I guess this is as good of a time as any to start this thread. I've been holding back for quite a few months but the leaks keep coming making it more and more interesting.

So here's what we know so far. There should be some BIG changes. Steve Ballmer was asked during an interview a few months back what he thought Microsoft's riskiest bet will be and he said "the next version of windows." Not Bing, or Kinect or Windows Phone but good ol' Windows.

First it's going to run on ARM processors (those are the chips that most of the smartphones are based off of) which means it's going to run on thin tablets. Now the rumor is that MS will be ditching the normal Windows Explorer UI for these tablets go with a touch-friendly UI codenamed "Mosh" similar to what's on the ZuneHD and Windows Phone Platforms. The WP7 UI design is called "Metro" because it was supposedly based off of city street signs. Also expect this Metro font to appear throughout normal windows 8 as well. There's already screenshots of the next version of Office picking up the Metro font and the installer for Windows 8 is in the Metro font, don't expect it to end there. They've also redesigned the front page of their website with the Metro design.



The reason I think they're going to port windows to ARM instead of making a tablet version of WP7 is so that they can transfer technology and features that are already in Windows and not in WP7 specifically the handwriting recognition that's been in Windows for years down to a thin low power tablet. That's MS biggest gripe with the iPad is the lack of system wide handwriting recognition. So they'll be late to their own party they started but they could have the most mature and capable platform when they do. With iOS Apple ported OS X to run on ARM so why can't MS port Windows too.

Also there will be support for the Kinect device and built-in facial recognition so you could log in with your face. There's currently 3rd parties that enable this capability but nothing builtin to windows.

There will be an app store, MS has been planning this since before Windows 7 launched. It will be for "immersive" Silverlight apps that will be deployed as Appx Packages (.appx)! So packaged apps finally coming to Windows! And those futuristic WPF silverlight cool UI apps I've been waiting for since Vista may finally be coming with Windows 8 via the app store! I expect the Win 8 tablets to only run these .appx programs and not be bogged down with legacy GDI/Win32 programs.

Another big change (probably the biggest IMO) is desktop as a service or DaaS!





http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/...a-service/7975

WOAH![/keanu]

That's pretty crazy! So I think that's most of what we know or is rumored so far.

 

Currently Windows 8 is at Milestone 3, they signed off on M2 about a month ago. Usually Beta 1 is after M3 but that could change.

Also another feature a forgot to mention is System reset. It's like system restore but it uninstalls all programs you've installed and goes back to the default Windows settings but keeps user accounts and files in place.

 

All good until tablets running this get viruses. I can hardly wait, sounds like win8 is gonna be great. I've been happy with 7 so far. I like the idea of system wide handwriting recognition and being able to log on with your face.

 

Is it Scottish?

 

, therefore definitely not crap!

 

I can barely read my own handwriting, how could I expect my PC to be able to do it? Kids coming out of school don't want to write, they don't even want to type out emails, they want to text.

I love how going back to the mainframe model is a great new feature that they spin as virtualization. I can already do most of what they are promising with Citrix.

Another thing this does is put all the field techs out of business. There will be jobs for call center, a few monkeys running around the Microsoft datacenter, and the fedex guy to deliver you a new dumb tablet or dumb laptop when it breaks.

 

November 16, 2010, 7:41am PST

 

Win 8 will be getting a Time machine like backup feature. I'm sure it won't have the ridiculous UI that Time Machine has. Windows has had previous versions for years but they were saved to the system drive. This feature seems to combine windows backup and previous versions into one thing.



http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8...ine-competitor

 

When is Win 8 suppose to be released?

Hope it's not crap. It seems like every other OS release has been crap

Win 7 = Good

Win Vista = Crap

Win XP = Good

Win Me = Crap

Win 98 = Good

Win 95 = Good

 

2012. There's going to be a Professional Developers Conference (PDC) later this year where they should officially announce Windows 8 and release a preview or beta.

 

So.... This will be one better than Windows 7?

 

That's the plan...

 

Fixed.

 

Fixed.

 

Windows 2k.

 

If its an upgrade of win 7 that works, it should be great.

 

New login screen the looks much like Windows Phone 7 Lock Screen

Da9cC.png

http://www.neowin.net/news/winodws-8...sceen-revealed

I'm glad to see the UI that I've used for years with the Zune takeover the rest of MS. It's really good!

 

^

April Fools?

 

Nope. The background pic is customizable (for example the pic above is just one of the included wallpapers) but that's the font and layout based off of this.

 

this is gonna be a great security improvement! the smart screen filter is coming to windows 8! for those that don't know the smart screen filter is currently in IE8/9 and windows live messenger it scans every executable file downloaded with these programs against a list of known good files and developers. if it's on that list then nothing happens if it isn't on that list then you get a warning.

now it's coming to windows so every executable will be scanned whether it comes via firefox, chrome, bit torrent, etc so i think this would do a lot to catch any malicious executable. I'm not sure if it uses a hash of the file or file name. It should be like what's in IE where if the file is new and doesn't have a known reputation but it has a legit certificate from a known good publisher like microsoft, google, or adobe, etc. it shouldn't bother you but if it's from some johnny taliban and it doesn't have a known rep then you'll be getting a pop up.


this should work much like how Panda's cloud AV works, files are hashed and sent to their servers and if the hash sets of any alarms then you it kicks into action.

it's almost like built-in AV



I think it will be on by default or they'll give you a pop up when you boot windows 8 for the first time asking you to use recommended settings of which this would be one of them.

http://www.istartedsomething.com/201...file-checking/

this feature should reduce the number of pop up you get before running a file because it WON'T give you a pop up on known good files. So you won't be getting that pop up when you want to install the itunessetup.exe file you downloaded since it's from a known good source and has a good reputation. So now when you DO see this smart screen pop-up it's not a generic warning that's given for every file, it only shows up when there's possible danger.

