Today, at the D9 Conference, Microsoft demonstrated the next version of Windows, internally code-named “Windows 8,” for the first time. Windows 8 is designed to scale from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.
Microsoft also seems to have run a “find and replace” on their marketing materials, replacing “programs” with “apps” everywhere. Wonder why.
Microsoft demoed a few aspects of the new “Windows 8” interface, including:
• Launching of programs apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of programs apps.
• Live tiles with notifications, showing up-to-date information from your programs apps.
• Switching between running programs apps.
• Capability to snap and resize a program an app to the side of the screen.
• Web-connected and Web-powered programs apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript.
• Touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.
The video below introduces a few of the basic elements of the new user interface:
Microsoft is working to get “Windows 8” ready for early testing. No release date has been disclosed.
MacDailyNews Take: Taking into account that demos are, of course, designed to make products look good no matter what, our initial impression is that Microsoft, in trying to cram everything into Windows 8 in an attempt to be all things to all devices, will end up with an OS that’s a jack of all trades and a master of none (which, after all, ought to be Microsoft’s company motto).
By the time this hybrid spawn of Windows Phone ’07 + Windows 7ista actually ships, one can only dream where Apple’s iOS and Mac OS X will be! For Microsoft, it’ll be more like a nightmare. Perhaps Microsoft will someday put some scare into Google’s Android/Chrome OS, but only time – and a lot of it when measured in tech time – will tell. We simply do not see the world clamoring for the UI of an iPod also-ran now ported to an iPhone wannabe that nobody’s buying to be blown up onto a PC display.
From what we’ve seen so far, Windows 8 strikes us as an unsavory combination of Windows Weight plus Windows Wait.
Not to mention that probably no one on earth knows how much or what kinds of residual legacy spaghetti code roils underneath it all (shudder). Is Microsoft giving up on backwards compatibility? If so, people might as well get the Mac they always wanted. If not, then Microsoft’s unwilling to do what it takes to really attempt to keep up with the likes of Apple or even Apple’s followers. No matter what, if Microsoft’s going to ask Windows sufferers to “learn a whole new computer” (and that’s exactly how they’ll look at it, regardless of how Microsoft pitches it), millions will simply say, “Time to get a Mac to match my iPod, iPhone, and iPad!”
As if they needed it: More good news for Apple.
I’ve watched the video and I was mildly impressed, but as MDN says… In tech time this could be very moot point by the time Lion/iOS5 is out and we could be close to Lion & iOS’s successor after having seen the Vista debacle.
Meh
Sadly MS’s business strategy consists of nothing more than trying to be all things to all people and blocking another company from a trademark they could have secured themselves years ago.
Didn’t Microsoft recently crap on someone for daring to use the appellation “Windows 8”? We read about it just a few days ago in an MDN article.
Yea, they crapped on their own CEO Butthead Balmer!
They should call it “Tiles” – Life without floor.
amazing I know …
Too complicated and gimmicky. Just like most other MS stuff, it’s made by nerds for nerds. Real people who want something straightforward that just works don’t seem to count for much in Redmond. It’s not based on anything familiar that would make the average person comfortable getting started with it.
I agree.
I agree as well. The thought of tutoring this mess to my mother makes me shudder. Unlike iOS and other OS offerings It lacks obviousness and visible structure. Where the hell are those offscreen tiles and just how is anyone supposed to know where they are? It’s nerdy for the sake of being nerdy. They are so painfully desperate.
Crazy.
The biggest criticism of OS X / iOS I get from regular people is the non-obvious gestures (I’m thinking of two-finger swiping on a track pad, etc.). These are pretty minor, and almost completely optional. The vast majority of Apple’s interface conventions are understandable immediately.
And Apple tends to have pretty sophisticated users.
I can’t imagine most of my clients or my parents understanding this new Windows UI. Mix in the old interface for all your legacy apps and it’s going to get messy.
The truth is many of staff in the office had / are having troubles with Win 7 already. They are custom with WinXP so deeply. Some of the staff are using Office 2007 for testing and the IT guys have to take the blame because most of admin girls were confused to the change (from Office 2003). Some guys are using Win 7 about a year now (along with new laptops and all), and the management is starting to plan migration to Win 7. If windows 8 coming next year, I believe it’s going to be chaotic.
Win7 has some incompatibility with the old way Active Directory was managed (such as Remote Profile). I am pretty sure Win8 will be more confusing for both IT and users.
It appears that you have a serious staff of morons in your company.
Now that I think of it, the only other complaint I hear about Mac OSX is the issue around quitting an app vs. closing a window (that you can close a file but still be in the app, and that you can then click the desktop and “lose” your app). Makes perfect sense to me, but lots of people have problems with it.
Lion should help in that respect.
This is what I was thinking. I was surprised when MDN didn’t criticize the complexity and lack of intuitiveness. Are you just supposed to memorize all these “tricks”? Like Brau pointed out, you can just imagine teaching your parents how to use this. “Oh no! I just got this bigass widget in the middle of the screen and there are no close or minimize buttons!”
