on the jump list concept. We think it will be even more powerful for end-users and an even richer opportunity for app developers. But first, some background on jump list usage in Windows today.

Mouse Distance and Mouse Clicks

One very common complaint so far regards the Windows 8 Developer Preview is with the distance people have to move their mouse on large screens.  Microsoft had an interesting response to this.

We took a look at desktop monitors, and by controlling for constants a and b because we’re on the same device, and varying D and W based on the targets in the Start menu and Start screen, we calculated the speed of acquiring an app link. We then applied a heat map to show the results and see the following comparisons:

If you count the number of items that show up as green (delineated with the white line,) it is considerably larger on the Start screen (about 17 square tiles) than on the Start menu (2 apps). So there are many more items that you can reach more quickly on the Start screen.

This is just a taster of the full blog post, it’s very detailed and interesting.  You can read the full article here.

Microsoft Answer Start Screen Criticisms 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 aren’t many products on the market these days that make me angry, but Google’s Android operating system is still one of them.  Software startup 3LM has today announced that they will soon be launching “Enterprise-class device management” for Android devices.  This will give system administrators the chance to…

• encrypt data on devices
• create application whitelists and blacklists
• Enforce strong password policies
• Remotely wipe devices
• Control enhanced device security
• Remotely install enterprise apps
• Locate devices remotely
• Give remote access to devices and applications

…among other things.  It’s not that 3LM are doing this that makes me angry, it’s the fact that so much of this has to be done by a third-party and not by Google itself.

In a press release the company said…

Addressing enterprise needs for enhanced security and device management, 3LM has collaborated with major handset manufacturers to enable their Android OS-based devices to be enterprise-ready, giving IT enhanced protection and management of the device itself as well as any application installed therein. This enhanced functionality can now be activated by IT administrators through an enterprise server console that is available as part of a complete end-to-end mobile device management platform that 3LM is launching this week.

Now, let’s set aside for a moment the remote management features because Google’s Android operating system wasn’t originally designed or built as, or even intended to be, a corporate product.  The problem arises in Google’s seemingly complete inability to deal with the ongoing malware and security threat to the platform.

Any individual or business buying into an iPad or an iPhone knows that every app they download has been checked and vetted by Apple and is known to be fully compatible with their device and free from malware.  When Windows 8 launches next year the same will be true of its new Metro apps.  With Windows Phone at the moment this is also currently true.

Throw into this the fact that with any Windows tablet, be that Windows 7 or Windows 8 when they arrive, contains all of these remote management features by default through group policy controls and I can’t but wonder why Enterprises would even consider Android devices at all.  IT Pros everywhere would surely be up in arms at even such a suggestion.

Google simple haven’t managed security and malware on their platform in any way as effectively as either Apple or Microsoft.  Even RIM and HP have better security controls on their app stores than Google.

You may want to flame me for saying this but I’ve been writing about and teaching computer and network security for years now.  It’s just too important an issue to be treated flippantly by the operating system authors.  Even Microsoft has now grasped this fact with the bundling of anti-virus with Windows 8; something that no anti-virus vendor has so far been up in arms about because it was, frankly, inevitable.

Android users will be able to download the 3LM software from their website next week and I genuinely hope that Android users adopt it.  The peace of mind that comes with additional security, and not just in the business space, is worth its weight in gold.  There is no word though as yet on how much this software will cost and if there will be discounts for high-volume enterprise clients.

If you are still concerned about security on Android smartphones and tablets however my best advice would be to get a Windows Phone or an iPad (to be fair and balanced).  Better still, why not just wait for Windows 8 and get everything you need in the box!?

New Third-Party Android Enterprise Management and Security Released 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.

A new survey from the Boston Consulting Group has put Windows out firmly on top with regards to desirability for a Tablet operating system.  The survey, reported by AllThingsD shows 42 percent of US citizens wanting a Windows tablet while only 34 percent wanted an iPad and just 18 percent wanting an Android tablet.

In a study earlier this year by Forrester showed 46 percent of people wanting Windows as their tablet operating system compared to just 16 percent wanting an iPad.

This won’t come as too much of a surprise to many people as it’s long been known that research is putting Windows on top for tablet desirability.  This will on no doubt be partly down to being able to run their existing software.

Quite how people will react to Windows 8 on tablets then, which a new interface that will have its own learning curve, and ARM-powered tablets that simply won’t run existing Windows software remains to be seen.  The numbers in this research could go either way and it entirely depends on how well received WIndows 8 is by the general public and how much confusion the ARM-Intel issue causes.

There can be no doubt though that Windows 7 turned around the Windows brand very successfully and very quickly after the fiasco that was Windows Vista, even drawing people away from their beloved XP.

Personally I remain unconvinced of how well Windows 8 will do on tablets or on any other platform.  I’m not yet convinced it has the desirability factor that the iPad has and of the two tablets I own, one running the Windows 8 Developer Preview, I use my HP Touchpad instead.

Are Windows Tablets what the public wants most? 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 have to give a series of talks in the coming months to IT Pros around the UK on Windows 8, and it’s not going to be easy given the limited release we’ve seen with the Developer Preview.  This version of Windows 8, which is still only an Alpha, is set to change substantially by the time the official beta is released later this year (January 2012 at the very latest).

The reason being that Microsoft needed to get developers on board writing new Metro apps for the platform.  They must have a critical mass of apps available by the time Windows 8 launches, and will probably want to open the store well ahead of the official launch so that testers and reviewers can get a good feel for the ‘final’ product ahead of this time.  From my own perspective I certainly hope this is the case as I have my own Microsoft Press Windows 8 book needing to be distributed to bookstores by the time the new operating system hits its RTM (Release to Manufacturing) phase.  They also had to have this build ready for their developer conference.

So what do we currently know about the beta and how Windows 8 will change in the coming months?

Metro

We do know that some of the interface functionality in Metro, especially with how users with mice will interact with the interface.  As such, some of the functionality, including features shown off during the keynote address, aren’t in the developer preview.  There is clearly much to be added to Metro including a way to kill and close running apps directly without having to drop to the desktop Task manager.

The Desktop

It’s also become clear that there will definitely be a way to use the traditional desktop as the default interface.  This may just be selectable through group policy though if Microsoft are sensible they will either include a switch setting in the Control Panel, have the desktop as the default interface on screens with higher resolutions (and therefore bigger diameters) or in some of the business-focused editions such as Professional and Enterprise.

There is also work to be done on the multi-monitor setup where Metro currently exists on a single screen while the traditional desktop sits next to it on a second screen looking odd.

Media Centre

This is going back into Windows 8, Microsoft say but wasn’t ready in time for the Developer Preview.  We can fully expect this to get a very significant interface overhaul to make it look and operate much more like the next generation Xbox interface, which is also based on Metro.

Other OS Aspects

There were a great many other aspects of Windows 8 that Microsoft said just weren’t available at the time of the BUILD conference.  These include the sharing options for network and other devices which were touted during the keynote but missing from the Developer Preview and the Hyper-V virtualisation system, which is hidden in the developer preview but may get further enhancements before the beta to enable it to be used by people who don’t have IT Pro experience.

There’s still no word yet on when the official beta will be released though personally I am expecting it around November, certainly before Christmas 2011.  If Microsoft are to get WIndows 8 on sale in time for the back to school/college period next September this will be essential.

The Windows 8 Beta Changes, What we Know 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.

For years now experts (and Microsoft) have said that one of the main reasons Windows has proven so popular is the familiarity people have with the OS (aside from other reasons such as flexibility, available software etc.) and we’ve happily accepted this as a reasonable explanation.  However, many IT Pros have also said that this is a poor and shallow excuse for foisting on users an interface that is fundamentally inappropriate for them.

The ‘traditional’ desktop of minimize, maximise and close buttons, the dragging of the outside of windows to resize them, the pull down menus were all designed for the computers of thirty years ago, when computers were used for exclusively business, academic and scientific purposes.  For the average user then most of this wasn’t appropriate.  The learning curve was too high, it was too fiddly for many users to use comfortably and for the majority of simple tasks people wanted to do; get online, check email, manage photos and communicate with people, it was simply far too much to faff around with.

When the iPad appeared people didn’t really think of it’s new iOS operating system as being one for general purpose computing, as it was designed from the ground up for tablets.  The same happened with Google’s Android OS which, while far more like a traditional ‘desktop’, was still not shipped with desktop computers.  When Google’s ChromeOS finally appeared it too conformed to the uniformity of the modern desktop as observed by every desktop operating system since the 1980′s.

Now though Windows 8 is breaking the mould.  For the first time since the modern desktop OS was invented, Microsoft are innovating with something completely new, radical and unusual.  They are the first company taking a mobile OS and translating it onto the desktop.

Now you can debate for ages the pros and cons of making such a move but I’ve now had some time to get over the initial shock and surprise and I’m coming round to the idea that what Microsoft are doing is actually a very good idea.  However in doing this they could be heading down a road where they might find themselves in trouble and losing market share.

The reason for this is that, if Windows 8 proves genuinely successful; and by this I don’t just mean raw sales, I mean people enjoying actually using it, then it will prove conclusively that it no longer matters what operating system you use.  Now all operating systems perform the same tasks is broadly the same way.  What sets them apart is how they work with applications and how they integrate with other services.  In this we can see Microsoft building their cloud ecosystem tightly into the operating system.  This is a good move as Microsoft’s cloud-based products, which include SkyDrive and Office online are much more polished and integrated than anything the competition has yet been able to offer.

So we now find ourselves at a point where the operating system has truly become something that disappears into the background, a claim Microsoft rather prematurely made for Windows 7.  Each operating system now won’t stand on it’s merits for being product X from company Y anymore, but will instead be judged on how integrated it is with other services and how well  it offers app integration too.

Windows 8 leaps ahead of the competition here by providing APIs that permit programmers to hook their applications into all manner of services for sharing and socializing, a nice move.  In doing this there can be little doubt that Windows 8 will launch as the most progressive operating system available.

But where does this leave iOS, Android and other operating systems?  I believe now we may see a push for these operating systems to begin appearing on the desktop too.  After all, if Windows 8 can completely change the Windows paradigm and people can be happy with transitioning to a new interface and a new way of working, why can’t they just as easily move to Android on the desktop or perhaps even WebOS?

