I'm not 100% sure if your comment is sarcastic or not, but tbh you cannot tell how well it will work till you 1) try it out, and 2) let them finish it. To me it looks like a great combination, especially for tablets/touch interfaces, but it's not likely I blindly made up my mind and assumed it's good or bad before even trying it.
I think this looks very promising. It's about time graphical user interfaces started moving out of standard patterns that have plagued us for the past 20+ years
Fair enough for the power user, this may not look that exciting but my impression is the standard user only wants to accomplish very simple tasks, which therefore should mean a very simple and intuitive interface.
It'll be very interesting to see how Microsoft intends to handle writing code to multiple platforms
I'd like to be able to use that tablet to control my desktop machine. I could ditch the wacom tablet. That sort of integration might be enough to make me ditch android. In fact thats really what MS needs to look at now: they need to outgoogle google in terms of integration and using the cloud. (same contacts, emails, tabs, calls, messages on whatever device). not holding me breath though
I cannot see how this can be applied to traditional desktops. The OS is based too much on touch interface, I really hope Microsoft can get it right unlike last time when they try to reinvent the UI (Windows Vista) but overall its a bold move to completely change the interface.
There seems to be so much confusing at the moment about this. I personally dont think this new UI will be used on desktops or laptops by default. I think it's something that can be enabled or disabled, and will be enabled by default on touch devices. Because for desktops this is clearly not a good UI at all, but it's perfect for tablets.
I understand that Microsoft has to provide a touch option for their OS going forward and it's only natural that would be related to what they've been working on for Windows Phone.
That said...
Microsoft really needs to get their heads out of their ass when it comes to the Windows UI. Every major release of Windows sees a new UI, surprisingly as it may sound that's not a good thing! A consistent UI design is a basic and fundamental building block of an OS.
What I want to hear is more about how they've slimmed the OS down. Have they finally killed the registry? Does the next Windows release get rid of the majority of useless and over-specialized services running in the background of every OS install? Is the OS 64-bit only or will the future still be marginalized? Have legacy compatibility shifted over to a virtual machine yet?
If Windows 8 ends up as Windows 7 with yet another layer tacked on top I might burst a vein.
You have no idea what the registry is used for if you think they can "kill" the registry. It would break compatibility with almost every application back to Windows 95.
I like the new touch UI. MS stated at AllThingsD 9 that the user would still be able to go back to the normal Win7-style desktop after logging in from the new Start Screen. I think the UI they showed is fantastic for tablets and TVs, but for a normal desktop PC the old "desktop" UI paradigm is the best for a mouse and keyboard.
Actually, I know exactly what the registry is for. It's been an exceptional example of poor design decisions from the start and no little source of security concerns.
There's no real reason as to why you couldn't get rid of the registry and maintain backwards compatibility, though personally I feel the latter should be shifted out of the main OS and into a VM running it's own XP install or something along those lines anyway.
@sprockkets it has already been stated that there will be no support for x86 apps on the ARM version, expect some kind of third party virtual machine though. Compatibility is generally only a business decision (consumers can buy new/updated apps) thus microsoft doesnt want to invest.
@remote control Microsoft offers a lot of cloud services but are not got at getting people to know about them the live suite, the cloud drive, mesh service and office online, combined you can have your mail, movies, pictures, documents and any other file you want available to any internet connected device and integrated into every windows system with app installations. Best of all they are all FREE and allow collaboration even simultaneously on windows installations for documents.
Any sane person understands that the infrastructure running these "free" services has to be paid by something. It is the same as with Facebook - you pay with your data in one way or another.
Not that I see anything wrong with that. But saying it is "free" is a false claim. Nothing is free, never was.
Who is ever gonna buy this crap. Look at that awful UI, it's the failed WP7. Come on Microsoft, can you please design something that is a little more compelling. Apple's iOs isn't perfect, but it's four years and is due for a major update on Monday. I see nothing in these images that makes me think Microsoft has even the faintest idea of what is better. I fully expect next week Apple will launch iOS 5 and send the competition (I'm being generous here) back three more years. Plus, Apple already has 100 millions plus devices in the field ready for an update. Microsoft, is showing an unfinished product. Do you really think that these are ever gonna match the iPod/iPhone/Pad onslaught? It's never gonna happen...EPIC FAIL!