It’s typical of Apple to make stuff easier to use over time.
Windows on the other hand just gets harder. The sheer contempt I feel whenever I have to help someone use Windows 7 or that G-d Office ribbon is just indescribable.
Windows 8’s new slogan: Combining the worst elements of every UI into one inconvenient package.
@ Sucker: Love the last line! However, being the evil contortionist that I am, I can imagine that there will be several versions:
1. W8 simplex for beginners (comes with Sponge Bob to help you out.
2. W8 Simplex Complex for beginners who don’t want to identified as beginners (no Sponge Bob), costs more.
3. W8 Complex Simplex for small businesses. Same as #2 but costs more.
4. W8 Business Complex Complete for small and medium businesses, adds more crapware and adware but no different between it and #3, costs more.
5. W8 Enterprise Complex for most businesses but not travel agents and airlines. Same as #4 but many “upgrade” ads every few minutes, costs a lot more.
6. W8 Enterprise Most Complex Ultimate OS W (Puddy-tat) for Cisco-sized firms, costs $500 per seat, Start Screen features a roaring pussy cat, can only be installed remotely by MS and any upgrades are automatically performed (with resulting upgrade fees sent to license owner), Discounts available if company is willing to co-brand (i.e. “Cisco Certified Internet Ethernet” sticker on front of computer, to accompany the Intel Inside, NVIDIA-Powered, WGA-compatible, XP Certified, Apple-Designed stickers.).
MS is walking toward the cliff on this one. The worse thing for a user is to learn a whole new operating system.
When Apple moved from System 9 to OS X, it was a gut-wrenching experience for many of us. But to Apple’s credit, each new version of OS X maintains the same look and feel as the previous ones. A person could easily go from Puma or Jaguar to Snow Leopard without a glitch.
This is not the case with Windows. Switching from XP to Vista/Windows 7 was a big change. A change so big that many users and corporations are still using XP. Now MS is going to totally change the look and feel of their operating system again with Windows 8.
These guys must have a death wish. Users are just going to say “fsck it” and buy a Mac. I almost feel sorry for MS because they seem so clueless.
Seeing W7 pop up under that tile interface is really jarring… Um.. Just totally awkward.. In time, MS will have to rewrite most apps so you don’t see that anymore. In other words, killing Windows7.
Mossberg: on a brand new Windows 8 tablet, will you be able to hide the ‘old house’ (craptastic windows desktop and only use tiles?)
Sinofsky: No.
That’s not a bad answer since MS can’t let go of the “desktop” paradigm. Tablets don’t need desktops and all the clutter that desktops engender.
Another indication of how clueless MS has become.
Learn to listen and read.
Desktop UI = used on desktop
Tile UI = used with touch screens (laptop, touch monitor on desktop, I bet a surface 3.0, tablets,…)
And if you absolutely need to, yes, you can use classic windows applications in the touch UI. This is a GOOD thing. You don’t HAVE TO. You have the OPTION.
Unfortunately people are not just going to jump to the Mac.
A friend of mine was looking for a new computer (she is a photographer) and after talking to her about all the options, advantages, etc of the Mac over the PC she opted for a $900US laptop over a $1300US iMac.
I tried everything to show her the advantages but in the end it all came down to price.
So price was the most important factor above all else to your friend, so the same mist be true for the entire population of the planet? Wow, every company on the planet that offers a product that costs more than a competitor will be bust soon.
I know what you mean, but what cab you do? A fool and her money are soon parted.
If she only understood that the $400 savings will be easily negated when you consider both platforms over the course of a few years. When I was solely using Windows computers – up until 2008 when I completely switch to Mac – I’d have to buy a new system every year and a half to two years because everything started to become seriously outdated, very much slowed down, and just completely bogged down for one reason or another; you know, the usual Windows PC system stuff. I bought my Mac Pro in January of 2008 (supplied it with 10 GB of Ram) and haven’t needed a new computer in over three years. Actually, since switching completely to Mac, the last three years have been the most productive for me on a computer in my life (I’m a Writer and Small Business owner). The only Microsoft product I’ve downloaded since 2008 was to play WMA video files on my Mac…but I digress. Knock on wood but my system has run just as good today as it did when I booted it up for the first time over three years ago and I’m sure my Mac will run smoothly for many years to come until the need to upgrade just because of the evolution of newer technologies. I cannot say that about Windows machines.
I can’t help but wonder if she uses the same logic when choosing a camera or lens. You get what you pay for.
+1
@Anim8me2 The worst part is, I wonder if the laptop she bought can display at least 75% AdobeRGB colors cuz if not (most only do 62% AdobeRGB) then her stuff will look like kindergarten stuff when she delivers images. That happened to a friend of mine who did work on his laptop…but good thing he brought his work over to a desktop monitor that did 75% AdobeRGB and there was a lot of pixels he missed. She will need to hook it up to a good monitor that does at least 85% AdobeRGB/100%sRGB ($400 minimum). iMac’s screens can do about 75% AdobeRGB. She’ll end up spending more.