Where the operating system market has opened up in the last few years is nothing to where I believe the same market will be taken in the next few years to come.  We’re heading into exciting times where the OS is simply a facilitator for the things you use.  This is the way it really ought to be.

Windows 8 conclusively proves it doesn’t matter what OS you use! 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.

Yesterday Robert wrote about what many of use were expecting, that Metro apps in Windows 8 would only be available through the new Windows Store.  Windows 8 will support, as we know, both the new style Metro apps and also the traditional desktop software too.  But will this dual-software approach cause confusion and division with Windows users?

It can safely be said that the new Metro apps will be predominantly used by users of Tablets and smaller form-factor computer users with touch screens.  There will be some other useful applications for Metro apps however, especially with young children, the elderly, people with learning or physical difficulties and disabilities and whole sections of society classed as computer novices.  Metro therefore can have an extremely wide reach straight out of the launch door.

It can safely be said however that all PC users, no matter of what ability, will occasionally need software of greater power and flexibility than Metro can currently offer; especially with the Ribbon interface being an odd omission from the Metro developer tools.  This software can include photo and video editing and production, disc burning and office applications, primarily a word processor and spreadsheet.

For these types of applications people will almost always need to drop back to the traditional desktop and this leaves me wondering if the differences between the two, even if the desktop is Metro’ified by the RTM release of Windows 8, won’t cause confusion and divisions with both users and programmers alike.

Who really wants to have two distinct interfaces on their computer anyway?  Most people have enough difficulty just dealing with one and the learning curve associated with having two residing side-by-side could force users to decide what they’re going to use their computer for, and to stick to just that.

This means users could decide to just use Metro and not to bother with software that drops them down to the desktop, or they could choose to avoid Metro altogether and only use the desktop for running programs.

This is where the seeds of division are planted and it could cause people to lose confidence in the platform if it is seen as too confusing and fractured.  Could the public begin to turn away from Windows in favour of other operating systems such as Android which can offer them greater simplicity while perhaps not the full power and functionality of Windows?

It also raises questions about how software developers will approach Windows from now on.  We can expect the major developers to, with very few exceptions such as the Adobe Reader, to shun Metro completely as it simply doesn’t (currently) offer the interface flexibility to run Photoshop, Vegas Pro or Cubasis.  It doesn’t even have the interface flexibility to run Microsoft Word, a very worrying prospect.

Windows users could then end up split distinctly into one of two camps and Windows 8 itself will essentially become two different products, each with its own identity; something that many people have said should have happened from the beginning.  For Windows 8 to flourish and survive in the consumer space then we will probably need to see much greater interface flexibility, I would imagine via the Ribbon UI, added to Metro.  If not, the future and popularity of Windows as a consumer platform, where people enjoy having the power to run full desktop apps, could falter.

Will Metro and Desktop Apps in Windows 8 Divide and Confuse? 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 now had a copy of Windows 8 for just under a fortnight and, to be honest, I’ve completely stopped using it and have gone back to Windows 7.  This is despite the fact that I need to familiarise myself with Windows 8 as I’ll be writing several books about it (more news on this soon!)

So why is it that I, a Windows author and a Windows MVP, have completely stopped using Windows 8 and have gone so far as to uninstall it from my laptop?  It’s simply because I’ve never met an alpha that I liked.

The Windows 8 Developer Preview is alpha software, let’s be completely clear about this.  It’s not even at the beta stage yet where its ready for testing (and still riddled with bugs).  The only parts of Windows 8 that are ready for demonstration are the new APIs that power the Metro interface and its new associated apps.  Microsoft need to gain a critical market share in tablets and mobile devices when Windows 8 launches, and they’ve quite sensibly realised that in order to do this they’ll need a critical mass of Metro-ready apps waiting for new purchasers in the new Windows Store.

As proof that Windows 8 is an alpha all manner of annoying and completely unnecessary (for a finished OS anyway) bugs have appeared including one where Windows 8 can’t keep up with the typing speed of many people.

So why do I hate alphas?  I am a technology enthusiast and I’ve been an official beta tester for Microsoft since Windows Vista was an alpha.  To explain this let’s look at the psychology of being a Microsoft software tester.

The beta programme for Windows 7 was horrible, and I hated it.  I was quite vocal at the time about how much I hated it too.  Microsoft dared to release an operating system that was both stable and feature complete, how dare they!  Windows 7 when the beta officially launched at the beginning of 2009 just worked.  It was an operating system you could use day to day and indeed I did.  I very quickly dumped Vista off my PC and replaced it with pre-release software.  In this everything worked fine, including games and in many ways it was rather dull and boring.

Compare this to the beta programme of Vista that began when the operating system was in an early alpha.  These new builds were plagued with instabilities, crashes and near zero driver support due to the new driver model Microsoft were introducing at the time.  I remember installing and using those early Vista builds extremely well.  I’d go through the whole process of installing the thing only to delete the entire installation after only ten minutes use.  This went on for a year before some stable builds began to appear, but it was only when Vista was nearing the release candidate did I finally move to it completely from XP.

This beta programme was a pain, indeed regularly it caused significant headaches.  It was fun though, much more fun than the boring beta that Windows 7 offered, because we could see the operating system developing and growing in front of us.  With every new build there were new features and new things to see and use.

I believe this will be the same with Windows 8.  I fully expect to see some major changes by the time the ‘official’ beta is released later this year.  Let’s not forget that the Developer Preview would have been locked down from a build back at the end of July at the latest, a whole year before the release candidate is due.  The builds that Microsoft would have working on internally at the time of the BUILD developer conference earlier this month would have been very different to the one handed out on the day.

I’m looking forward to future builds as they are released, but it’s important that in order to be suitable for evaluation, it needs to be stable and reliable (and you need to be able to type on it!).  Windows 8 currently is none of these things even on one occasion refusing to boot, bringing up system repair and resetting itself to factory settings on my laptop.  Wiping all my installed programs without even telling me this is what it was doing.

We should just be two months now from the official beta, we should all look forward to that as it should be much more like the beta we had for Windows 7.  While this may be boring, at least it will be something we can use.

I’ve Never Met an Alpha That I Liked 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.

Being an MVP and having closer links to Microsoft does occasionally bring its advantages, and this week I was invited to feed back my thoughts on the new Windows 8 Developer Preview, make suggestions and help identify where improvements can be made.

I thought I’d share my email to Microsoft with you all here.  We’ll see how much of this, it any at all, feeds into future builds, but I’d certainly be interested in your comments and find out even if you agree with me.

The Start Screen, Metro and Mouse Control

I have found that the Start Screen works extremely well on my tablet, and to a slightly lesser degree on my laptop but only because it has a touch screen. On the desktop however the experience is more problematic, and the following issues have become apparent.

• The search screen can result in people having, after typing their search result, to mousing to the top right of the screen to select a category, then to the top left to select a program and sometimes then to the bottom right to run it as an administrator. This is too much movement and on a large screen takes much longer than you’d like.
• Currently, the new Charms menu on the desktop Windows button only appears occasionally, making it difficult to shut a machine down with a mouse. This is because the Start screen Charms and menus do not appear on mouse flicks as they do with touch. I expect these are just bugs but wanted to feed back.

Use of the Desktop for Business / IT Pros

• I would imagine that, at least in the Professional and upwards SKUs of Windows 8, that the ‘traditional’ desktop will be selectable as the default UI though use of Group Policy, though a switch outside of Group Policy would also be very welcome. This is especially in light of recent criticism Apple have come under from IT Pros for abandoning them with a move to a more iPad’esque experience with OS X Lion, something I would not like to see happen with Microsoft.
• I very much like and approve of the new Start Charms button on the desktop (I was calling for something like this three years ago) but it can make search and program management problematic. Can I please make these suggestions.
• That search on the desktop works in the same way as with the Start screen, in that users can simply start typing
• That all programs are automatically pinned to the Taskbar on installation, and that the taskbar will allow icons to nestle closer together as it fills up.
• IT Pros and businesses may still want to use Metro apps but these people commonly have larger screens on which the full screen Metro interface can cause issues (more on this below). Would it be possible to have an option, perhaps only accessible by a mouse click, not by touch, to run Metro in a Window on the desktop?

Metro and the Start Screen

• There are privacy issues on larger screens of the full-screen metro apps, with people able to see what’s on your screen much more easily than with previous Windows editions. There are two ways to accommodate this, one I have already mentioned, but another is to allow the Metro UI to be scaled so that icons that currently appear more than one inch high on large screens, and that can appear several centimetres high on large laptop screen, can be made smaller. This would have the additional effect of reducing the overall amount of scrolling and panning required for laptop and mouse users.
• I was very surprised to not see an implementation of the Ribbon UI for Metro at BUILD. I feel a Metro version would work extremely well and enable apps with much greater power and flexibility to be written by the developer community.
• Currently, when a Windows Desktop program is installed, any additional Start Menu links to accessories and uninstallers are placed on the Start screen with the program’s icon. This can result in a very messy desktop. I’m wondering how many users will find that they can remove icons or group them. This could result in users finding programs and apps difficult to locate, undoing much of the good work Microsoft have done in the last decade helping users keep a tidy desktop and organise programs.
• One of the very best features of the Windows 7 taskbar is the ability to quickly access and pin files to Jumplists. Currently there is no equivalent for this in Metro.
• One of the problems that Windows 8 testers feed back to me the most is that operations that previously took just one or two clicks on the desktop, can take two, three or four in Metro. This is one of the most common criticisms I am hearing currently.

Notifications and Security

• One thing I expect to change are the new notifications. I’m curious why Windows 8 pops up so many when Windows 7 did such a good job, at users request, of hiding them. Currently all the notifications I’ve seen are Green. This will not help users to distinguish critical, important and recommended notifications.
• While I welcome the inclusion of anti-virus, I’m concerned that this, the firewall and updates have been pushed to the background in Metro. This could cause security problems for users should a component fail or automatic updating fail.

A Dual Interface?

• As things stand currently, it appears that Windows 8 is two distinct operating systems. Metro and the desktop. I would imagine this will be done anyway, but is there a way to bring the desktop UI visually more in line with the Start Screen so that Metro notifications and pop-ups on the desktop don’t look out of place and to bring a more unified interface to Windows 8 generally.