There are no doors because it's like a freak'n Race Car. I think your too accustomed to the PC world, where everything looks like a station wagon or an El Camino.
Yes, but how many of them are tablets or smart phones? This OS is nothing but a quick and dirty port of Windows 7 with a touch UI veneer. Battery life will be pathetic, and mobile devices must have great battery life, that's non-negotiable. Legacy Windows Applications were never designed for touch screens, they will all be worthless on a tablet. Finally, the business model doesn't make any sense anymore. With Microsoft specifying the components and charging for the OS, the device makers will have ridiculously small profit margins. Google's Android is far more appealing to a device maker.
You have not read any reviews apparently you are a mac tard, WP7 is doing fine battery wise and getting better with every update. On top of that android already out sells apple. M$ is not even looking at apple as competition they know the real battle for the future is going to be against google. Apples poor closed software and hardware business model is already failing just as it failed in the past. Google is ahead in this OS war and M$ is stepping up to try to fight them. Honestly I think google will win but not so much because google is better just that M$ made the dire mistake of not starting WP7 earlier.
that interface has been a turn off since i first saw it demoed on whatever windows phone it came out on ages ago.
big blocky waste of space, i thought ios was bad in that regard, at least they let me look at partly obstructed wallpapers, here i have eye searing kindergarten blocks of color...
Why would they even consider this interface on a desktop? It may be easy for grandma to use, but it's incredibly counterproductive for getting anything done quickly.
I'm waiting for this 'app' fad to go away, just like 3D movies. But it's not, unfortunately.
With some tweaks and customizability I think its actually a decent tablet interface. I'd hate the living daylights out of it for a desktop or laptop interface, but it sounds like you have that option (a traditional windowsesque desktop). To a large degree interoperability and interchangability between what I am running on a tablet and what I am running on my desktop or laptop are something I'd really, really like. Especially a real file system that you can mess with (on tablet, I can already do that on my Windows 7 and earlier installs).
Besides, if ARM apps won't run on Windows 8 x86 machines and vice versa, so I'll just hop on the next gen Atom tablet band wagon in a couple of years.
iOS works just fine for me on my iPad 2, but anything like that on a desktop would be anethema. OSX is a great big ball of fail when it comes to a laptop or desktop environment, at least for how I use full on PCs. I certainly wish there was more I could do with iOS, but with a tablet I am much less of a "power user" than I am with a desktop and there are enough apps that allow me to do the most important things I want to do, even if they aren't native OS options (such as SMB/CIFS access, wake-on-LAN, RDP). More integration between the two would be really, really nice though and being able to run apps interchangably wouldn't be the worst thing ever. Thus I look forward to a good Windows 8 OS (or I should say I am hoping for a good one so that I can ditch Apple/iOS).
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33 Comments
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cj100570 - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Looks like a winner.... Or not.inighthawki - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
I'm not 100% sure if your comment is sarcastic or not, but tbh you cannot tell how well it will work till you 1) try it out, and 2) let them finish it. To me it looks like a great combination, especially for tablets/touch interfaces, but it's not likely I blindly made up my mind and assumed it's good or bad before even trying it.ahmedz_1991 - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
for me, the comparison will be between Microsoft's W8 and Google's "Ice Cream Sandwich"sprockkets - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Nowhere is it explained how old x86 apps will work on ARM based Win8 machines.Seeing as how hit or miss it is with x86 vs. x86-64, I'm not holding my breath.
nafhan - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
I'm guessing recompiled at a minimum. Any devs that want to take advantage of the new UI paradigms will have to rebuild anyway, though.Keep an eye out for an app store announcement is my guess... :)
Lucian Armasu - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
They won't be. Their focus with the new UI seems to to be HTML5 webapps. So ARM tablets will only have webapps on them..just like Chrome OS.taeren - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
I think this looks very promising. It's about time graphical user interfaces started moving out of standard patterns that have plagued us for the past 20+ yearsFair enough for the power user, this may not look that exciting but my impression is the standard user only wants to accomplish very simple tasks, which therefore should mean a very simple and intuitive interface.