So does she drive a Tata car (just $2500.00!) or a Nissan Versa? Or perhaps a Trabant?
I didn’t think so. She probably had her mind made up for a PeeCee and wasn’t confused by your facts.
Always those who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!!!
Windows 8 will not be able to run smoothly on existing Windows machines. Windows 8 will be dramatically alien to millions of Windows users. Corporations that had invested billions of dollars in legacy softwares will have to start anew which I doubt they will be happy to comply. So to avoid a deep learning curve in a new OS, I foresee many corporate and individual users will turn to the Mac to continue to use their legacy Windows softwares.
To be fair, enterprise Mac users will also have problems with legacy software due to Apple’s refusal to incorporate Rosetta in Lion.
Are you for real?
Apple has always pruned its system and kept it lean and mean. MS has always kept all the garbage of yester… millennium.
As for Rosetta, it’s about time.
Hahaha…
It’s clear that you are not a professional in the software industry. I’ld like to see you tell millions of companies that “all their expensive custom software is no longer supported and you have to rewrite everything”. Hahaha.
When companies invest in software, they pay a LOT of money and expect the software to stay relevant for several years, in some cases even more then a decade.
In the real world, that’s not a good business plan. That only works with toys like mp3 players and mp3 syncing machines.
Not so much with actual business software.
+1
“Windows 8 will not be able to run smoothly on existing Windows machines”
Eum… the system requirements for windows 8 will be even LESS then windows 7 thanks to awesome optimisation of the 1337 windows team.
“Corporations that had invested billions of dollars in legacy softwares will have to start anew ”
No, they won’t. All applications will still work. Nothing will change on the desktop. Except we’ll have even more powerfull development tools by combining C++ with XAML through the Jupiter project.
“So to avoid a deep learning curve in a new OS”
There’s no learning curve in starting your application by pressing a tile with your finger instead of clicking an icon with a mouse. Which btw is also something you’ll ONLY do when on a touch screen.
You’ll never even see the tiles on your desktop as you’ll be able to configure in which GUI windows should default.
Can you people get anything right?
“I foresee many corporate and individual users will turn to the Mac to continue to use their legacy Windows softwares.”
HAHAHAHA!!!!
What an idiot. Why would they buy a mac to do that?
To be picky, it wasn’t “System 9.” Apple changed terminology from System to OS with the release of OS 8.
What I love most about your post is how you set it up in such a way that no person could ever change systems and it being a good decision at the same time.
I also love how you set it up in such a way that NO MATTER what microsoft does- you’ll be there to complain about it.
Legacy code? you’ll be whining about said code
Breaking with legacy code? you’ll be whining about having to change and learn something new
Off course, when magical apple does it, you just suck it up like a true fanboy.
Newsflash: windows has 95% of enterprise and hundreds of hardware manufacturers to support. It goes a bit further then your mothers iPhotobook and your kids iPod.
And lastly, I also love how mac fanboys have been saying EVERY SINGLE windows release how “that would be the last one” and how “msft will be death soon”.
Meanwhile, in reality, Windows 7 is the best scoring OS of all time in terms of sales. And windows 8 will be no different. In fact, it will easily break win7 records.
And while those hundreds of millions of win8 licenses are getting deployed, you’ll be here whining and yapping about how windows 9 is going to be the last windows.
Give me a break.
Shipped does not equal sold. At least all the security holes MS continually ships will still be backwards compatible.
I like their strategy. I like it a lot.
Yeah, I want to see that run on a “slate” type system and see how long the battery lasts. I’m guessing maybe an hour. I noticed you didn’t see the machine that was driving it. Plus, it might just be me but that seem complicated, I was confused just watching them.
What can I say here, I mean at least they are trying. With Vista and 7 it was almost like they were letting Apple catch up to them and now they’ve dug themselves in a deep hole with no means of escape, so the only place they can go now is down. This OS looks like a windows 7 phone, so to reiterate it looks crappy. I can guarantee you that the common users computer/tablet is not going to be so smooth. It’s gonna lag, it’s going to be a pain just to scroll back and forth. Then instead of following apple like usual they decided to keep with a regular excel/word/powerpoint on touch screen. It’s exactly the same, how the hell would one use that on a touch screen, it simply won’t work. And that is supposed to be their A game. Microsoft Office is their best work but, what are they trying to do here? But, like I said great job for trying, their trying to make it simple and like a mac with these tiles but I’m afraid that it’s not gonna work. I ALMOST feel sorry for them. Their one innovation in windows 8 is the thumbs friendly keyboard which no one will use because it will be hard to use. But I guess I’ll still boot camp it on to my mac. I’m looking forward to using windows 8 next to lion on Parallels every once in a while. Microsoft you get an E for effort. But Ballmer, 3 strikes and your out, and your going on 7 strikes
You know what this has a lot of the things that lion lacks. This is quickly going to be adapted for computers and for tablets well that may take a while but it will happen. I disagree with what you said. Microsoft is not in a hole in fact with this one I think they just threw a little bit of dirt on apples grave with this one.
