Articles about Windows 8

Not since Windows XP has Microsoft promised so much and delivered it so quickly. Today, in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft officially announced what we all knew was coming: Windows 8 Consumer Preview. The software is available for anyone to download and try, and its timing almost certainly assures -- short of atomic blast, alien invasion or Mayan end-of-the-world predictions come true -- that Windows 8 will release to manufacturing by end of summer and launch in time for holiday PC sales.

Microsoft has greatly improved the look, feel and functionality of Windows 8 since releasing the Developer Preview in September. Given release timing, the software available today should be considered near-final code. Expect few changes before the release candidate, assuming Microsoft even sees need to make one publicly available. The Consumer Preview is available to anyone with a PC capable of running it.

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As Windows chief Steven Sinofsky takes the stage in Barcelona Wednesday to debut the Consumer Preview of Windows 8, there's a sense that a new era is dawning at Microsoft. Windows is about to take a dramatic turn and Sinofsky is very much responsible for that.

On top of this, Windows is coming out on time (AGAIN!), a real change in Microsoft's track record of missed deadlines. With current CEO Steve Ballmer's time at the helm arguably less than stellar, you have think there must be someone waiting in the wings at Microsoft to take his place.

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The so-called consumerization of IT starts now. Sure people haul Androids, iPads, iPhones and other gadgets to work -- and mix together personal and professional data, and behavior. But workers the world over will soon have something else to haul into the office, and, whoa, may March roar in for many network managers.

Tomorrow, during Mobile World Congress, Microsoft plans to debut Windows 8 Consumer Preview. It's not an IT preview, but, c`mon, you know where the software is going. Many of you will slap this puppy on to every PC you can, including that employer-issued clunker. Talk about March Madness, as Windows 8 storms the enterprise by every backdoor possible.

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Well, that's what many of you say.

Last week I asked: "Are you bored with Windows Phone?" Simple reason: Windows 8 and Windows 8 on ARM share in Metro a similar tile-like user interface, and I had seen some user complaints about being bored with WP 7.5. I asked the question in anticipation of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, which Microsoft promised to release by month's end.

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Apple's Mountain Lion isn't the only operating system gunning for Dropbox with native cross-platform cloud sync. Microsoft on Monday revealed its plans for SkyDrive which will include a new Metro-style Windows 8 app, integration into the Windows Explorer desktop, and the ability to retrieve any remote files (uploaded to SkyDrive or not) through SkyDrive.com for machines connected to the service.

"To build a SkyDrive experience on WinRT, we took an approach that we expect many web developers will choose to take on Windows 8. We built the entire app using modern web technologies like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5, and because of our recent updates to SkyDrive.com, we were able to use the same JSON APIs and JavaScript object model that the website uses. The only difference on Windows 8 is that we bind the results to modern controls that were built for touch. This is part of the reason it’s so fast, and the touch behavior works so well (and works on Windows on ARM too,)" Mike Torres and Omar Shahine, Group Program Managers for SkyDrive said on Monday.

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There's something poetic about Microsoft changing Windows' logo during the centennial anniversary of Titanic's tragic sinking. Many people involved in the great streamliner's design and building -- and surely those buying into publicity about it -- regarded Titanic as unsinkable. There's similar pervasive view about Windows, that nothing can sink its market leadership. Uh-oh, someone only put the watertight doors as high as E deck.

Microsoft's flagship operating system will sail on its maiden voyage, so to speak, with the Consumer Preview coming in less than two weeks (if not sooner). Windows 8 will take a northerly course through ice-infested waters as Microsoft "re-imagines" the platform in ways that will stress customers', developers' and other partners' commitments. Execution will be key, and every detail planning the course matters. That's right down to the logo, which significance is much bigger than Windows.

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I was surprised Apple announced the developer preview of OS X 10.8 yesterday. There is something curiously odd how they went about this, and I believe it has everything to do with the company everyone loves to hate on -- Microsoft.

Anyone following Apple for any length of time should know they are the king of secrecy. Products are announced when they're ready (there are few public betas), usually during invite-only media events. But not this time. Apple claims they did not want to overdo the whole "announcement event" especially having just hosted the iBooks event. That sounds like a pile of crock to me.

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A few days ago, the new Windows 8 "Metro-style" logo leaked out to blogs. Today, the Windows team has come forward to discuss the fundamental change to the iconic four-color Windows logo that has been in place since Windows 3.1 twenty years ago.

Designed by Paula Scher from the Pentagram Design Agency, whose other notable works include the Citi logo and the packaging for artificial sweetener Truvia, the new logo is a devolution of the wavy "Windows flag" we've all grown accustomed to.

