Windows chief Steve Sinofsky showed off the next version of the OS, which borrows heavily from ideas in Windows Phone to give a touch interface unlike any previous Microsoft experience
Microsoft has showcased a version of its next operating system which highlights touch screen features optimised for tablets and uses "live tiles" in a system that closely resembles its Window Phone 7 smartphone interface.
Steve Sinofsky, the head of the Windows and Windows Live division, talked at the AllThingsD conference about the new product ? codenamed Windows 8 ? which is expected to launch late in 2012. Sinofsky joked that the precise date was "a Defence Department secret".
The interface borrows heavily from the Windows Phone 7 smartphone interface and Sinofsky admitted during the discussion at the AllThingsD conference on Wednesday night that "we thought about it in a new way, about how to solve the things that people see, or say they think are solved, in an [Apple] iPad".
In a separate interview, Sinofsky admitted that the iPad had shown Microsoft that there were some elements missing from Windows ? particularly, a touch-first interface, an app distribution system like the App Store, and a different business model for developers to reach users.
A demonstration of the new interface showed a system where the conventional "Start" screen that has been in place since Windows 95, introduced in 1995, is entirely replaced by a set of tiles with live information. Although users will be able to revert to the familiar Start-based interface, Microsoft is aiming at the new system as its way of combating the threat from tablets made by Apple and other companies incorporating Google's Android system, as well as RIM's PlayBook and HP's forthcoming WebOS tablets.
In the demonstration, Julie Larson-Green, who is in charge of features inside Windows, pointed out that it will be possible to write "apps" that consist of HTML5 and Javascript.
Sinofsky insisted however that "every program, everything that runs on Windows 7, every device that you can plug into that, will just run [on Windows 8]".
It's unclear however whether that will apply though to the version being written for ARM chips; existing code for Intel chips is expected to run without porting but ARM-based chips may need either a recompilation or a dynamic translator like Rosetta, used by Apple to ease the transition from PowerPC-based chips to Intel chips in 2006.
The demonstration of Windows 8 included a number of new features not previously seen on tablet-based user interfaces, including one which runs two programs side-by-side.
"It works touch-first, but then if there's a machine with a mouse and keyboard then it works the same as before with them," said Larson-Green.
She called it the biggest change to the Windows interface since Windows 95.
Sinofsky insisted that it was Windows 7 that had first introduced touch interfaces. But "the world changed underneath it" when the iPad came along.
However Sinofsky also admitted to a couple of failures. "We definitely didn't do the iPhone," he said, and admitted that when it came to top-end smartphones and tablets, "you picked two of the things we didn't do particularly well". But, he added, "we're not out of the game." With phones, he said, "we aren't there yet, But we'll just keep trying."
He did say Microsoft is working to integrate Internet telephone service Skype into the new system, following its agreement to purchase the company last month.
The demonstration shows Microsoft is making progress toward the new operating system, which it promises will run on a range of hardware devices from traditional PCs to laptops and tablets, using both touchscreen and mouse and keyboard commands.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Sinofsky showed off a crude version of the new Windows system working on ARM Holdings chips - which work better on mobile devices due to their low power requirements.
Writing on the Microsoft site, Larson-Green says that "a Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse."
She adds:
Although the new user interface is designed and optimized for touch, it works equally well with a mouse and keyboard. Our approach means no compromises ? you get to use whatever kind of device you prefer, with peripherals you choose, to run the apps you love. This is sure to inspire a new generation of hardware and software development, improving the experience for PC users around the world.
More details will become available at the developer event BUILD in September, she says.
Some details of the hardware requirements for Windows 8 have also leaked, showing that tablets and screens will be expected to have a 16:9 ratio (unlike the iPad's 4:3 ratio), with a minimum resolution of 1024x768 to use the touch interface; anything below that will only run in the "classic" desktop mode.
Here's the edited video of Sinofsky speaking at the AllThingsD conference:
Cindy Taylor Halle Berry Catherine Bell Tessie Santiago Jessica Simpson
No comments:
Post a Comment