Behaaaa!!! Rolf! Digging apples grave? Really?! Bwahhhaaaa!
@Just Maybe…
You’re kidding right? If you know a little about Microsoft’s history at their previews and videos, then you’ll know that their end product won’t look like what you just saw in this video.
In order to keep up with Apple’s innovations in Lion or the next cat, which will most likely be released by the time Windows 8 finally arrives, MS will drop a lot of their new features just to get it out to market. Either that, or the new features will be half-baked.
For the regular Joe Consumer, how will you know if the hardware you’re buying can handle Windows 8? Oh, that’s right…. The “Compatible with Windows 8” sticker will say so.
“If you know a little about Microsoft’s history at their previews and videos, then you’ll know that their end product won’t look like what you just saw in this video”
And if YOU knew a bit about msft’s history, you’ll know that the video’s and previews YOU are talking about (longhorn/vista), you’ld know that THOSE vids and previews were animations and sketches.
The UI demo here is running code. This allready exists. Win8 is in a pretty advanced stage allready in terms of GUI and touch.
Most of the work that they still need to do is about jupiter, marketplace and general cloud based stuff.
They also haven’t done a lot in the desktop mode either, which is also getting a boost.
Amazing how ill-informed the iFanboys here are.
“…this one I think they just threw a little bit of dirt on apples grave with this one.”
LOL – best laugh I’ve had all day!
Are you the new Zune Tang?
No one can replace me
This is so radically different from the current (and past) Windows that it shouldn’t even be called “Windows.” A Mac running Mac OS X Lion (and probably the following major release) will feel far more familiar (and comfortable) to a current Windows user than what is shown in this video. It’s like using a giant version of Windows Phone 7.
This has the potential to be the best thing to happen to Apple since the Windows Vista disaster, as millions of Windows PC users say “WTF is this…?” and “Get a Mac.”
However, I suppose I have to give some credit to Microsoft for trying to be different. But it is really dumb to hype it SO early. Now (and for at least the next 12 to 18 months), Windows XP users are going to hold on to their aging PCs even longer, as Windows 7 is portrayed as “obsolete” technology. Microsoft’s “partners” are no doubt ticked off at Microsoft for indirectly encouraging customers to delay purchases until “Windows 8” is released.
This approach to interface almost makes sense for a TV or Tablet, but I can’t see it working well in a desktop scenario (or even on a notebook), where Windows is used most often.
Is Microsoft really willing to accept frustration for their core users (wait — did I actually write that?) to potentially grab a slice of the “touch” market?
The biggest complaint I heard about Vista wasn’t the performance, but that Microsoft changed things for the sake of change. Microsoft’s core market fundamentally does not want change.
It really does look like a giant Windows 7 phone. Never seen one in the wild so I have no idea how well it functions, but I thought it did look fun, with the guy swiping windows all over the place – left, right, up, down – and dividing the screen up in various ways. All very pretty and kinetic. I agree though that the interface looks extremely confusing, and I can imagine new users getting exasperated very quickly and giving up.
English, do you know it?
There are 2 (TWO) UI’s in windows 8.
Desktop mode and touch mode.
When at a desktop with mouse+keyboard, you don’t use the Tiles, Einstein.
Desktop mode = classical mode = windows 7 interface.
Who would have thought ha? Hmmm, probably everybody who watched the vid without confirmation bias.
Who made that terrible excuse for a video? Sounds wretched and looks totally amature. Great way to roll out your next big thing guys. Cecil B. Debachal would be proud.
What? You didn’t like the random moments with the corporate sounding, “paino of wonderment”? It sounded like something ripped off from a commercial from the 1970s touting “the future”. D
Some cool ideas, mostly derivative of iOS and the upcoming Lion. I wonder how much of this will make it the actual OS.
“I wonder how much of this will make it the actual OS.”
What you saw, WAS the actual OS, Einstein.
Looks like in 2012 I will be upgrading my iPad’s OS connected to Windows 8 tablet 😉
“strategy”
– dismiss iphone and ipad at launch
– panic due to success of iphone and ipad
– “invent” hokey ios-non-copyright-infinging wp7 os. make it aweful and lame.
– watch hokey wp7 fail, even when directed clearly at hokey-ready consumer smartphone market
– assume failed attempt at consumer market smartphone means correct market for such hokey os is corporate i.t.
– release it buggy, bloated and incomplete, just like latest win 7… which for example STILL has residual xp gui in most basic things like control panels and such.
I think Windows 8 is really innovative but… 1 the geeks won’t like it because it’s “too graphical”, 2 the office workers won’t like it because it’s unfamiliar and not business-like and 3 the average person won’t like it because it’s confusing. In my opinion Microsoft will alienate a large segment of present Windows users if they go ahead with this.
You obviously don’t know many geeks. They’ll love this for the same reason many of them love their iPhones. It’s graphical and novel. They’re by far the LEAST myopic when it comes to hardware/software.
I think the reality is that this OS far surpasses what most people here would’ve guessed MS would make. I, for one, think it will tempt people to use or stay with Windows.