Suggestions and Recommendations

There are several areas where I personally would like to make recommendations for Windows 8 if possible.

• I use libraries all the time, but I would very much like to see an additional layer of organisation added so you that can have, for example, a Documents library containing documents created by A. User or a Documents library containing only Excel files.
• Please replace the Start Menu with the new Charms menu on a permanent basis. Some aspects of the Start Menu could be added as additional pop-up menus or icons on the Taskbar. I have detailed previously how search could work.
• Currently in the new Explorer Ribbon there is no option to “set the default view for all folders” to the one of the current folder. This is an extremely useful feature and can it be added back please.
• Can I suggest with Metro that…
• It is not the default UI for screens above a certain resolution of for certain SKUs.
• That is does not activate by default on devices where there is no touch interface and where the screen is average or above in size.
• That the Metro UI can be scaled to suit the user’s requirements and needs.

Thanks very much again for inviting me to feed back.

Feeding Back to Microsoft 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.

I’ve had a few days to have a good play with Windows 8 now, and I’m beginning to wonder if Microsoft’s new operating system might not be undoing a lot of the good work they did with Windows 7.  Now I’m going to stress here that this is pre-release software, not even a beta yet, and as such a significant amount of things with the operating system will change.  However I am visiting Microsoft’s UK head office on Monday and meeting with the head of Windows there, who is bound to ask me what I think of Windows 8.

Notifications

Notifications in XP and Vista were a real pain, and most people complained about them.  With Windows 7 Microsoft introduced not only a new notifications area, but also the Action Centre.  With the notifications area it suddenly became a quick and simple operation to silence unwanted applications, and highlight others.  The Action Centre meanwhile aggregated all your alerts and would most commonly notify you by adding a cross to the notification flag.  This was elegant and quite easy to spot.

Windows 8′s metro UI doesn’t, as yet, have alternatives to these and the pop ups are back with a bong.  I say this because where some alerts would previously play a sound to tell you they were there, all alerts in Windows 8 play a sound.  All these alerts too, and this ought to change too, currently appear to be green (at least I’ve not seen any in other colours).  While this might be the default colour for the Developer Preview (we can expect other colours to be available to us) it doesn’t help us distinguish the critical and important notification from the unimportant ones.

Spreading Things Out

Many things are also too spread out in the new Metro UI.  To give you one example, if you want to search you no longer have to open the Start Menu, you can just type, which is great.  But if you want to search for, say Settings, then you have to click something in the very top right of the screen.  The Application you want could very well appear in the very top left of the screen and if you then want to perform an action on it, such as running it as an administrator, you have to click something in the very bottom right of the screen.

While this might be okay for touch use, though it’s still a bit much, it’s far too much work for using a mouse.  There are other examples where things are too spread out elsewhere in the UI and this is something that may change for the beta.

A Messy Desktop

Microsoft have spent the last ten years now trying to encourage us to have a tidy desktop, something of while I wholeheartedly approve.  The new Metro UI though can quickly become cluttered if you start installing your Windows desktop software.  All the installed icons will appear here including extra utilities and uninstallers.  I’m wondering how many Windows 8 users will know that they can unpin icons from the Start Screen, how many will realise they can reorganise icons into groups and, most importantly, how many will bother to do so.  This could lead to some very messy desktops and users having problems, ala Windows 98, where things become difficult for them to find.

Instant File Access

This is something I fully expect will change in the coming months.  One of the most useful features in Windows 7 was the jumplists on taskbar icons.  Being able to pin files to these and easily access both pinned and recently accessed files is something that a great many people find extremely useful.  In Metro there’s no way, as yet, to access recent files and no way to pin files to programs.  If I want to open a spreadsheet I will have to first open a new Excel document.

Hidden Security

It’s fantastic news that Windows finally includes anti-virus software and I wholeheartedly approve of the way Microsoft Security Essentials / Windows Defender and Windows Update manage and maintain your system automatically.  However I can’t help feel that moving these features so far into the background of the computer will make people complacent about them, and create much bigger problems for users should something go wrong with any automatic updating.

Interface Improvements

The ribbon is now everywhere in Windows 8 on the desktop and I’ve found it really excellent and easy to use.  However the standard interface in Metro is much more limited and, on a large screen, simply too big and not scalable.  It’s suitable for software that just runs simple tasks but not for anything more complex, which is probably the vast majority of Windows software.  For these packages I’m wondering why Microsoft didn’t announce a metro version of the ribbon at their developer conference?  Such a thing could work extremely well in Metro, but the problem is compounded further by rumours that the next version of Office only ‘may’ be released for Metro.

Too Many Buttons

My final quibble is that many operations that formerly took one click, such as switching between browser tabs, now takes two or three.  There are just too many simple and basic Windows operations that have had levels of complexity added to them, especially trying to switch off Windows 8 with a mouse; something else I expect to change soon.  Search as I detailed above is an excellent example here with the Start Menu and Explorer search in Windows 7 being elegant, simple and comprehensive.  This just isn’t the case now.

Other people may complain that the Metro UI is too plain, or that all the black feels oppressive.  These are also valid comments for a UI that works well on a phone, but perhaps not so well scaled up to the full desktop.

As I’ve said, and I’ll stress this again, this is not even a beta yet and so very much will change in the next six months.  I hope many of the issues I’ve detailed here are addressed, otherwise it’s possible that people will just consider Windows 8 a big step backwards from its predecessor, and that would be a crying shame.

Is Windows 8 a Backward Step for the Platform? 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.

Many people prefer to use Windows with keyboard shortcuts (and who doesn’t use Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V regularly).  Windows 8 includes some new keyboard shortcuts for the new Metro UI.  These can be very useful while you’re evaluating the new Operating system.

Where they come in very useful is when you’re using Metro with a mouse.  Currently, swipes such as showing the charms on screen by swiping in from the far right of the screen don’t work with a mouse.  This can make performing a task as simple as shutting down the computer complex.  Here then are the, currently accurate, keyboard shortcuts for the Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Win + Spacebar : Switch the input language and keyboard layout

Win + C : Open the Charms

Win + D : Show the desktop

Win + E : open Windows Explorer

Win + F : Open the Search panel

Win + H : Open the Share charm

Win + I : Open the Settings charm

Win + K : Open the Connect charm

Win + L : Lock the computer

Win + O : Lock the screen rotation

Win + Q : Open the search pane

Win + R : Open run

Win + V : Cycle through toasts

Win + W : Opens the Settings search panel

Win + Y : Peek at the desktop

Win + Z : open the app bar

Win + Shift + V : Reverse cycle through toasts

Win + Enter : Launch the narrator

Win + PgUp : Move tiles to the left

Win + PgDn : Move tiles to the right

Win + Shift + . : Move the split to the left

Win + . : Move the split to the right

One useful function, especially when it comes to search is that from the Start screen you can simply start typing and Windows will open the search panel for whatever you type.  This is an improvement on Windows 7 where you first needed to open the Start Menu before you could type a search request.

Don’t forget that Windows 8 is still pre-release software and all these keyboard shortcuts, as with every other feature at the moment can change in future versions and even with updates that will be issued through Windows update to the demo platform.

Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts 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.

For the last day one of the hot topics circulating online is the news that a hack has been found to reinstate the Start Menu in Windows 8.  Doing so is just a simple registry hack too.

Open RegEdit from Windows 8 search by just typing it with the Start screen showing

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Change the value of RPEnabled from “1″ to “0″

The thing is that this hack also disables the new Start screen completely so you’ll never see it.  In returning to Start menu to Windows 8 you make the default interface the traditional Windows desktop.  So is this something you want to do?  Let’s have a look here at the pros and cons.

Many people, especially Microsoft, are saying that as Metro is no new and so bold (and also so devoid of apps currently) that turning it off isn’t giving it a fair go.  It is very bold and something that will be too much of a change for some people and a shock to others.

How big is your screen?

Probably the biggest factor in deciding whether or not to turn off the new Metro interface will be your PC type and your screen size.  I have three PCs on which I have Windows 8 installed.  A desktop machine with a 23 inch non-touch monitor, an 11 inch tablet and a laptop with a 17 inch multi-touch screen.  On the desktop, and your opinion may be different to mine, Metro is too large and difficult to use.  When I use Internet Explorer for instance it will always take up my full screen.  This means I can’t quickly and at a glance see what tabs I have open and switch between them, and that text on many websites stretches far too wide.

With the other apps and programs I use regularly, none are built into Windows 8, so I’ll always be dropping to the desktop to use them.  On this PC I will be disabling the Start Menu and using Windows 8 in what I shall call ‘traditional’ mode.

On my tablet however its a no brainer that I leave the Metro interface turned on as, frankly, I’d be a bit of a dummy not to.  Because my laptop has a multi-touch screen I’ll leave it turned on here too, I also need to get to grips with it properly for my job, but I’m reserving judgement about whether I’ll leave it there permanently.

You may have experienced a similar issue in that on large screens Metro can look too big and intrusive, and without touch it’s difficult to control things as simple as switching your PC off.

What type of user are you?

Then there’s the question of what type of user you are.  Here I can thoroughly recommend that if you use your PC for light web browsing and social networking you should give Metro a go.  This goes double if you have a small laptop or netbook as you’ll probably love it.

If on the other hand you’re a power user or a business user who spends most of their time in software such as Microsoft Office, Photoshop or Visual Studio then perhaps switching the Start Menu back on is the right thing to do.

I completely understand why people are saying, don’t switch Metro off, you need to give it a chance.  The interface change is bold and brash and can look intimidating.  It does have its merits though, especially for non-technical people for whom the new interface, especially with the new simplified Control Panel, will be a blessing.

I also understand though why people might make their mind up quickly that Metro isn’t for them, and it’s easy to see why they might come to this conclusion.

In the end it’s a personal choice.  My advice would be to turn it off on your desktop if you want to, but try and live with it on your laptop where it might be more at home.  Changes will inevitably come and Microsoft may make this type of switch an option (especially for business users), but for now don’t just say no, say maybe.

Should you reinstate the Start Menu in 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.

When Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 to the world yesterday they took two and a half hours to only show us small pieces of it, most notably the new Metro UI.  The operating system is much more than that though so I’ve downloaded and installed the developer preview on a range of devices including a desktop and a tablet to try and bring you answers to the questions that you most want to know.  This will be a multi-part review as I spend more time with the new OS.

How does Metro work with a Mouse?

This is probably the single most common question that will be asked about Windows 8.  Many of the features that Microsoft demonstrated yesterday at the BUILD conference are very touch focused.  Within the new Start screen you will access the pop-up Metro menus and options by right clicking with your mouse.  You can drag and drop the main interface from side to side, but some features seem touch only, such as the zooming out of the interface (I have a large screen with a high resolution though and will try it with a mouse on a smaller screen).  In this way the interface seems limited when used with a mouse, when you come to try it yourself you’ll see that it is clearly designed with touch primarily in mind.

Is Metro Easy to Use?

Honestly?  There’s definitely a learning curve associated with this operating system.  There’s not actually that much to it as Microsoft have essentially dumbed down and simplified Windows, something Apple did with OS X a long time ago.  Microsoft have taken things even further though and reduced much of Windows to nothing more complex than you’d find on a tablet.  For many people this will be refreshing, but for others the lack of fine control will be very annoying.  All the original Control Panel apps exist but performing operations such as changing the location of your user folders and even shutting the machine down have now become.

So what about Using Windows 8 on the Desktop

Unless something changes quite radically, you can’t.  Pressing the Start Button always takes you back to the new tablet Start screen.  The traditional Start Menu is gone forever and there’s no way to launch programs from the desktop other than to pin them to the Taskbar.  This means that you can technically live on the desktop but every program you have installed will be on the taskbar in the way it is with OS X’s dock.  I don’t know why I’m complaining about this as I was calling for it when Windows 7 was unveiled.  For heavy and power PC users though who like to have all manner of additional little utilities installed that you’ll hardly ever use, the main way to get at these now is through the new Start screen.

So What’s nice?

Straight off the top of my head, I really like the new “Windows Basic” theme for the desktop, it might even be nicer than Aero glass. Little long overdue additions such as spell-checking throughout the OS are welcome too. I won’t comment further at this stage on specific features as Windows 8 isn’t ‘feature locked’ yet and so much is going to change in the coming months.

Does it Install, Start-up and Shut Down Quickly?

The Windows installer is the same one for Windows 7, we can assume Microsoft haven’t finished the Windows 8 one yet.  Start-up is very quick, even on a traditional BIOS (Microsoft said yesterday that only UEFI would offer a really fast start-up) but Windows 8 is much faster than Windows 7 on the same hardware.  There’s a nice new graphical boot loader too, ala Boot Camp, to help you choose which OS to use in Multi-Boot.  Shut down is also quick.  I have been using this on a tablet with a 1.66GHz dual core Atom with 2Gb of RAM and it booted from a cold start in just 12 seconds.

So what about using programs?

Unless you are using programs on the traditional desktop they’ll all run full screen.  Now Microsoft’s metrics and feedback from Windows users tell them that most people don’t use resolutions higher than 1366 by 768, but for the rest of us with large screens (in my case 2048 x 1152 on my desktop) then a full screen Internet Explorer window is a pain.  Windows is a multi-tasking OS and always has been, so moving to this single app view will take some getting used to.  You can drag other apps in from the left of your screen with the mouse or use the old Alt/Win and Tab to switch between them, but many people like to see multiple apps open at once.

So is “Traditional” Windows Gone for Good?

The answer to this question is, probably yes.  Everything with Windows 8 is clearly intended to be channelled through the new Start screen and apps are intended to almost always be run full-screen.  You will need to try Windows 8 for yourself to see how much you like it, but I can see many people wanting to skip this release or at least delay their decision for another year or two while they make up their mind.  If you are already used to using tablets and have computers with relatively smaller screens, then you’ll probably take to Windows 8 straight away, and this is what Microsoft are counting on.  If you’re more a traditional desktop user you might find yourself disliking the new style immensely.

So that’s it for part 1.  I’ll be back over the coming days with more thoughts on this operating system and my colleagues here at Windows 8 News will probably chip into this article series too.

Windows 8 Developer Preview, Your Questions Answered, Pt 1 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.

Today Microsoft showed off Windows 8, well at least a small part of it.  The whole of Windows chief Steven Sinofsky’s two and half hour keynote today was focused on their new Metro interface, now the default interface for Windows.

This is understandable as Microsoft have lost significant ground in the tablet market and when Windows 8 launches in around a year from now, they need to make a big impact in that market and launch with a large number of readily available apps for the new Metro interface.  The company therefore wants to hit the ground running with their headline feature, the one that’s make of break for the company.

But what about everybody else?  Many of you will be thinking perhaps that only 10% of all Windows 8 users will use tablets and touch screens and that will account perhaps for just 5% of overall PC users.  Of this we’ll have to wait and see as Metro might really take off on the desktop, but if you’re worried about being left behind and unsupported don’t.

One thing Sinofsky did say during his keynote was that there are a couple of hundred new features in Windows 8 of which the Metro interface and it’s extras are just a few.  We’ll see a constant stream now of details about Windows 8 in depth that will satisfy the people excited about Metro, but also give use excellent details of everything else.

It’s also important to remember that we’re still more than a year away from Windows 8 going on sale, which means a great deal will change in the next twelve months.  Some features will be dropped completely, some will be added and some will change slightly or significantly.  What you will see now in the developer preview is by no means a finished product so shouldn’t be judged as such.

I’ll be going through Windows 8 in the coming weeks with a fine tooth comb and I’ll report back to you all what it’s really like under the bonnet and past the fluff.  These are exciting times though and Apple and Google could well now be worried.

Windows 8, Much more than Metro 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’re now only one day away from finding out what Microsoft really intend for Windows 8 to be.  Will it have the tablet interface by default and how deep with that interface go?  Will they drop legacy support completely?  Will the Kinect feature brightly in Windows’ future?  Well on Tuesday 13th September we’re all finally going to find out the answers to these questions as Microsoft unveil their shiny new OS during the keynote address of their BUILD conference in Anaheim, California.

This keynote address will be broadcast online, live and you can watch it on the official Microsoft Press website here.  The keynote will most likely be delivered by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer who’s booming voice has become a staple of Microsoft press events.

It’s rumoured that we will see some of the first breed of new Windows 8 tablet hardware tomorrow too, including a new quad core tablet.  It is traditional that Microsoft show off some new hardware to accompany a software product, and I’m expecting that we could well see a Kinect sensor built into a monitor or laptop bezel for the first time.

The keynote address will begin at 9am PT | 5pm – London | 12pm – New York | Fri 2am – Sydney | Fri 1am – Tokyo | Fri 12am – Beijing | 9:30pm – Mumbai so you know when you can watch it in your locality.

As of tomorrow when this keynote is broadcast Windows 7 will no longer be top dog and it remains to be seen A) How the mainstream press react to Windows 8 and B) how stock markets react to the unveiling.  I have made my own predictions about Windows 8 (and the effect on Microsoft’s stock price here for you to read and comment on).

So will you be watching the keynote address live?  What do you think Windows 8 will be and do you even like the noises coming out of Redmond?

Windows 8 to be Unveiled Tuesday 13th Sept, Watch it Live 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 are set to formally unveil Windows 8 in just two days at their BUILD conference in California, but what are we expecting them to announce.  Some details of Windows 8 have already been unveiled but others are sketchy, concealed in mist so far.  So, settings aside what we actually know about the product so far, what are we expecting it to be, and what are expecting it will do for us?

The Kinect Connection

First and foremost Microsoft are pushing a new interface paradigm on the end user based primarily around the tablet / touch screen, but also the Kinect.  This is something that many people have missed so far.  A while ago now Microsoft showed off the new tablet interface, based on their Metro interface from the Zune / Windows Phone.  Most recently Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky implied that this would be the ‘default’ interface for Windows 8, with users dropping down to the traditional desktop should they want it.  No I’m going to wait and see just how true this is on Tuesday because it’s likely that the new tablet interface won’t be integrated any more deeply into Windows 8 than Media Centre currently is with Windows 7.

The exciting part of all this will be tight integration with the Kinect.  Microsoft’s biggest announcement, and probably their most impressive display on Tuesday will be this new tablet interface being operated on a standard desktop machine with a Kinect, possibly built into the bezel of a monitor.  This interface type has been sought after by geeks everywhere since Tom Cruise popularised it in Minority Report.  Microsoft have deliberately kept quiet about the Kinect integration with WIndows 8 but, you mark my words, this is will be a headline feature.

A new virtualization

Microsoft will take virtualization to the next level with Windows 8.  It’s already been leaked/announced that the Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate versions of the OS will include the company’s Hyper-V technology.  This will allow them to completely strip away all the legacy support that has been Windows’ achiles heel in terms of security and stability problems for years.

Where this will leave home users remains to be seen, but the inclusion of Windows 7 Mode will probably rectify this.  At the moment you need the professional version of Windows 7 or above to use XP Mode.  This isn’t something that’s going to change but XP will be out of support while Windows 8 is still in it’s active product cycle.  It’s very likely then that Microsoft will use it’s Hyper-V and MinWIn technologies to provide a downloadable, and completely locked-down copy of XP Pro SP3 (possibly even SP4 just for this virtual machine).  This and Windows 7 Mode will enable them to completely strip out all the legacy support, making Windows smaller, leaner, faster and far more secure.

Will Microsoft’s Share Price Dip?

Because of just these two things, which I am convinced will be the headline announcements on Tuesday, Windows 8 will alienate a huge number of computer users who like the traditional way of doing things, perhaps don’t want a new learning curve, and especially in business will be greatly concerned about the support for their legacy programs and how any new interfaces will play with their workplace productivity.

Suffice to say Windows 8 will be bold, a statement made by Steve Ballmer over a year ago.  There is every possibility that business users will turn away in frustration, at least initially, as they see the consumerisation of Windows take hold.  There will be concessions to them which will include tight integration with Microsoft Lync and Office 365, two more inevitable features and possible integration with Skype; though Microsoft’s purchase of the company came too late in the development process this time around.  But I suspect that Microsoft’s share price will probably dip on Tuesday as businesses take a step back to assess the impact of Windows 8 on their own bottom line.  This situation will soon rectify itself though and the share price will bounce back, and even rally further as businesses realise the full potential, especially with security, of Windows 8.

