The next Microsoft operating system has now been captured in action on a video which was released yesterday – titled “Building Windows 8 – Video #1” – boasting its tablet-friendly capabilities and finally bringing the fight to Apple.
The video demos a newly titled start screen showing the OS as tablet-friendly and “designed and optimised for touch”. Microsoft will combine regular Windows apps with HTML5 web-apps to refresh and reinvent the way our desktop platform is used and also bring the best out of a tablet’s features and functions with a stylish new interface.
For tablets, Microsoft provide a virtual keyboard mode which pops up both in the standard horizontal mode, but which can also be flipped to a vertical mode, complimenting the versatility of the tablet platform. Utilising the multitasking capabilities with a screen swiping method, apps are dragged to the centre and arranged to user preference by simply sliding them into a desired sequence via the touchscreen – easy organisation at your fingertips.
IE10 is expected as standard, uniting those dated desktop apps with new and stylish web-apps including live tile notifications as seen on Windows Phone 7. No word whether some kind of sync between phone, tablet and desktop will be available but we think since Microsoft have gone this far it’d be expected that some kind of unity between gadgets would be presented.
Don’t get too attached to the name, however. Microsoft claimed the title “Windows 8” is simply a codename – suggesting a totally new approach and refresh to the old platform and it sounds like some really impressive and exciting stuff is ahead. All the Windows goodness we’d expect but totally reinvented into a new stylish but functional interface.
After recent excitement from Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer over Windows 8 for “slates and tablets” and a backlash by a key investor over the CEO’s “out of touch” attitude in the face of Apple’s competition – it’s good to see that Microsoft are in fact now shaping up some competition to tackle the iPad 2. How will it compare? We’re excited to find out!
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