As for me, I’m superficial and I like the look of the Mac hardware. The software is easy to use which is good, but not without its shortcomings, for sure.
We obviously don’t have the same definition of “geek”. For me a geek is a guy who prefers the command-line to icons.
….and they will flock to Mac just like they did when Vista came out.
At about 0:40 in the video, notice the fuzzed out portion to the right. Those are probably images of iOS and Mac OS X feature that they are “inspired” to rip off.
I saw that too. Intriguing… but not too much.
I also noticed that their photo feature is called “Photo Feedr” … it bit over-much like Flickr in name, IMO.
Ellen will be back: “it went like bleep bleep and then Windows 8 my homework.”
I remember a lesson Steve Jobs gave about how Apple lost its way when he left. It wasn’t a lack of creativity and research and development, it was due to a lack of focus. R and D is all well and good, but Apple had no direction so it was making tech for the sake of making tech. The first thing Jobs did was steer the ship, cancel needless tech research and focus its creativity without forcing it. This pretty much sums up Microsoft, they are not product based, they are tech based. For an example, just look at kinect. Great tech, but seems to be launched without thinking about the usefulness. Just look at the library of kinect games. Windows 8 looks like the most confusing UI i’ve ever seen. Maybe not for tech geeks, but the average person wouldn’t know wtf to do here. Looks like a great tablet UI, but theres a reason Apple didn’t put the OSX UI on the iPhone and iPad.
“Looks like a great tablet UI,”
And that’s exactly how it will be used, Einsein.
Meh ……..
ok… when they pulled out that “tiles” thing… I was done.
Thank God i’m Mac, not going to do windows phone 8 on my desktop.
The live tiles doesn’t sell. MS products don’t sell… windows 8 will sell, but people will complain about it like the Ribbon debacle in Office. I bet you can turn that crap off and run a “normal” windows.. This round. windows 9 will be tiles only, if they follow their history.
Windows 7 isn’t bad.. If MS wanted to stay relevant they need to stick closer to W7. this is a bad turn.. I’m going to HATE it if i ever have to use this crap.
“not going to do windows phone 8 on my desktop”
1. it’s not the “phone”, it’s windows
2. nobody will. you can if you want to though. I know, being an apple user it’s probably difficult for you to understand the concept of “choice”.
“MS products don’t sell”
Is that why windows 7 broke all sales records?
“people will complain about it like the Ribbon debacle in Office”
People always complain when something new is introduced. And the ribbon is not a debacle, it’s a genius concept that puts all the software’s functionality in your face. True, people used to the old button/menu office need to go through a “re learning” process. That’s ok. They’ll complain that they need to get off their ass and learn something new. That’s also ok.
Once they learn it, they love it.
However, people who see office for the first time, learn working with 2007 a LOT faster then they did with 2003. Simply because the ribbon is way more intuitive and functional.
“I bet you can turn that crap off and run a “normal” windows”
You get an F– for focus and comprehension.
There are 2 UI’s in windows 8. One optimised for touch (the live tiles) and one optimised for productivity work with keyboard+mouse (classical win7 UI).
And yes, you’ll probably be able to configure a default boot mode as well.
These are good things.
“windows 9 will be tiles only”
No, it won’t. Unless the world stops using keyboard and mice by then. But I don’t see that happening the next couple decades.
On-screen keyboards and fat fingers just don’t cut it if you want to be productive and they never will.
“If MS wanted to stay relevant they need to stick closer to W7”
The destkop mode takes care of that. The desktop is not going away. Not for a very very long time. I can’t even imagine what it would be replaced with without thinking about what is today still science fiction.
Pads with dumbed down OS’s most certainly don’t play a role in that. The “post pc” term is a very dumb and ignorant term. There’s no such thing as “post pc”. Tablets etc are simply EXTRA form factors. And the way they are today they don’t even are capable of replacing a fullblown laptop or desktop (unless you only use it to play a few songs and read your yuppie facebook messages).
But windows 8 will change that. Windows 8 will allow true mobile hybrids that WILL be replacing laptops because they WILL BE laptops as you’ll be able to turn it into a laptop or mini desktop with minimal effort.
To not understand the advantages of this is to be really really in denial of reality.
“I’m going to HATE it if i ever have to use this crap”
Then don’t install it on your overpriced machine.
Microsloth is SO doomed!
I love it.
Its just so flat, its like a return to the 80s. And simplistic monochromatic icons and panels? How very 90s design motifs. Its like a screen on a railway ticket machine. Worse still symbols on road signs were seen as superior to text worldwide back in the 70s yet this interface seems to want to mix such simplistic icons (required for that particular utilisation) with a complex series of textual indicators giving the worst of both worlds.
Man you are 100% right, the design does look like its from the 90s.
I kept thinking ‘man I’ve seen this somewhere before’ and you triggered my memory…
Its Windows 98 and IE4’s ‘Web Desktop’ all over again:
How many more layers will MS burden there developers and users with…. oh yes at least one more: Introducing the Windows 8 (aka app layer).