Windows 8 is indeed going to be bold, and I’d love to find out just how true you think my predictions here will be.  Please feel free to comment here.

Windows 8, What are we Expecting? 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 now know that Microsoft will be introducing an app store with Windows 8 and will indeed be the last of the major operating system companies to offer this, with Apple having joined the party earlier this year and GNU/Linux having had an app store since the time Stonehenge was built.  What will it be like though and will companies actually want to use it?  Here I thought I’d chew over some of the pros and cons of having an app store built into Windows at a time when you can still install software the traditional way, you know, from discs and things.

The Pros

On the face of things, the inclusion of an app store in Windows is, not only long overdue, but also a fantastic new way for people to find and distribute software.  For over a decade now the primary software website has been downloads.com from Cnet.  This is a tried and trusted resource that millions of people have learned to trust.  This is very important because the Internet is now so big, and malware is so prevalent that people need trustworthy websites through which they can distribute their software.

If you look at games patches and even software from the major companies, Adobe, Microsoft and the like, you’ll find it all hosted on Cnet.  Part of this will be Cnet wanting to bring in more advertising revenue from the site, fair enough on that score, but there will be an element of software houses placing the software there themselves.

They know that people trust Cnet and even smaller software companies with their own merchant services on their own website will be aware that visiting an unknown website may in itself, be enough to put off a download or a software purchase.

Then there’s accessibility.  One of the reasons downloads.com, and other similar websites, have been so successful in the past is because of their ability to aggregate millions of software packages in a helpful way.  There are reviews, star ratings and these websites can make it considerably easier for you to find the software you need, that does the job you want, at the price you need.

Both of these are what an app store will bring to Windows.  They will give users of not just Windows 8, but Windows 7 and Vista as well, quick and easy access to a trusted location where malware is filtered out and where the right software can be found, downloaded and installed.  For consumers this is a huge plus and for software houses, especially smaller software houses, this will be a huge bonus for them in trying to get the word out that their software even exists.

Cons

It’s not all good news though and much of the success of the new Windows app store will depend on how Microsoft choose to manage it.  The standard app store model was created by Apple, who are frequently criticised for creaming a whopping 30% off the top of a sale.  This criticism has stopped them from doing so however and neither has it stopped Microsoft from doing the same with the Windows Phone store.  It’s just accepted now that this practice, no matter how irritating and seemingly greedy it may be, is the accepted way of doing things and the price we have to pay.

This will inevitably mean that the big companies stay away.  Sure, all of Microsoft’s software will be sold through it and the fact that every other company can submit software if they want to will protect the company from anti-competition lawsuits.  We can be sure though that Apple, Adobe, Autodesk and companies who’s names begin with other letters of the alphabet, will all shun this app store for everything but their free basic software.  Why would they want to give up 30% of their revenue on a package they sell for $600?

On the downside the smaller software houses will have less of a choice.  There’s much less money for them to make and they need to exposure.  This means that smaller software houses will have little choice but to pay any fee.  This could mean that they have to increase the cost of their software to cover their costs or, more likely, they will be yet further squeezed in order to remain competitive.  This could force some software houses out of business if their apps don’t sell in sufficient quantities.

All in all a Windows app store is clearly six of one and half a dozen of the other.  It remains to be seen what the uptake will be, exactly what terms and conditions Microsoft apply and whether the big players also jump on board.  What do you think about a Windows app store?  Would you use it and do you even think it’s a good idea?

The Windows 8 App Store, Pros and Cons 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 the inaugural post of the new “Building Windows 8 Blog“, Windows chief and Microsoft Senior Vice-President Steven Sinofsky has started the discussion about Windows 8 with the company’s BUILD conference, where WIndows 8 will be unveiled, just around the corner.

In the post he hints that a beta of the new OS will be released in the “coming months”…

We’ve been hard at work designing and building Windows 8, and today we want to begin an open dialog with those of you who will be trying out the pre-release version over the coming months.

He goes on to talk about the potential legacy issues surrounding the new OS, with rumours still flying that it will ditch support for older hardware and software in the name of stability and security.

Windows 8 reimagines Windows. That’s a big statement and one that we will return to throughout this blog. It is also important to know that we’re 100% committed to running the software and supporting the hardware that is compatible with over 400 million Windows 7 licenses already sold and all the Windows 7 yet to be sold.

…before going on to talk about the secrecy surrounding the product so far.

We’ve heard people express frustration over how little we’ve communicated so far about Windows 8. We’ve certainly learned lessons over the years about the perils of talking about features before we have a solid understanding of our ability to execute.

This all looks then like Microsoft are on track for a September 2012 release for Windows 8, which would enable hardware manufacturers to hit the ground running with the all-important back to school/college sales period, and give them plenty of time to gear up for the big Christmas holiday sales.

Sinofsky, who is renowned for his secrecy, goes on to talk about that secrecy and the openness that he promised about WIndows 8 going forward.

We know that blogging about Windows 8 will bring out the passionate opinions of many people, including members of our team. As a team we’re all going to participate—many of us will author posts, and all of us will read and take note of your comments on this blog. We’ll participate in a constructive dialog with you. We’ll also make mistakes and admit it when we do. It is almost certain that something will hit a nerve, with the team or with the community, or both, in the blog posts or in the product, or both. In any case, we’ll work hard to have constructive conversations with you, share the data, and, when the situation calls for it, make thoughtful changes.

It is interesting his comment “Windows 8 Reimagines Windows“.  Nobody yet knows quite what this means though there have been enough rumours flying around so far to give us educated guesses.  One is to the aforementioned jettisoning of legacy support, instead shunting this into virtual machines based on locked-down Windows kernels.

So far the only parts of Windows 8 that Microsoft have demonstrated, is a copy running on a 1GHz ARM processor and the new tablet interface.  Both are impressive but only a small part of the overall ecosystem coming.  So far as the rest of the operating system goes he says…

Computing is much more focused on applications and on people than on the operating system itself or the data. These changes in the landscape motivate the most significant changes to Windows, from the chips to the experience.  Rest assured we’ve thoughtfully engineered changes across the full range of Windows capabilities. But this presents us a challenge in deciding where to start the dialog.

This again implies that there are major and very significant announcements coming next month.  We’ll keep you fully updated here at Windows 8 News on the future of Windows.  The BUILD conference is in California from September 13th.

Steven Sinofsky Kicks off Windows 8… Beta Coming Soon! 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.

This is something we’ve all known for a while now, especially with Microsoft’s move to low-power 1GHz ARM processors, but now PC Pro magazine are reporting that Microsoft have confirmed that WIndows 8 will have no higher minimum hardware requirements than Vista or Windows 7.

In a statement, Tami Reller, the corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Windows Division said…

In both of our Windows 8 previews, we talked about continuing on with the important trend that we started with Windows 7, keeping system requirements either flat or reducing them over time, Windows 8 will be able to run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same requirements or lower.”

The move is hardly surprising as Intel and ARM have both been pushing for the last few years for lower-power, lower-cost processors that can run as effectively as their more expensive, and power-hungry, cousins.  A good example of this is the ARM C-50 chip which at only 1GHz can run some Windows tasks faster than an Intel Atom running at 1.6GHz.  You can read my review of the C-50 on our sister site gHacks.

Reller went further, saying that…

“We’ve also built intelligence into Windows 8 so that it can adapt to the user experience based on the hardware of the user, so, whether you’re upgrading an existing PC, or buying a new one, Windows will adapt to make the most of that hardware.”

This is an interesting statement and implies that the power settings of Windows have been enhanced beyond that which we’ve already seen in Windows 7.  With the current OS, some features, such as the Aero Glass effects, are switched off for processors that won’t be able to run them effectively.  This new move could mean that Windows 8 will examine the processor and other core hardware further at installation and adapt services and core OS processes to take the best advantage of the hardware you have, and, in the case of tablets and laptops, to give you the very best power consumption.

It’s clear that power consumption will be a major factor in how successful, or not, Windows 8 will become.  Microsoft clearly recognise this.  Currently no tablet is able out outlast Apple’s iPad with it’s 16 hours of battery life, though a few can scrape twelve hours.  A cleverly written OS can clearly help as this is a factor that currently prevents both Windows 7 and Google’s Android operating system from being efficient enough to reach iOS’s huge battery life.

Currently the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7 are a 1GHz processor with 1Gb of RAM, 16Gb of hard disk space and DirectX9 graphics for the 32-bit version, and 2Gb of RAM and 20Gb hard disk space for the 64-bit versions.

This does not necessarily mean however that you will have a happy experience running Windows 8 on low-power machines.  If the rumours about the inclusion of Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualisation client being built into the OS are true, and they probably are, this could mean that the company is finally dropping legacy support from the OS.

This would certainly help make the operating system much leaner and more power and processor-efficient.  however it could mean that some software that currently runs of netbooks and Windows 7 tablets in compatibility mode will no longer run under Windows 8 on the same hardware.  This will be because the virtualisation software required to run older programs in the new OS will require beefier hardware than some single-core Atom processors can muster.

This is all speculation however but it’s generally good news for people who might not want to, or be able to afford to upgrade their PCs next year.

We’ll continue to bring you all the latest news about Windows 8 here at Windows8News.com

Microsoft Confirms Windows 8 will run on Existing PCs 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.

It’s been reported that a leaked CD containing Windows 8 Milestone 3 has been up for sale on eBay.  The sale was first reported on WinRumors who said the disc was on sale for $1,500.

There’s no way to know if this “real Windows 8 Milestone 3 Leaked CD” was genuine or not, though it certainly isn’t on eBay any more.  If this was a genuine copy, the fact that it said it was on “CD” could have been a typo, it would raise important questions about there the copy had come from.

It’s not surprising that unscrupulous people would try and cash in on the hype that Windows 8 is generating, and this is either an example of a genuine build being put up for sale, or a scam for an earlier leaked build or perhaps even nothing at all.

