Microsoft Corp. gave the most complete demonstration yet of a radically overhauled version of Windows, as the company reboots the venerable operating system for a market increasingly captivated by Apple Inc.'s iPad.
Microsoft said Windows 8, as it's currently referring to the new software, has the most dramatically changed look and feel since the company introduced Windows 95, a pivotal version of its operating system that came out 16 years ago. While Apple has found great success with the iPad by creating software tailored narrowly to the finger gestures possible on a touch-screen device, Microsoft said Windows 8 will be flexible enough to accommodate new tablet devices as well as more traditional PCs that rely on keyboards and mice.
Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky introduced a new tablet running a test version of Windows 8 Tuesday.
Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live division said.
"Windows 8 reimagines what Windows can be."
One crucial question that remains unanswered is when devices running Windows 8 will be available for customers. In a speech at a technical conference here, Mr. Sinofsky didn't commit to a release date and said that quality concerns, rather than deadlines, will determine when Microsoft ships the software. Microsoft has said in the past that it aims to release a new operating system about every three years, which suggests Windows 8 could come out by fall 2012.
That gives Apple a significant amount of time to make further inroads with the iPad, the tablet device that some analysts believe has begun to sap growth from the traditional PC business. Frank Gillett, an analyst at Forrester Research said.
"I think Apple has another year to run flat out."
Microsoft said on Tuesday that it has sold nearly 450 million copies of an older operating system, Windows 7. Apple has sold more than 28 million iPads.
Mr. Gillett said Windows 8 is "bolder than Microsoft has been in the past" with Windows, one of the engines of the company's profits. The most dramatic change with the software is its appearance, which Microsoft calls the "Metro interface," a mosaic of square and rectangular tiles that display live feeds of photos, emails and news headlines that the operating system pulls down from the Web.
While Microsoft executives never once mentioned the iPad in their speeches, the influence of the device was apparent. The company said Windows 8 applications will be distributed through an online app store, a nod to Apple's pioneering approach to delivering software for its iPhone and iPad devices.
The company began the key process of rallying developers around the new software, an audience that could help determine how well Windows 8 does in the market. To kickstart their efforts, Microsoft said it will give out 5,000 tablets made by Samsung running an early version of Windows 8 to developers attending the conference.
The Samsung tablets use chips from Intel Corp., a longtime Microsoft partner that has been excluded from most recent tablet-style devices. At its own technology conference in San Francisco Tuesday, Intel announced a partnership with Google Inc. to spur wider use of its chips with the Android operating system, which is widely used on smartphones and tablets; Android has mainly been used so far with chips based on designs from ARM Holdings PLC.
Microsoft senior vice president Antoine Leblond said the company's app store will provide developers with detailed information about the progress of their applications as they move through a Microsoft approval process. Some developers have complained about Apple's process for approving apps.
Mr. Leblond said of app stores.
"They sometimes feel like these bureaucratic black holes. We want to go out of our way to make the process as transparent as possible."
COMMENTARY: Lovely interface. I love the new desktop view. The little icons which have been used to seeing since the birth of Windows are gone, and have been replaced by a mosaic of rectangles which provide more information about each app. As you click on one of the rectangles it takes you to the app and its component views. The mosaic view never changes continues as you drill down. The ability to transition between apps and content is simply amazing and very fast.
The look of Windows 8 will appear the same on the desktop as on a touchscreen tablet, which is something I like. If you have a desktop and later transition to a Microsoft 8 compliant tablet, you won't see any differences. The only difference will be that on your desktop you will use a mouse, while on a tablet you will scroll up and down, sideways and tap a square to load an app or view content. That's what I call slick.
Courtesy of an article dated September 14, 2011 appearing on The Wall Street Journal
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