Remember Widgets on Mac Os X. Looks like Windows 8 is just his and nothing more.
I’m a software engineer and I’m not feeling any burden.
I’m feeling over-excitement.
I’m look at a potential tablet that I want to have.
I’m looking at the FIRST tablet that is actually worth it’s money.
All we have seen up until now was good for consuming media and that was it. Now, we actually will have something with a decent productivity potential.
But I thought Windows was for serious users and Mac was for playing on..
You thought correctly.
This will increase the price for a ‘Windows 8 Ready’ PC since it requires a touch screen. The cost of a 24″ touch screen will be HUGE.
When MacOS X 10.0 was released people complained the many onscreen primary-colours were too distracting so Apple turned all background colours to grey or pastel. Win8 seems to have EVERYTHING demanding your colour attention, which will make it harder to focus on the task at hand.
How will the interface scale to a 24-32″ monitor? Will you have 50-100 tiles demanding your attention?
How will a developer target the platform? With a tile, a menu, mouse, keyboard, touch, what screen size, what resolution, how much RAM/HD? Mobile and desktop environments are very different for development.
Who is this aimed at? Who is demanding the desktop change to tiles? Is this user driven or an attempt to remain relevant or a form of iOS/Android envy?
It sounds like the HP WebOS model since both WebOS and Win8 tiles are apps running on standard Windows. They are like Dashboard. There is no real commitment to the new interface/OS. Even Apple has not committed long term to Dashboard.
Finally, is it much better, cheaper or change the paradigm for personal computing? It attempts at the third, but fails the first two.
As far as I’m concerned they are doomed!
No business in there right mind is going to adopt this user interface, and after half an hour of pushing tiles around on a screen, your arm is going to fall of! also way to colourfull!
12.21.2012 the end of Steve Balmer!!!!!!
“No business in there right mind is going to adopt this user interface”
No person in his right mind is going to use the touch optimised UI while working on a desktop with a keyboard and mouse. That’s why you have 2 UI’s in windows 8, genius.
Very fancy switcher but how do you actually do anything?
Dudes don’t let the content of their, “oh shit what can I put out before Apple’s WWDC”, video distract you from the main goal here. Monkey boy is trying to save his job by having an I beat steve jobs finger to wave to the clueless ms board.
Trying to take a too-late response to iOS and pitch it as the future of their cash cow. They better hope for their sake that video was a Longhorn.
http://themacadvocate.com/2011/06/01/windows-8-demo-show-tma-on-the-pad-where-apple-touched-you/
In that link the guy said MS had stuff on the wall to inspire their designs. They must have taken all the Apple stuff down before they started filming. Or maybe the wall behind the camera guy is plastered with Apple screen shots.
Microsoft is always touting the “familiarity” of Windows as one of their strengths. This blows that out of the water.
Because no one can tell a poorly written html document from an app. Good luck M$
All the boxes remind me of the intro to “The Brady Bunch”.
Windows weight + Windows wait. Outstanding.
I like John Gruber’s response:
http://daringfireball.net/2011/06/windows_8_fundamentally_flawed
Is that bald f*%#er in the video J Allard the Second or Steve Ballmer the Third?
My hats off to Microsoft for this bold step forward! Many of us (me included) continue to beat up MS for not having an original creative idea in their head.
This unique, creative and looks cool, time will tell.
the method for running two apps side by side was appealing… wish I could do that on my ipad…
Here is where i have to laugh… Mac OS looks dated and Windows 8 looks awesome like Microsoft actually did something great…
With Apple Mac OS Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion they all look the same with a few different UI tweaks! These OS changes are not WOW factors either! They are minor and that is troublesome for 2011!!! With Windows 8, they take it to a new level. It is well though out unlike the Mac OS! It seems Apple is no longer innovating the Mac. Even the iOS platform is dated – 2007 with no major UI changes. People like myself get bored fast and I know many who make the switch because 4+ years and counting is too long. Only the real fanboys will continue to buy Apple products – the best thing that is happening right now is the Malware situation for Mac. Apple is losing ground and as it becomes bigger, more of it will be out there including more viruses and the Mac OS will be like Windows and everyone will require an Anti-virus! HAHAHAHA Karma is great! Isn’t it?
As far as karma is concerned, Mac folk have so far banked so much of it to last them five lifetimes.
I don’t know about you, but vast majority of people actually DON’T want to have to learn new UI every few years. That is why iOS is so successful; it gives us UI that is extremely powerful and consistent.
What MS did here was in hope to actually break with their legacy and past. From Windows 3.1 all the way through Windows 7, MS had maintained legacy support for (by now) 20-year old application code. With Win 8, they would like to break from that. They have very strong chances of failing because of that departure. The primary user base for Windows (enterprise users) are stuck with Windows precisely because of that legacy code support. If that support is gone, they will be forced to evaluate between two equally daunting choices: migration to Win 8, or migration to Mac. It is quite likely that many will choose Mac.
Cute visual glitz only works if it actually works. And I know that a LOT of people (like me) do not have time to constantly learn NEW systems. I use some old versions of software cause they work and work the same as they used to.