Microsoft have had problems with leaked builds of Windows 8 however and there’s no way to know where they are coming from.  The best assumption was the builds were being leaked by hardware partners who were using them to test new drivers.  My contacts within Microsoft though have told me that it’s very unlikely that hardware partners would have had this type of access to Windows 8, if at all, at this stage.

This then indicates that the leaks could have been coming from within Microsoft itself, and there aren’t too many people within the company with access to it.

We’ll never know whether this build was genuine or a hoax, and at $1,500 it would have been foolish for anyone to try and find out.  Either way we’re just over two months now until the official unveiling of the OS at Microsoft’s BUILD conference on September 13th.  The full beta programme will probably begin in January 2012.

Windows 8 Milestone 3 disc goes on sale on eBay 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.

When Windows 8 comes out it’s bound to cause a great deal of excitement in the tablet market.  For the first time there will be an excellent and truly viable Windows tablet operating system and it’s bound to shake up the market.  It’s also very likely to cause a great deal of confusion though and this is because Windows 8 on Intel chips and Windows 8 on ARM chips will be very different beasts.  They’ll operate in different ways, run different software and be updated differently.

So what will be the main differences and how can you decide which one will be best for you?  I thought I’d detail what the expected differences will be here and give you a quick guide.

The Main Differences

The main differences between the two platforms are as follows…

Intel

• Like a traditional PC, able to run all your existing applications
• Probably a worse battery life than ARM tablets
• Will be updated regularly through Windows Update
• Could still be prone to viruses and malware as it’s still ‘traditional’ Windows
• Problems in the OS can still mean you’ll have to reinstall Windows occasionally

ARM

• Cannot run any existing PC apps, will only run apps written or compiled for ARM and available in the Windows Marketplace
• Excellent battery life
• Will probably receive less regular updates
• Will be very resilient to viruses and malware being ‘not traditional Windows’ and with tighter app control from Microsoft
• Windows on a Chip means it will never need reinstalling

Content Creator or Consumer

The first question to ask yourself is if you are a content creator or a consumer.  Traditionally PC users are content creators because we all use them at work.  Applications commonly used for this include Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and so on.  If you are primarily a content creator and this forms the bulk of what you will do with a tablet, then an Intel chip would seem the best option.  If however you would just want a tablet for down hours and a little light web browsing a gaming, then ARM would be the best option.

Tech Head or Technophobe

If you are a tech savvy person, used to installing and troubleshooting problems with Windows then you probably won’t mind using Windows 8 on an Intel tablet.  You’ll probably already have a USB DVD drive or the Windows installer on a pen drive.  For these people then Intel would be something that you wouldn’t notice any difference with.  Most people these days have got used to an operating system on a chip in devices such as smartphones and the iPad.  These people don’t want to have to waste time fixing the OS when things go wrong.  They want a consumer electronbics device, and why shouldn’t they get it?  For these people then Windows on ARM would be the only option.

Using External Hardware

If you will want to use external hardware with your tablet though then you can probably forget the ARM devices as the chances these will support that hardware is slim to none.  You can expect USB Pen Drives, external hard disks and DVD drives to work, but printers will probably be off the menu.  I have a Windows 7 tablet that has a TV tuner plugged into a dock in my bedroom so that I can use it as a small TV.  You can probably rule this particular usage out for ARM devices.

General Flexibility

There can be no doubt then that tablets running Windows 8 on Intel chipsets will be far more flexible and adaptable than Windows 8 running of ARM.  It will also take a while for ARM apps to appear on the platform too.  There are downsides to this though which include a far higher vulnerability to viruses and malware, and an non-embedded operating system that can easily crash and need repair.

Conclusions

In all I see the choices between Windows 8 on Intel and Windows 8 on ARM to be as complex for consumers as the different versions of Android are for them now.  Both platforms will have their benefits and both will have their problems.  Before buying a Windows 8 tablet then you’ll need to think very carefully about exactly what you will want to use it for, when and where you will use it before making your choice.  Don’t let the sales person sway you, think carefully because if you don’t and you get it wrong, you could be making a very expensive mistake.

ARM or Intel? The Windows 8 Tablet Question 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.

Many people are getting very excited about the new Tablet interface for Windows 8.  Based on the Metro UI first introduced for their Zune media player, and then enhanced for Windows Phone, it seems to have received almost universal praise.

Some current research is showing that Windows is the operating system most people want on their mobile devices too, perhaps because of the ability to run their favourite programs, perhaps out of familiarity.  We can be certain whatever the outcome that the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next January will be awash with Windows 8 tablets, Microsoft will make sure of that.  Windows 8 tablets will then go on to be a very strong challenger to Android, RIM and HP if perhaps not Apple.

Or will it?  You see I’ve always found it interesting that people say they would rather have Windows on a mobile device than any other operating system.  People have apps on their computers and they not only get used to using them, but all their data is there too, usually locked into a proprietary format.  So is it really true that Windows 8 tablets will take off, or is it more likely that Windows 8 will be more popular on convertible devices?

There are many of these already, some running Windows 7 and some running Android.  The different form factors involve flip round screens and tablets that plug into keyboard docks.  They include tablets, laptops and netbooks in their ranges.  In all there’s a tablet here for everyone already and Windows 8 is going to come in a shake this market up.

Using Windows 8 on a convertible device will make much more sense to many people than just on a flat tablet.  There will be huge numbers of ‘consumers’ of information who will want a tablet for web browsing, email and watching and listening to video and music.  Windows users though tend to be ‘content creators’ who could find this form-factor limiting.  What’s the point, many people will argue, of having Windows on a device if I can’t use Office or Photoshop?

I can agree with this myself, I have a Windows Phone that I’ve recently upgraded with the beta version of Microsoft’s new ‘Mango’ operating system update.  It was essential to me that I got access to this, and fortunately my job permits such extravagances.  This was all simply so I could get access to SkyDrive in the Office hub.  Here I keep valuable spreadsheets and other documents that I need regular and frequent access to.  When Windows Phone shipped last year, not only could you not access or open documents stored anywhere in the cloud other than a company SharePoint server, but you couldn’t sync documents from your PC to your handset either.  Now I have full access to these Office documents on the move Windows Phone has become genuinely useful to me.  I can therefore completely understand what these people are saying.

There is still a big difference between using a program such as Microsoft Office on a touch interface and with a full keyboard and mouse / trackpad.  Only on the latter will you have access to the full power and feature set of the product.  While I can access these spreadsheets and other documents, I can’t do much with them other than change simple data fields.

So what would be your preference?  Microsoft are soon going to start demoing a variety of different form-factors and new devices showcasing Windows 8.  We’ll see some of them at  September’s BUILD conference when the new OS is officially unveiled.  It’s impossible to predict what new and imaginative form-factors hardware companies may yet have to announce but for the moment the list sits like this…

• Traditional Laptop
• Traditional Netbook
• Traditional Tablet (with option of Bluetooth keyboard)
• Convertible Laptop
• Convertible Netbook
• Tablet with Keyboard dock

It would also be interesting to know if you are a ‘content creator’ or ‘content consumer’ on your Windows PCs.

Please let us know in the comments below what type of Windows user you are and what type of tablet device for Windows 8 (if any) you’d like to be using, it will be very interesting to hear your views.

Will you want a Windows 8 Tablet or Convertible Laptop/Netbook? 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.

It’s the news everybody has been waiting for, and now Microsoft have confirmed that Windows 8 will be formally unveiled at the BUILD conference in September.  This conference, which runs from the 13th to the 16th of September 2011 in Anaheim, California was formerly known as the Professional Developers Conference (PDC).

The conference is “a new event that shows modern hardware and software developers how to take advantage of the future of Windows. Learn how to work with the all new touch-centric user experience to create fast, fluid, and dynamic applications that leverage the power and flexibility of the core of Windows, used by more than a billion people around the world.”  It is here that extensive demos will showcase the new operating system and its new features.

It’s the first formal announcement of the new OS in full and Microsoft are playing this up, saying “in 1995, Windows changed the PC.  BUILD will show you that Windows 8 changes everything.”  This is a bold statement and does imply that Microsoft have, as I’ve long suspected, much grander plans for Windows 8 beyond just tablets.

It is entirely possible that Microsoft will use the event to showcase demonstration smartphones and possibly even cars running the new OS.  These are two platforms on which Microsoft already have a good foothold, and it would make sense for them to bring a unified platform across their different form-factors.

One clue to this is on the BUILD website itself, which says “Our approach means no compromises—you get to use whatever kind of device you prefer to run the apps you love.”  Obviously cars would be at least partially excluded from this, though a unified platform will be greatly welcomed by everyone.

The advantages of such a platform are enormous, especially if they are all legacy-free.  This will mean that everything will be leaner, more easily and more frequently updatable and much more exciting and stable as a result.

What is not in doubt is that Windows 8 will be a departure for the company, especially in terms of legacy support.  So far the company has managed to keep its legacy plans mostly under wraps, the only exception being the discovery of their Hyper-V server technology in a recently leaked x64 alpha build of the OS.

It is anticipated that the company will use the move to ARM hardware to justify a wholesale dropping of legacy support natively within the OS.  This would instead harness the power of Hyper-V to run older apps.  Microsoft have announced though the inclusion of “Windows 7 Mode” which again hints at the dropping of legacy software support.

Steve Ballmer said some months back now that Windows 8 would be a “bold” move for the company, and it will need to be.  Getting people to move away from Windows XP was difficult enough.  Now that Windows 7 has proven itself, anything less than a bold departure will be a tough sell for Microsoft, and they know it.

The main keynote at the conference will be at 9:00am PST on Tuesday September 13th.  This is when the new operating system will be fully unveiled.  Following this will be a series of sessions for four days, where the features of Windows 8 and other products including Internet Explorer 10 and the company’s next generation of software development and deployment tools will be discussed and demonstrated in depth.

Windows8News.com will be bringing you all the news from BUILD as it breaks, and we’ll be getting our hands on Windows 8 shortly afterwards, if not on the day.  We’ll be able to bring you all the best and most in-depth details and information on the OS directly.

For all the latest news about Windows 8 stay with Windows8News, believe me there’s some very exciting stuff coming up!

Windows 8 to be Unveiled at BUILD 2011 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 all manner of rumours about Windows 8 in the last few months and some of them have proven to be true.  Respected ZD Net journalist Mary-Jo Foley has come into some information on Microsoft’s planned timetable for their next generation OS.