It'll be very interesting to see how Microsoft intends to handle writing code to multiple platforms
mino - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Did you ever wonder why those standard interfaces managed to "plague" us for the past 30+ years ? (yes, it is that long)Maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with use productivity ?
(I have yet to see how a further Bling! and obfuscation of computer interfaces increases productivity ...)
getho - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
I'd like to be able to use that tablet to control my desktop machine. I could ditch the wacom tablet. That sort of integration might be enough to make me ditch android. In fact thats really what MS needs to look at now: they need to outgoogle google in terms of integration and using the cloud. (same contacts, emails, tabs, calls, messages on whatever device). not holding me breath thoughStormyParis - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
I like the "dual panel" setup in the last photo.I do hope the home screen is configurable though. In the first picture it looks ugly, very busy, and filled with junk I don't want.
nofumble62 - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Have they fixed this problem?YuMa-NuMa - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
I cannot see how this can be applied to traditional desktops. The OS is based too much on touch interface, I really hope Microsoft can get it right unlike last time when they try to reinvent the UI (Windows Vista) but overall its a bold move to completely change the interface.B3an - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
There seems to be so much confusing at the moment about this. I personally dont think this new UI will be used on desktops or laptops by default. I think it's something that can be enabled or disabled, and will be enabled by default on touch devices. Because for desktops this is clearly not a good UI at all, but it's perfect for tablets.Exodite - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
I understand that Microsoft has to provide a touch option for their OS going forward and it's only natural that would be related to what they've been working on for Windows Phone.That said...
Microsoft really needs to get their heads out of their ass when it comes to the Windows UI. Every major release of Windows sees a new UI, surprisingly as it may sound that's not a good thing! A consistent UI design is a basic and fundamental building block of an OS.
What I want to hear is more about how they've slimmed the OS down. Have they finally killed the registry? Does the next Windows release get rid of the majority of useless and over-specialized services running in the background of every OS install? Is the OS 64-bit only or will the future still be marginalized? Have legacy compatibility shifted over to a virtual machine yet?
If Windows 8 ends up as Windows 7 with yet another layer tacked on top I might burst a vein.
Spivonious - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
You have no idea what the registry is used for if you think they can "kill" the registry. It would break compatibility with almost every application back to Windows 95.I like the new touch UI. MS stated at AllThingsD 9 that the user would still be able to go back to the normal Win7-style desktop after logging in from the new Start Screen. I think the UI they showed is fantastic for tablets and TVs, but for a normal desktop PC the old "desktop" UI paradigm is the best for a mouse and keyboard.
Exodite - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Actually, I know exactly what the registry is for. It's been an exceptional example of poor design decisions from the start and no little source of security concerns.There's no real reason as to why you couldn't get rid of the registry and maintain backwards compatibility, though personally I feel the latter should be shifted out of the main OS and into a VM running it's own XP install or something along those lines anyway.
HMTK - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Kill the registry = kill Group Policy. Unlikely to happen Any Time Soon.63jax - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
i'm pretty sure they wont fail with this, this was their main focus on win8cobular - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
@sprockketsit has already been stated that there will be no support for x86 apps on the ARM version, expect some kind of third party virtual machine though. Compatibility is generally only a business decision (consumers can buy new/updated apps) thus microsoft doesnt want to invest.
@remote control
Microsoft offers a lot of cloud services but are not got at getting people to know about them the live suite, the cloud drive, mesh service and office online, combined you can have your mail, movies, pictures, documents and any other file you want available to any internet connected device and integrated into every windows system with app installations. Best of all they are all FREE and allow collaboration even simultaneously on windows installations for documents.
mino - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
It is NOT free.You pay for it with you privacy.
Spivonious - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Tinfoil hat? Check.mino - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Umm, no.Any sane person understands that the infrastructure running these "free" services has to be paid by something. It is the same as with Facebook - you pay with your data in one way or another.
