Windows 8: Microsoft?s Next OS is Shaping Up

Microsoft, long known for its series of Windows desktops, recently showcased some of the functionally of its new Windows iteration, Windows 8. This new version of Windows has no hard release date but is targeted for a 2012 roll-out, and will be used on PCs, laptops and tablet PCs.

At the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, Microsoft showed off some of the benefits of its new OS to those in attendance, the main one being a completely redesigned user interface that will be unfamiliar but hopefully intuitive to most users. Replacing the ?start menu? will be a ?start screen,? which will feature live application tiles, some of which include weather or store apps or RSS feeds. A traditional desktop option can also be chosen.

This new version of Windows is intended to maintain Microsoft?s tradition of non-hardware enhance UI?s, and is being designed to run with 16:9 resolution as its focus. The company claims that, thanks to better processor and memory use, the OS will run more smoothly than other versions and will have the same or lower system requirements as Windows 7.

There are also rumors about a Windows 8 tablet that might hit markets in 2013, but Microsoft has not yet confirmed this information. Sources claim that the company has been in talks with both Texas Instruments and OEMS about distributing a Microsoft-branded tablet, but developers aren?t so sure that this is the case. Other Microsoft hardware lines, save for the 360, have not seen a great deal of success, and there is concern that they might limit their market share by releasing a Microsoft-specific tablet.

Some tablet manufacturers have mentioned the ?restrictions? that Microsoft often places on developers that wish to use its platform, and wonder if the company might not follow a similar plan with Windows 8 as they did with Windows 7, which required that manufacturers follow a strict set of criteria in order to have the OS on their tablets.

Concerns also abound about whether or not a Windows 8 tablet or any system running the new OS will be subject to the ?curse? that has followed many of the even-numbered iterations of Windows such as Windows ME and Windows Vista. First impressions seem to indicate that the company is devoting much of its effort to increased performance and synced cloud applications, which will hopefully help sidestep any potential issues.

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Tagged as: Microsoft Windows, Windows 8, Windows OS

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