According to one of her sources the Windows 8 RTM (Release to Manufacturing) date will be April 2012.  The source also claims the beta will be released this September at the BUILD Conference 2011 (this takes place between September 13th and 16th).

Now I’m not so certain what to believe on this score and I’m usually loathe to repeat rumours.  However let’s look at this logically.  I myself have been expecting Microsoft to formally announce Windows 8 this coming September for one reason.  This being that the company desperately needs a good showcase of Windows 8 tablets and laptops at the Consumer Electronics Show next year.  This show always takes place around the 4th January, which is a good couple of weeks before Microsoft shows kick off, later that month.

They can’t have all manner of companies showing off Windows 8 before a formal announcement is made, as this just isn’t the way Microsoft (or any company come to think of it) works.  Thus I have long believed we’ll see a formal announcement in September and a beta programme around two months later.

But I’ve also believed that Microsoft would be shipping the RTM version of Windows 8 in time for computer hardware manufacturers to get machines out for the return to school / college period in the Autumn.  This is a critical sales period and lots of computer manufacturers got angry and upset when Windows 7 missed that schedule.

It’s reasonable to assume then that the RTM would occur about a month or two before, in June or July.  April just seems far too early for me as Microsoft want good news as soon as Windows 8 launches and the summer is traditionally the slow sales period.

However, things are more complicated now because we’ll have an embedded version of Windows 8 launching at the same time as the regular one.  It will take hardware manufacturers much longer to get this appropriately modified and programmed onto chips that then have been installed into tablets and other low-power devices, this takes much longer than copying an image onto a PC.  From this perspective an April RTM makes complete sense as it will provide the hardware manufacturers with the time they’ll need to get this job done.

My personal opinion, and everything is speculation at this point, is that the ARM version of Windows 8 will RTM a couple of months before the regular edition.  This will make sure that it’s not widely leaked before-hand and that embedded and installable versions of Windows appear on computers at the same time next autumn.

As I’ve said, all of this is rumour, Mary-Jo would never post anything that didn’t have a grounding in fact, but it’s still not the complete picture.  There are still too many variables to consider.

Personally I’m sticking with my estimates (above) of what is going to be released when and why.  I’d certainly be very interested in hearing your comments on this too.

[Rumour] Windows 8 to RTM in April 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.

It’s been well known for ages now that research consistently shows that the mobile operating system most people want to see on their devices is Windows.  This doesn’t come as any great surprise given that people like familiarity and Windows is, for many people, as comfortable as an old shoe.  It was interesting to read my colleague Jason’s article yesterday on our sister site, Windows7News, about how tablet manufacturers are becoming disillusioned with slow sales of Android tablets and are now looking to Windows 8 to boost their profits.

This raises a very interesting and important question.  Can Windows 8 do for Microsoft on tablets what Windows 7 did to the netbook market?  When Windows 7 launched if you wanted to buy a netbook, and let’s face it almost everybody did, you had two choices.  Windows XP or Linux.  Despite XP’s popularity Linux hung around for some considerable time, but less than a year after the launch of Windows 7 you could not buy a single netbook, not anywhere, with either XP or Linux preinstalled.  Everything came with Windows 7.

This was an astonishing achievement for Microsoft.  The company had stated clearly during the development of Windows 7 that the operating system was being specifically engineered to run on low-power, low-performace netbooks and that’s exactly what it did.  We’re now regularly seeing Windows 7 laptops with 8 or 9 hour battery lives, double what you’d find in the average laptop.

Clearly Microsoft stormed straight into the netbook market and won overnight.  Now though can Windows 8 do the same with tablets?

There can be no doubt that Apple is the tablet king, and will remain so for many years yet, but Android is not without its problems.  There are so many variants, some specifically suited to tablets and some not, that are currently residing on tablet devices that consumers can get confused.  Why go for all this choice and complexity when the iPad is so much simpler and straightforward?  Then there’s the malware problem, and it’s a major problem that Google have so far completely failed to address.  While the general public won’t be too aware of this, they will become more aware in the time before Windows 8 launches, of this we can be sure.

So this leaves Microsoft with an opportunity.  They’re talking up Windows 8 on tablets in exactly the same way they talked up Windows 7 on netbooks.  The new Windows 8 tablet interface too, which is based on their Windows Phone Metro UI, has been universally well-received and with more than a year to go until it’s launch, Windows 8 is already generating enormous amounts of hype, press coverage and consumer interest.

Microsoft won’t need to do much to keep this momentum going either.  The ball is now rolling and people are excited.  The news that tablet manufacturers are now eyeing up Windows 8 keenly will come as welcome news to most and is sure to keep the hype going.

The major test will be next year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where all the hot computing products for 2012 will be unveiled.  There will be a whole raft of Android tablets there I’m sure with a new version of Android.  It could be though that Windows 8 tablets don’t just take centre stage, but that it completely steals the show.

All in all, future prosperity in the tablet market is by no means certain for Google.  In Windows 8 they’ll have a competitor that’s polished, competent, popular and coming out fighting.  We could then see a massive shift in the tablet market in 2012.

Can Windows 8 Turn Round Tablets the way Windows 7 did for Netbooks? 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.

It’s long been suspected that Microsoft would include virtualisation technologies in Windows 8.  This is because the largest problem facing Windows is the need for legacy support, which can account for 80% of the latches and updates delivered to the operating system, and is also a major factor in some older software not working.  This is a particular problem in business where a considerable amount of legacy software is used.

Now Microsoft’s Server virtualisation client, Hyper-V, has been been found in the latest leaked build of Windows 8, confirming what many people suspected.

This virtualisation client will do away with the need for plug-in software such as Virtual PC or XP Mode as it means the operating system will support virtualised environments natively.  This could mean something even more pronounced for Windows 8 however.  ZD Net Mary Jo Foley wrote yesterday about a French Microsoft Security and Technical Director who outlined a scenario in which almost all Windows 8 applications would run in a virtualised environment.

The advantages of this approach would be immense.  For starters this means that Microsoft would be able to completely do away with support for legacy applications in the OS and, possibly all the underlying code in the operating system that also support it.  It’s this code that requires the huge number of Windows Updates we currently get every month.

It also means that, we knew this bit already, a virtual machine of Windows 7 would be included with the OS, known as Windows 7 Mode.  It’s possible that XP Mode will also be included.

If Microsoft are sensible, and the inclusion of Hyper-V into Windows 8 seems to indicate that they are.  These legacy operating systems could well be locked-down so that they require neither anti-virus software or updates as XP Mode does at the moment.  This is the single largest problem with XP Mode currently.

The alternative it to find a way to plug these virtual machines into Windows Update so that all of them are updates simultaneously.  This would actually increase the total number of updates received under Windows 8, but if the VMs required updating, it would be the most sensible way to do it.

The benefits of incorporating software virtualisation into Windows 8 are enormous, the core Windows 8 code is much smaller, leaner and fitter and massively more stable and secure.  All the problems are shoved off into easily configurable virtual machines.  The downside is that anybody using these features would essentially have two, perhaps even three, core operating systems to update and maintain.

This is a headache Microsoft needs to make sure that people don’t get as it might well turn people off using the new OS in small business or home environments if they see configuring and updating it to be too much of a chore.  After all, Windows 7 is now good enough for most people.

It’s likely that we could expect to only see the Hyper-V system in x64 versions of Windows 8 as the system is currently only available on 64-bit processors for Windows Server, and has not yet been seen in x86 leaks of Windows 8.  This could essentially leave the x86 version of Windows, which are now in sharp decline anyway, without any legacy software support.

The proper implementation of virtualisation technologies though would make an already extremely secure operating system even more so, by vastly reducing the surface area for attack.  We could then expect to see Windows overtake other operating systems including OS X and GNU/Linus to become the most secure operating system on the planet.  Now that would certainly be an interesting day.

Windows 8 to get Hyper-V Virtualisation client 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.

Earlier this year when the CEO of Intel said his company would be releasing Windows 8 on a phone people laughed.  How could you possibly get something as heavy as Windows running smoothly on a phone, especially with it’s non-touch-friendly interface.

Then of course things began to change.  First Motorola released it’s Atrix phone which can plug into a netbook-style keyboard dock and convert to a computer, then Microsoft showed off Windows 8′s new Windows Phone-esque tablet interface to almost universal acclaim.

Only a few months later then and the thought of running Windows 8 on a phone, especially as smartphones are now beginning to ship with dual core processors and 1Gb of RAM, isn’t such a wild possibility.

Now an interesting rumour from RedmondPie adds fuel to the fire.  They have been examining some of the APIs of the most recently leaked build, v7989 and have discovered a reference in the Sensors controls that suggests the OS will support SMS short messaging.

Now I normally shy away from reporting Windows 8 rumours as the early development period for a new OS, which is what Windows 8 is going through at the moment, is a time when anything can, and frequently does, change.  There’s also no evidence to suggest that this is at all accurate and from this leaked build either.

RedmondPie also say there is evidence of using GeoLocation services in Windows 8.  Now for tablets running the new OS both of these features make sense.  They also put the Intel CEO’s comments into a different light however.  iOS runs on top of Mac OS X so it would make sense, especially from a development and maintenance standpoint, to have the tablet and smartphone versions of Windows running on the same code-base.

If there is any truth at all in these rumours it would be a huge step forward for Microsoft, and this is where I find this particular revelation personally very exciting (not something that happens very often).  Imagine a smartphone running what is essentially Windows Phone but when plugged into a dock similar to the Atrix keyboard or even a dock on your desk connected to a keyboard, mouse and monitor and all of a sudden being able to run a full version of Windows.

I’ve written about this before as I believe that this is where the future of computing is going, the PC in your pocket, and I have been watching very carefully for any hint that Microsoft may have seen this too.  If so then this is genuine innovation from a company that, at last, appears to be getting its mojo back.

Here is a feature we can all get genuinely excited about and that is capable of all manner of achievements.  These would include giving both Apple and Google a royal kicking and putting Windows Phone firmly on top of the smartphone market.  It would take some time for Google and Apple to respond to this, unless they already are that is, which is reasonably likely.