When I retire and make my millions (LOL) I may just want to spend time learning new things like ribbons (oh just wonderful….. now where did they put that darn control panel???) 🙂
Just a thought.
en
Marco likes to tinker with the UI. He gets more satisfaction exploring the operating system and the many ways he can make tweaks and adjustments.
Marco derives his satisfaction from constantly tuning the OS, exacting every ounce of performance he can from his computer.
Marco doesn’t really do anything with the computer other than monitor its performance against known bench marks to ensure it hasn’t lost any power.
Marcos only true barometer for performance is FPS.
Marco is drawn to bells, lights, and whistles and the more the better.
Marco doesn’t do anything productive with a computer. He doesn’t make anything and the only thing of value on his computer is his last saved game file.
Marco works hard for a living, using his hands and back. He’s a good joe and is dependable and gets along well with his co-workers but doesn’t hang out with any of them and he struggles with his interpersonal relationships, resulting in very long periods between romantic trists.
Marco is the one you see when Windows begins acting up, because that’s the one area where he distinguishes himself.
So, it’s understandable why he is looking forward to Win8, even if it means upgrading the components of his white box. I mean what else does he have to spend his money on?
Don’t get too hard there Marco. You were only looking at a movie, not a product demonstration. Remember the Microsoft Courier. It’s only vaporware.
Yup @Marco,
@althegeo is right.
Since when did Microsoft ever give the consumer the end product OS that had the features they showed in the preview video? Ok, they did execute the “Squirt” feature with the Zune, and that turned out to be a game changer, didn’t it?
Look Microsoft hasn’t done anything “great” other than showing a video with cool features their people are still working on until 2012? Maybe?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t they building Windows 8 on top of their desktop Windows OS? So that’s a touch UI on top of Windows? Isn’t that really “taking it to a new level?”
It’s no coincidence that this was released a week before WWDC and the Lion/iOS announcement. Microsoft wants to give the impression that if they do anything that matches Apple, they’ll be able to imply that they got there first (because they showed it first), or that they were working ahead on their own, before Apple ‘gave them the idea’.
And of course, they want the current Windows users to hold on ‘just a little longer’ (again! *snicker*) for something ‘really cool’ so that they don’t have to make the ‘scary leap’ to the Mac OS. It’s the one smart thing they are doing, marketing-wise (did you see their ‘idea’ room? It’s about what I’d expect from Windows ‘creators’).
We know they aren’t pitching it to existing Mac users, because there’d be no point.
That’s a given. Bill Gates always said, get it out there and we’ll fix it post launch.
As long as they can say, we’re still relevant.
By the time Win8 debuts, the entire UI could change dramatically, resembling nothing we’ve seen in the video. Between now and then they’ll pour over the press releases and field the crits, and make any necessary adjustments.
Criticizing, or praising something that is still a year or more from release, especially where Microsoft is concerned is just mental masturbation.
The problem with Microsoft is that they never actually demonstrate a working product but only hype and hope based on vaporwares. As was their wont over past years, demonstrations are only attempts to frustrate and bully their way against their competitor’s advance. This strategy worked previously because they were the only 200-pound gorilla whose bluff was enough to kill promising technology. But not now: Microsoft has not demonstrated themselves as an innovative leader for years and this use of an outdated strategy will only bring more grief for them rather than frighten their competitors.
WAY too complicated! A geek only OS!
As for the interface, I’m not really impressed…
Just in… the fake ads are already starting. I looked at the video and Youtube shows more of the same. Well, there was one where someone at Microsoft gave a copy to this geek guy who is presenting it for all to see…..
Except the first thing he does is give a run down of the new and improved features with a slide show…. you know, like in an advertisement…. so funny.
and pathetic.
PS, I did like what I saw with the video above but MDN is totally right, This is not Win 8 but a video presentation of what they hope to sell you that win 8 will look like. Remember Courier???
Just a thought,
en
it looks like launcher meets webTV. Way to bring back the 90’s Microsoft! (They really liked things back then)
Is it just me or is a picture of an Apple keyboard on their “idea’s to copy” wall?
All the video is showing is the new UI layer, which is really nothing more than a different interface run as an application. Just like Media Center in Windows 7.
The ‘old’ windows UI is still accessible and this can be turned off.
I should add, I’m more interested in Lion then Windows 8.
I have not been ‘excited’ about a windows release since Windows 2000. Well I guess I was for a very brief moment before Vista actually shipped and left an aftertaste of sh*t in my mouth.
Microsoft have said they want the same OS on every “screen” and I think that is mistake. Apple’s strategy of subtly merging OS X with iOS via Lion but still recognising that different machines serve different purposes and have different priorities (like battery life for example) is going to be much more slick and well thought out. MS therefore had to cobble this together before the WWDC announcement so as to appear not to have been left behind. To me it looks like a very basic webpage with links to your apps.