This is much like what happened with UAC in windows 7. In vista you got it everytime you needed admin privileges and it drove people crazy now in 7 you only get it certain times. So with smart screen you'll only see that pop up when there's a problem most of the time you'll never see it.

 

There's been lots of new Win 8 features uncovered lately especially since the M1 build leaked into the wild.

Here's hybrid boot which seems like a quick resume.


Windows 7 added a builtin ISO burning utility but Win 8 will take it to the next level and allow you to mount an ISO as a drive!



This one is called portable workspace. They're saying it's a way to install Windows 8 onto a flash drive and boot off of it. They've always talked about a way to take your apps and data with you on a flash drive and you could just pop it in and run your apps on any PC. I'm not sure if this is the same thing or not but either way it's pretty interesting. This feature will require at least a 16GB flash drive and is said to be an enterprise/Ultimate only feature.



Also the found "Push Notifications" a webcam picture app much like Photobooth on OS X and a "Screenshot snapping tool" not sure how that's different than the snipping tool that debuted in Vista.

Of course therse are early builds and nothing is finalized and it's possible that some if these feature might not make it into the final build.

 

Mountable ISO?

 

I have a free utility for XP that can do that

OS X can already do that

It's pretty annoying that Windows can't do that out of the box. I'm kinda surprised to see win 7 can't do that. About time that they added that to the OS.

 

There's free utilities for Vista/7 that do it too.

There's features that are finally coming to OS X Lion that have been in Window for years. Like Full disk encryption or the basic ability to resize a window by dragging any of the sides or corners has been in Windows since at least Win 95 and it's now finally coming to OS X over 15 years later. So it goes both ways....

 

MS is going to be showing of the tablet version of Windows 8 right now! It's going on live over at D9 conference

see here

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/l...ndows-and-more

 

here it is! It looks like the ZuneHD themed metro UI!




http://allthingsd.com/20110601/exclu...out-windows-8/

 

They'll be showing off prototype Windows 8 tablet hardware in a couple hours at Computex...

 

the new lock screen




7:23 pm Wow. Left swipe lets you drag in more apps and snap them to the right side of the screen. Multitasking takes place in panels. Very impressive. It looks super fast.


Kinda hard to tell with pictures but everyone watching live seems to be really impressed with it.

 

7:26PM Whoa, wait! They just pulled up Excel, and now it looks just like Windows 7! Hmm. Microsoft: "We don't think people should have to give up things they know to deal with a new form factor."

Says the guy who created the Office Ribbon and permanently removed the old Office UI.....

 

now I want to know if you can stay in this touch interface or if you have to go back to desktop mode to run some apps. cause that's ghey if you do.....

 

Well it looks pretty but it will be interesting to see how thin they can make the tablets. How much different would a Win 8 tablet be than say a Dell Latitude XT2?

 

It's gonna run on ARM processors like the iPad and Android does so it should be just as thin

 

But they are trying to sell this as an everything machine. Is ARM good enough to run Office?

 

If the iPad of today can run iMovie and garage band on a dual core I'm sure the ARM processor 2012 will have no problem running a word processor. Apple's A5 is just a variation based off of an ARM chip

 

So if I buy Win 8 do I just buy it once and it runs on Intel/AMD/ARM? Is the version of Office on the ARM the exact same as Intel/AMD or is it stripped down?

 

I am partial to the even numbered Windows releases.

 

 

Here we go! Video demo of Windows 8 in HD!

<iframe width="853" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p92QfWOw88I?hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Very fucking interesting.........

 

IN the video they demonstrated apps on a tablet running side by side and how easy it is to switch between them with a swipe!

Apps are built using HTML 5, Java and CSS, that's like WebOS. Then what's the point of Silverlight?

They said at Computex tablets will be instant on, always connected and great battery life like the iPad. Windows 8 tablets will have a file system and USB ports!

Apps will be written for touch input but you can use mouse and keyboard too. It seems it will be much easier to to you use a touch optimized apps with k&M than it is to use a k&m optimized app with touch.

Apps written in the new upcoming SDK will run on ARM and x86 easily, they are just html 5, java and css so that's nothing new to either platform.

There obviously will be an App store for Windows, you could see the icon in the demo.

They're cracking down on the hardware requirements for these tablets, seems it will be similar to what they did with WP7 requirements.

They showed of really thin laptops running on ARM processors. This is the new thin n light!

They showed Windows 8 laptop running on Nvidia's kal-el quad core ARM processor, which is redonkulously powerful ARM processor.

I still want to know if that windows desktop will be hidden. Walt also brought up some interesting points on if you'll need AV and what not for these tablets....