Any smartphone integration features in Windows 8 are things I will be watching carefully, and we’ll bring you all the latest news about Windows 8 here at Windows8News.

Windows 8 Rumour Hints at Interesting Future for Windows Phone 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 another leaked build of Windows 8, this time build 7989.  The build has a full title of 7989.winmain.110421-1285.615974c7346f7374 and was first reported as being available in the private forums of a beta website.  Now though many are saying it’s available elsewhere on the net too.

There have been several major leaks of Windows 8 builds in the last couple of months, however there’s no real information on how old these builds are.  Either way this is bound to drive excitement about the product despite the fact that many of the features within this build might either change radically, be replaced by something else or dropped from the final product completely.

Here at Windows 8 News will always temper these leaks with a note of caution.  There’s no confirmation that this build is genuine and it’s been out for more than long enough now for virus and malware writers to have injected code into it before releasing it to torrent sites.

You should always therefore be very careful when downloading anything that isn’t directly from an official company website.

The formal announcements about Windows 8 from Microsoft are expected to be made this autumn.  Here they will unveil all the new features of the OS and also detail the timescale for closed and public beta programmes.  The final release of the OS is expected around October 2012, though this commentator expects that it could be available next August in time for the all-important back to college PC buying period.

There is no information on what, if anything, is new in this build or if it includes all the tablet functionality that Microsoft demonstrated at an event last month.

Windows 8 Build 7989 Leaks 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 can be no doubt that since Steven Sinofsky took over as the head of Windows at Microsoft in 2009, the development programme for the operating system has become much more secretive.

Under Bill Veghte’s watch the Vista programme was very open, many argue too open which is perhaps why Sinofsky has taken the approach he has.  During the Vista beta (and a fairly open alpha too), which went on for approximately 18 months, there were numerous builds including many that I remember clearly were utterly unstable.  Also many features that Microsoft announced for Vista, including the much heralded WinFS file system, never made the final release.

When Sinofsky too over he brought with him the secrecy he’d insisted upon when running Microsoft Office.  Suddenly the only beta that was available was a feature-complete, near final version.  After that we had a release candidate and then the finished product.

Many beta-testers, including myself, were vocally critical at the time of Sinofsky’s approach.  “Why have a technical beta if you’re only going to turn it into a bug hunt” was something I said with some frequency, and I wasn’t alone.  Many beta-testers joined in with this chorus because with the XP and Vista beta programmes we’d all been used to a far more open programme with much more communication from Microsoft, and genuine input into the final version of the product.  I can say that I contributed directly to a feature change in Vista, and I’m very happy about that.  I can’t say that about Windows 7.

This left many people feeling that, with more input Windows 7 could have been far better, and you’ll get no argument from me on this.  The question needs to be asked though that if this had happened would Microsoft have been able to get Windows 7 delivered on their strict three year timescale?  You can assume here they probably wouldn’t.

There are potential benefits to the secrecy as well.  Many people were extremely disappointed with the features that never made it into Windows Vista.  With Windows 7 there was none of that, no pulled features that we knew about and no product that in the end would have disappointed fans and customers.  Regards getting feedback from customers, it can be argued that this is what the time since the release of the previous version of Windows is for.

I’m now looking forward to the Windows 8 beta.  I don’t know when I’ll get it, but Microsoft certainly seem keen on my getting a copy as early as possible, which is good news as I’m a Windows MVP.  In some ways its been frustrating not having a copy already but what would I have done with it?  When you’re in my position as an author a copy that’s feature complete is the best thing to have but you need access to the code in enough time to get a book written which can take up to six months.  As an editor on Windows8News it would have been nice to get it earlier and as a tech enthusiast I couldn’t get it early enough.

I’m curious how you feel though.  While Windows 8 has seen a great many more leaks than Windows 7 did (almost all of which in the light of the recent tablet interface announcement from Microsoft now seem trivial), which approach from Microsoft do you prefer?  Open and involved or secretive and locked-down?

Whose Windows strategy do you prefer? Sinofsky or Veghte? 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.

For months now Microsoft staff have resolutely refused to refer to the next version of Windows as “Windows 8″ under penalty of death (okay so I made up that last bit).  Instead it’s been a hard and fast rule at the company that it was only ever to be called “Windows Next”.  Windows chief and Microsoft Senior Vice-President Steven Sinofsky wouldn’t even go that far, only ever calling it “the next version of Windows”.

Then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a slip up at a recent developer conference in Japan when he told delegates that Windows 8 will be out next year.  This was the first time that anybody in the company had officially referred to their next generation desktop operating system by that name.

Sinofsky’s department issued a clarification very shortly afterwards, saying “It appears there was a misstatement.  To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.”

Ballmer is well known for putting his foot in it occasionally, but nobody really minds (except perhaps Steven Sinofsky).  This event seems to have triggered a wholesale policy change within the company though as Microsoft staff are now officially allowed to refer to 2012′s impending Windows release as “Windows 8″.  There is a caveat with this however.

This caveat is that no formal naming has yet taken place for the product and, as a result of this, it is subject to change and the name Windows 8 should in no way be construed as the final name for the operating system.  Windows 8 is a code name used to refer to the product internally and nothing else.

It’s actually quite comical that given the importance of the product to Microsoft, with the inclusion of tablet functionality, the move to ARM processors and all of the other really major changes taking place with this version, that so much attention has been given to what we’re ultimately going to call it when, let’s be honest, it looks like a no-brainer.

So we do now have another name by which everyone, including those within Microsoft, are allowed to refer to the product.  It’s new to them even though the rest of the world has been talking about it for almost two years.

For all the latest news and information regarding the next version of Windows, don’t forget to head back here to WindowsNextNews… oh, no that’s not right!

Microsoft staff now allowed to refer to “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.

It’s just been a couple of days since Windows chief Steven Sinofsky unveiled the “next version of Windows’” new tablet user interface.  It’s been almost universally well received, primarily because Microsoft have done the sensible thing and based it around their already popular Metro UI from Windows Phone and the Zune desktop software.

The new interface has raised some questions though and until people can actually get their hands on it (no pun intended) we’ll just have to make educated guesses.

One of these questions is how prevalent this new interface will be in the overall OS.  Will it be something that you have to switch on?  I ask this because on a desktop system it would be all too easy to accidentally open the tablet UI elements that are pulled in from the far left and right of your computer’s screen.

One of the biggest questions that’s being asked is why applications need to be pulled in from the left edge of the screen to switch between them.  The system will be able to multi-task as it’s still Windows, but having to switch between apps by cycling through all of them seems, frankly, a bit of a faff.

One area of concern is over the apps themselves.  Microsoft have said that these will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript and that they’ll run full-screen in a browser.  This makes the interface much like Chrome OS from Google but does it make sense?

You would imagine that if the interface is going to really take off then it needs apps, and lots of them.  Surely then would it not be sensible for Microsoft to tap into the already extensive developer community for Windows Phone who already have tens of thousands of apps ready that could be modified for the new interface?

This decision does puzzle me, as I would have expected Microsoft to allow Windows Phone app developers to use the same languages and tools they create their mobile apps in now, for also creating apps for Windows 8 tablets.  Most of you would probably agree that this would be logical and sensible.  That Steven Sinofsky, who never says anything he’ll have to back-track from, has said this would imply that a final decision has indeed been made.

Even though all we have to go on are a few screen shots and a couple of short videos, there’s still plenty for us to digest and it will take a while for us to do this properly.  Until then I thought, as you’re all clearly as excited about this product as we are,  that I’d throw the question out to you… “Just how would you change Windows 8′s new Tablet UI?”

How would you change Windows 8′s Tablet 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.

At the AllThings D9 event yesterday, Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky has unveiled the new tablet UI for Windows 8 (which is still currently called Windows Next).  As people had hoped it’s based on the Windows Phone ‘Metro’ UI which many people have said would translate very well to a tablet.

The interface will run separately to the main Windows desktop, which will still exist, but will use its own apps.  These will need to be written in either HTML5 or Javascript.  This comes as a surprise as many people might have expected the same or similar development languages to Windows Phone to be used.  This would, in theory, make it much simpler to port applications across to the new platform.

The new interface has been designed “from the ground up” to work with touch, and it’s very attractive too.  There are different sets of virtual keys for different form factors (smartphone anyone?) and different onscreen keyboards too.

You control apps just by swiping them around, for instance you can multitask just by swiping apps to the center of the screen and snap them much in the way you can with Windows 7.  Microsoft have introduced what they call “fuzzy hit targeting” to accommodate the fact that fingers are much less precise than a mouse.  The goal is to get legacy apps to work much better with touch.  This will be a very welcome addition.

Everything works in a way that will be very familiar to Windows Phone users, if you look at the demo video (there’s a link at the end of this article) then you’ll see that apps don’t just appear, but swoop into view.  In fact all the desktop items appear and move in a natural, flowing way.  Microsoft have brought the same gesture controls they use with Windows Phone so the interface seems to respond to the strength of your touches, prods and swipes.

Internet Explorer is built into the new system and has been designed to run tablet apps full screen, all tablet apps will run in the browser.  Microsoft have said this new interface won’t just be limited to tablets either, so convertible laptops and multi-touch desktops will also get the benefit of having it on board.  The comparison will inevitably be made with Google’s new ChromeBooks in this regard, though being Windows all apps are stored offline.  It may also reignite some complaints about Internet Explorer being central and vital to the new OS.  How will other browsers fit into this tablet space?  Will they even be able to?  My guess is not though, as Microsoft will no doubt say those browsers aren’t designed for touch or tablets and will still be abailable to be used as the primary browser on the desktop if users prefer them.

Sinofsky did confirm a few things that we already know.  These include that Windows 8 / Next is being engineered to run on very low power devices.  He also said there was no word yet on when the operating system would be available.  We would normally expect this to be announced early next year.

All in all this is a very attractive UI and one that’s bound to win fans and followers.  Once again Microsoft have gone their own way, though there is a hint of Blackberry’s new tablet in this too.  It’s great to finally see Microsoft taking tablets seriously and I am certainly looking forward to testing this on my own tablet PC.

You can check out a video of this new UI in action below.

Microsoft unveil Windows Next Tablet 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.