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Today, without fanfare, prior notice or even a rumor on the InterWebs, Apple announced OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion's summer availability, released a developer preview and made available, as public beta, Messages, one of the new features. Suddenly, the year's schedule of software releases is a dramatic showdown between Mountain Lion and Windows 8 and Windows on ARM. Can you say cat fight?

Microsoft plans to release Windows 8 Consumer Preview later this month, with an official event planned for February 29 during Mobile World Congress. Many Microsoft watchers presume the venue's choice foreshadows increased emphasis on mobile features, particularly as the Redmond, Wash.-based company seeks to recover momentum against iPad. Apple isn't waiting around, boasting about OS X 10.8 inheriting mobile features from iOS 5 (on iPad) and tightening ties to iCloud. Mountain Lion also will likely release ahead of either Windows 8 or Windows ARM, increasing pressure on Microsoft to ship this year.

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I have to ask, because Microsoft is prepping Windows 8 Consumer Preview for release later this month and Windows on ARM for more limited testing. Both operating systems will, in Metro, use similar UI motif as that on Windows Phone. Is it really the best choice? Not having used Windows Phone, I have no answer. So I turn to you.

"Boring" is a word I've seen used to describe Windows Phone, here in BetaNews comments and on some mobile device forums -- that user excitement, because of the tile-like user interface's fluidity and simplicity, diminishes over time. In that scenario, Microsoft's "glance-and-go" design philosophy takes on different meaning: People get off the phone because they can't stand using it, rather than being empowered to live life instead of on the device.

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In late November, I opined why Microsoft is in trouble. A couple of conversations I had over Thanksgiving led me to believe there are tons of misconceptions about Microsoft consumer products, such as: Windows Phone is dead and Windows PCs are nothing but junk.

But I think the company can correct these problems by aggressively taking action in several key areas: Windows 8 hardware requirements, Windows 8 and Windows Phone marketing, synchronization and natural user interfaces.

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The headline really should be "What Windows 8 and Windows on ARM mean to Microsoft and to you" but that didn't ring right to my ears. But it more aptly describes the train of this analysis.

Simply stated: Windows 8 is the riskiest release ever. Microsoft execs say they are "re-imagining" Windows. Believe them. But it's much more: Reinvention. If successful, Microsoft will be a very different company in five years, and that's as much about the future stock price and company valuation as market position and products. All depends on the risks delivering rewards.

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Apple's strategy concerning third party applications on iOS is the target of a good deal of criticism: it's either the App Store or nothing at all. Like it or not, Microsoft will bring the same approach to Windows as it ports the platform to the ARM architecture.

Microsoft has said that Windows on ARM will not support virtualization nor the porting of applications build for the x86 platform. There are solid reasons for this, including system performance and lack of a keyboard and mouse setup in most WOA deployments. Windows and Windows Live president Steven Sinfosky mentions these issues as part of a broader discussion on WOA development.

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In September, about a month before Apple's cofounder died, I asserted that "Steven Sinofksy is the new Steve Jobs". Jobs' on-stage presentations, and the "reality distortion field" with them, are legendary. But chatter and buzz can fill the InterWebs, without seemingly magical Apple events. Sinofsky's blog post, "Building Windows for the ARM processor architecture", while hardly a compelling title, is Microsoft's manifesto for this decade. People are talking, chatting, buzzing -- and they should be.

Microsoft is in the process of rebuilding Windows for the post-PC era, by stepping back from its core roots -- Intel processors -- and embracing ARM. Windows will still run on x86 processors, but there's now little doubt that, without major chip changes from AMD or Intel, Wintel is legacy and ARM is the future. The architectural change opens up mobile device categories, even Windows 8 on smartphones, that the OS can't effectively reach today. Essentially, Microsoft is betting the flagship operating system's future on ARM. Sinofsky made a big statement in a small way -- nothing more than one of the longest blog posts you'll read ever (It's more than 8,000 words, closer to 9,000 really, which is enough to publish as a Kindle Single).

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Good marketing is all about subtly and communicating a complex message simply. But in the era of tech events, particularly Apple's during the second Steve Jobs era, their announcement is something of an artform. Microsoft's Windows 8 Consumer Preview event announcement is rich in subtly and foreshadowing, simply by a date. February 29.

Leap Day comes once but every four years. It's a special day that seems to have been specially chosen: Microsoft will hold the Windows 8 event in Barcelona, Spain, during Mobile World Congress (Feb. 27 to March 1). Not on Day One or Two, which customarily are when vendors make their big announcements (as is Day 0), but on Day 3 -- and that's typically when people already bug out of the show. February 29 isn't random then.

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