Microsoft today will release a new version of its flagship Windows operating system tailored for a world shifting from personal computers to smartphones and tablets.
The software giant gambled by changing long familiar user interface features to make Windows 8 compatible with trends toward keeping programs and data in the internet “cloud” and relying on mobile gadgets at work and at home.
“Microsoft has this vision where they want to go; and it is Windows in the cloud,” said analyst Michael Cherry of Directions on Microsoft, an independent firm that tracks the Redmond, Washington-based company.
“The chasm is very big and Windows 8 is a good first step,” he continued. “But, all of these transitions come with a little pain.”
The arrival of Windows 8 will coincide with the availability of Microsoft Slate tablet computers to challenge Apple’s market-ruling iPads and rivals built on Google’s Android software.
Windows 8 and an accompanying version of Microsoft’s free Internet Explorer web browsing program, were designed to optimise touch-screen capabilities.
“This is an absolutely critical product,” Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates said in a video interview posted on the company’s website.
“It takes Windows into the world of touch, low-powered devices, really giving people the best of what we think of as a tablet-type experience and the PC experience,” he continued. “It is a big step.”
Windows 8 will support a wide range of devices, including touch- and stylus-based smartphones and tablet PCs as well as desktop and laptop machines.
Versions of the operating system have been tailored for chips used to power various mobile devices.
The fate of Slate and other Windows 8 tablets will likely hinge on the availability and pricing of applications, since fun or functional “apps” are what people tend to love about gadgets, according to Cherry.
Microsoft would “get software developers behind this,” Gates added.
Windows 8 allows users to store and share personal data among various devices under the “SkyDrive” cloud computing service.
Rivals Apple and Google offer such services, which let people store digital data on servers in the internet “cloud” and access files from devices of their choosing.
Windows 8 will be available in 109 languages across 231 markets worldwide.
It “is simply the biggest deal for this company in at least 17 years,” Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer said at Windows 8 preview event, referring to the time since the launch of the game-changing Windows 95 operating system.
It remained to be seen how quickly Windows 8 would be adopted by businesses, which remain cautious after problems with the Vista version of the operating system generations earlier and that follow their own timelines for updating technology.
Source: The Daily Star
Well we should at least wish Windows 8 good luck at this stage!