Not that I see anything wrong with that. But saying it is "free" is a false claim. Nothing is free, never was.
TEAMSWITCHER - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Who is ever gonna buy this crap. Look at that awful UI, it's the failed WP7. Come on Microsoft, can you please design something that is a little more compelling. Apple's iOs isn't perfect, but it's four years and is due for a major update on Monday. I see nothing in these images that makes me think Microsoft has even the faintest idea of what is better. I fully expect next week Apple will launch iOS 5 and send the competition (I'm being generous here) back three more years. Plus, Apple already has 100 millions plus devices in the field ready for an update. Microsoft, is showing an unfinished product. Do you really think that these are ever gonna match the iPod/iPhone/Pad onslaught? It's never gonna happen...EPIC FAIL!Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
yeah but apple products are like cars with gold trim but no doors. wtf good is gold trim when u cant get the @#% in the car?TEAMSWITCHER - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
There are no doors because it's like a freak'n Race Car. I think your too accustomed to the PC world, where everything looks like a station wagon or an El Camino.Spivonious - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
100 million devices...you do realize that they sell almost that many PCs every month, right?TEAMSWITCHER - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Yes, but how many of them are tablets or smart phones? This OS is nothing but a quick and dirty port of Windows 7 with a touch UI veneer. Battery life will be pathetic, and mobile devices must have great battery life, that's non-negotiable. Legacy Windows Applications were never designed for touch screens, they will all be worthless on a tablet. Finally, the business model doesn't make any sense anymore. With Microsoft specifying the components and charging for the OS, the device makers will have ridiculously small profit margins. Google's Android is far more appealing to a device maker.B3an - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
You're such a moron i'm not even going to bother with you.PubFiction - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
You have not read any reviews apparently you are a mac tard, WP7 is doing fine battery wise and getting better with every update. On top of that android already out sells apple. M$ is not even looking at apple as competition they know the real battle for the future is going to be against google. Apples poor closed software and hardware business model is already failing just as it failed in the past. Google is ahead in this OS war and M$ is stepping up to try to fight them. Honestly I think google will win but not so much because google is better just that M$ made the dire mistake of not starting WP7 earlier.araczynski - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
that interface has been a turn off since i first saw it demoed on whatever windows phone it came out on ages ago.big blocky waste of space, i thought ios was bad in that regard, at least they let me look at partly obstructed wallpapers, here i have eye searing kindergarten blocks of color...
neuralclone - Friday, June 3, 2011 - link
Why would they even consider this interface on a desktop? It may be easy for grandma to use, but it's incredibly counterproductive for getting anything done quickly.I'm waiting for this 'app' fad to go away, just like 3D movies. But it's not, unfortunately.
azazel1024 - Friday, June 3, 2011 - link
With some tweaks and customizability I think its actually a decent tablet interface. I'd hate the living daylights out of it for a desktop or laptop interface, but it sounds like you have that option (a traditional windowsesque desktop). To a large degree interoperability and interchangability between what I am running on a tablet and what I am running on my desktop or laptop are something I'd really, really like. Especially a real file system that you can mess with (on tablet, I can already do that on my Windows 7 and earlier installs).Besides, if ARM apps won't run on Windows 8 x86 machines and vice versa, so I'll just hop on the next gen Atom tablet band wagon in a couple of years.
iOS works just fine for me on my iPad 2, but anything like that on a desktop would be anethema. OSX is a great big ball of fail when it comes to a laptop or desktop environment, at least for how I use full on PCs. I certainly wish there was more I could do with iOS, but with a tablet I am much less of a "power user" than I am with a desktop and there are enough apps that allow me to do the most important things I want to do, even if they aren't native OS options (such as SMB/CIFS access, wake-on-LAN, RDP). More integration between the two would be really, really nice though and being able to run apps interchangably wouldn't be the worst thing ever. Thus I look forward to a good Windows 8 OS (or I should say I am hoping for a good one so that I can ditch Apple/iOS).
12qw12 - Monday, March 5, 2012 - link
thumbs up if u like windows 8 more than osx lion. I cant wait much longer for it's release .......microsoft be fast!!