Windows 8 In Action

[The Open Minded]

Windows 8 In Action
Source: // // By: The Open Minded // Saturday, June 4th, 2011

Microsoft released a new video showing off it's latest and greatest operating system codenamed Windows 8. What struck me about this OS is the fact that is something completely fresh and new. Vista and Win7 seemed to be an extension or a cleaned up version of XP, But Windows 8 has blown most of what we know in a Windows OS out of the water.

Windows 8 is being developed to revolutionize the way touchscreens are used for computing. The "Start Screen" Is the main interface which will greet you when you open Windows 8. You will be greeted with large, eye catching, app icons. These icons will display some basic information about the apps. Now at first glance these app icons may look very alien to the normal computing experience, it is my belief that, once mastered correctly, these apps can be used to make your computing experience very smooth and sleek.

This new OS has some very interesting and handy features that will make working on a Windows 8 computer very fast and easy. As demonstrated in the video, once you start an app there is a feature which will allow you to swipe across the screen to switch between all of your running apps very quickly and easily. This feature is much like the swiping motions used on an iPhone, but in my opinion the Windows developers have made this feature much more handy in this type of situation

Another feature, which is not necessarily new, is the ability to snap two apps on the screen at once. Once an app is snapped onto the screen, you can adjust the size of the two apps to your liking. Once snapped to the screen you will still have the ability to swipe between apps and quickly select what is on either side.

Windows 8 will feature Internet Explorer 10 which will support touch screen web browsing. Now in the video they don't show the actual use of IE 10. He simply opens it and switches between browser tabs. They didn't show him actually browsing through any pages, which tells me that the touch screen use of IE 10 may not be the smoothest experience yet.

One more thing that seemed to put me off a bit was the touch screen keyboard they showed. It looks quite similar to the touch keyboard on the iPad, but again it was not actually put into any practical sort of use in the demonstration. In my opinion the keyboard looked like it would be a bit awkward to use.

They showed the file system, which looked very similar to the file system in XP or Windows 7. Although there is no innovation in that area, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

All in all Windows 8 looks to be a very fresh and new computer experience. Windows 8 will be supported on all PCs, whether they be touch screen or mouse and keyboard, and will also likely be supported on many tablets.

Windows 8 is expected to be released in late 2012.

Watch the preview video here:



What are your opinions on the features shown here in this video? Do you like the new look and feel? Will you be using it when released or are you happy with the computing experience provided by Windows 7?

[.RAMBO]

It looks more like a Tablet OS rather than a PC one.

[The Open Minded]

It looks more like a Tablet OS rather than a PC one.

That is very true. It seems to be a bit of a Tablet OS on steroids.

[FlutterShy]

Doesn't really seem like computer OS to me, I'll probably stick winth Win7.

[jonnyman69]

hate it, ****ing hate it, its a tablet os running with windows 7 next to it. microsoft are trying to turn pcs into tablets to one up the competition. what they should do is take there whole tablet like os and make a tablet and work to make windows 8 better then windows 7. not try to combine the two.

[IL--U--IK--IE]

Windows 8 In Action
Source: // // By: The Open Minded // Saturday, June 4th, 2011

Microsoft released a new video showing off it's latest and greatest operating system codenamed Windows 8. What struck me about this OS is the fact that is something completely fresh and new. Vista and Win7 seemed to be an extension or a cleaned up version of XP, But Windows 8 has blown most of what we know in a Windows OS out of the water.

Windows 8 is being developed to revolutionize the way touchscreens are used for computing. The "Start Screen" Is the main interface which will greet you when you open Windows 8. You will be greeted with large, eye catching, app icons. These icons will display some basic information about the apps. Now at first glance these app icons may look very alien to the normal computing experience, it is my belief that, once mastered correctly, these apps can be used to make your computing experience very smooth and sleek.

This new OS has some very interesting and handy features that will make working on a Windows 8 computer very fast and easy. As demonstrated in the video, once you start an app there is a feature which will allow you to swipe across the screen to switch between all of your running apps very quickly and easily. This feature is much like the swiping motions used on an iPhone, but in my opinion the Windows developers have made this feature much more handy in this type of situation

Another feature, which is not necessarily new, is the ability to snap two apps on the screen at once. Once an app is snapped onto the screen, you can adjust the size of the two apps to your liking. Once snapped to the screen you will still have the ability to swipe between apps and quickly select what is on either side.

Windows 8 will feature Internet Explorer 10 which will support touch screen web browsing. Now in the video they don't show the actual use of IE 10. He simply opens it and switches between browser tabs. They didn't show him actually browsing through any pages, which tells me that the touch screen use of IE 10 may not be the smoothest experience yet.

One more thing that seemed to put me off a bit was the touch screen keyboard they showed. It looks quite similar to the touch keyboard on the iPad, but again it was not actually put into any practical sort of use in the demonstration. In my opinion the keyboard looked like it would be a bit awkward to use.

They showed the file system, which looked very similar to the file system in XP or Windows 7. Although there is no innovation in that area, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

All in all Windows 8 looks to be a very fresh and new computer experience. Windows 8 will be supported on all PCs, whether they be touch screen or mouse and keyboard, and will also likely be supported on many tablets.

Windows 8 is expected to be released in late 2012.

Watch the preview video here:



What are your opinions on the features shown here in this video? Do you like the new look and feel? Will you be using it when released or are you happy with the computing experience provided by Windows 7?

Great news article Open Minded

I did think that this new OS is very sleek and modern, but I'm not much of a touchscreen person.

I like my mouse and keyboard. And speaking of keyboard, it didn't look very innovative in the video, as you mentioned in your article.

Only time will tell to see how successful this OS will be. Do you think they're will be a mouse and keyboard version?

[KillaPwner]

Meh, i don't really like it. I think i will just stick to Seven.

[jonnyman69]

Great news article Open Minded

I did think that this new OS is very sleek and modern, but I'm not much of a touchscreen person.

I like my mouse and keyboard. And speaking of keyboard, it didn't look very innovative in the video, as you mentioned in your article.

Only time will tell to see how successful this OS will be. Do you think they're will be a mouse and keyboard version?

they said it worked with mouse and keyboard so im assuming because its microsoft that it will be the same as the touch screen version and you would have to do the same motions. eg swipe from the left will be click the left side of the screen and move mouse to the right

[The Open Minded]

Great news article Open Minded

I did think that this new OS is very sleek and modern, but I'm not much of a touchscreen person.

I like my mouse and keyboard. And speaking of keyboard, it didn't look very innovative in the video, as you mentioned in your article.

Only time will tell to see how successful this OS will be. Do you think they're will be a mouse and keyboard version?

Thanks man. And yes as I stated in my OP, this OS will be supported on both Touchscreen and Mouse and Keyboard PCs. It was a brief comment though so I am not surprised you missed it.

they said it worked with mouse and keyboard so im assuming because its microsoft that it will be the same as the touch screen version and you would have to do the same motions. eg swipe from the left will be click the left side of the screen and move mouse to the right

That's a good question man. I would assume that, yes, you will be able to use the same mouse motions to work the touch features. Hopefully in their upcoming videos they will expand upon that area though.

[Potassium]

I might actually get it, the Rectangle organization will make it Look simple, clean. But this doesnt look like a windows OS.