Windows 8
With the release of Windows 7, Microsoft (MS) has 3 years to release Windows 8. Work had already started on Windows 8 much before Windows 7 had released as was revealed by a job posting by MS. Well, lets take at the major changes Microsoft may undertake in Windows 8:-
User Interface
Microsoft is expected to change the User Interface (UI) of Windows 8. The UI could well borrow some ideas from the Copenhangen: Concept created by Cullen Dudas.
Here’s a video of Copenhagen -
And also -
Touch
Well, Windows 7 does come with complete touch integration but, touch based PCs, laptops, monitors are not so popular now. This is due to their high price but with the release of Windows 8 by 2012, these devices are expected to be popular as the prices would surely come down by then. So, we can expect more touch applications, software, in the distant future and Windows 8 should enable the user to make complete use of it.
Release Date
Microsoft is expected to release Windows 8 in 2012 as MS usually releases a new edition of Windows every three years except in the case of Vista which was overdue by six years (Windows XP was released in 2001 and Windows Vista was released in January 2007 and which led them to release two Service Packs of Windows XP). A leaked roadmap of Windows also confirms this, so the beta of Windows 8 is expected in 2011.
32 bit/64 bit/128 bit
There is speculation that Microsoft may not release Windows 8 in 32 bit and that Windows 7 was the last release from MS in 32 bit. This may or may not be true. This maybe true as the hardware required for Windows 8 64 bit is already in place, as the biggest customers of MS are the business houses. MS is expected to release Windows 8 in 2012 and I think that even if the businesses use the same hardware which they had bought for Vista which may well be 6 years old when MS releases Windows 8, the hardware would be able to support Windows 8. But if you look at this differently, you might think otherwise, as MS may produce and sell Windows 8 in 32 bit but at a significantly lower price in developing countries to combat piracy.
There is also speculation that MS may release Windows 8 in 128 bit as this was accidentally revealed by Robert Morgan who works in Microsoft. So it is highly likely that we will see a 128 bit version of Windows 8 and Windows 8 Server in 2012, as they are expected to offer performance improvements.
Performance
Windows 8 will have to offer performance improvements over Windows 7 on existing hardware and support a large number of devices if it has to succeed. This was one main reason why Vista had failed and why Seven has already become a hit. The main areas where performance improvements are expected are to be in boot times and in DFSR file system service, which stands for Distributed File System Replication and helps in keeping files and folders synchronized across multiple servers. The Hibernate and Resume features of Windows 8 are also expected to show significant improvement since they are expected to use “the new TLZ file compression engine” as claimer by an intern at Microsoft. Windows 8 is also expected to support Seadragon and have a better UI for multi-monitor setups as Steven Sinfsky (the in charge of Windows Seven and Windows Eight) has revealed.
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Filed under: Windows 8