It looks halfway decent. I probaly won’t be very fluid on non touchscreen devices and the WP7 OS on a computer doesent seem like a good idea
The video shows off an OS that seems to me to be too busy, too cluttered, and too unsightly. Mac OS X is very elegant and pleasing to the eyes when you compare the current version of Apple’s OS X to this preview of Windows 8. Also it seems to me that all the desktop content is mainly limited to a strip of space in the middle of the screen (sort of like a 16:9 letterboxed image on a 4:3 video screen) which is especially noticeable when all the swiping occurs. How Windows 8 will play on smaller monitors, based on this preview, may be a big challenge to the eyes. When OS X Lion goes live very soon I think it will make this version of Windows 8 seem outdated immediately – and Windows 8 would still be in development and not close to a release date. This is an interesting attempt by Microsoft to recreate their desktop experience but when you eventually compare the finished product of OS X Lion and Windows 8 when both are released, OS X looks to still be the much better OS by a wide margin.
Watch the video and check out the blurred iPad screens on the right side wall in the Design Room.
Copy-soft is at it again! Proof positive!
at 4:34 you can see blurred out pics on the right of the video.
I know what you mean, but what can you do? A fool and her money are soon parted.
No shit Batman! Why is this at the top of the thread list? Has this site become Ballmer’sDailyNews?
Wrong! Programs should be changed to exes if M$ insists on imitating Apple again. Apps are misleading unless they change their .exe extensions to .app also.
MS new special offer: Turn in you ex, and we´ll give you a brand new Windows 2L8 computer!”
Maybe best stay with the foe you know. Seems like a no win situation to me 😉
anybody remember this early preview of Windows Vista, then called Longhorn?
Yeah, Vista ended up being Nothing like what they promised in the preview. Get ready for a replay..
All seems rather interesting until about 3:07 when Excel appears along with a Windows task bar, start button, etc. So what we have here is yet another layer running on top of Windows – it was there all along, they just hid it!
Windows 2L8
Hey Steve, during your WWDC Keynote of the new Mac OS Lion and iOS can you start calling the icons, “small tiles”, just to piss off Ballmer and crew! Thanks. Oh, and rename (just for the Keynote) Lion to Windows Lion X(superscript)7!! Piss ’em off some more! Thanks!
Enough consistency from version to version is needed to let users feel comfortable with upgrades. Win8 = maybe.
Simplicity rules & somehow MS has not given that in the past.
Classic Microsoft product…looks about as useful as the “Ronco Pocket Fisherman” …I guess they’ll continue to piss away there money on losers until the cash cows are dried up.
Wow! I’m a PC and Windows 8 was Apple’s idea. Unfortunately, MS will f this up and it’ll be just like Windows Me and Vista.
How fast do you want to get lost and confused today? Windows 8!
Comes with a free Flowbee. Cut your down time and your dogs hair!.
The wall looks more organized than Windows 8. It will take 5-8 years for the code to work correctly. Like Windows 2000 and other Windows, updates will be 500 fixes at a time. It will start out being 10 gigs in size and balloon to 20+ gigs. All new Microsoft applications will be required.
I’ve heard audio from a 4th grade production that sounds better than the audio in the video.
The speaker sounded as enthusiastic about Windows 8 as I do, just a bit more than a wet towel.
Windows 8 will be a boom for Apple, but we will have to wait until 2013 before it is released. Also, a new CEO for Microsoft by then.
What a laugh as usual.
No kidding …..
We are so happy to show you what we have been working on for the year and what we are going to do over the next year ….. Are you kidding me – Softie is saying 2012 or 2013 before release, OK by then there will be another 100 million or more iPads in the wild not to mention iPhones …..
In German the phrase “V G8s” means “hello.”
I don’t know how that contributes to this thread but I thought I drop it in here at the end.
That is the biggest steaming pile of crap I’ve ever seen!!
It’s fine for touch tablets but not a computer with a keyboard and mouse. This is finally the death of windows
Wow… Look at the Mac users going crazy over an OS that is not even out yet. So let me get this straight. How many people switched to Mac after the Windows Vista issue??? Oh wait it was just Mac users who tried out windows and went back to Macs. As for the everyday person they stayed either with Win XP or switched to Windows 7. Exactly what is the market share of PCs to MACs??? You Mac heads need to stop overly bashing windows and take into account what is good as well as what is bad. No OS is perfect even OS X. And no aim not a WIN head as I have a MacBook Pro As well as iPhone and IPad 2. So I can appreciate Apple’s products but I also like I can afford the IPhone and a Pc but can’t say the same if I was to buy a iPhone and a Mac at the same time. When Apple lowers their price I will go ahead and buy what I have always wanted… A Mac desktop. And windows 8 looks okay and the UI is not complex unless you are calling most of the population stupid as these interface is overly easy.
and your point is….?
I’ve been a Mac user since 1985–I thought this was the most impressive Windows interface ever. I admire Microsoft for coming up with something that isn’t a direct copy of the current Mac OS. It looks good, might be appealing but as so many others have pointed out, it’s not intuitive. I cannot conceive of the nightmare of trying to convert an office of non-computer personnel over to Windows 8.
Lousy video, is this the best Softie can do ….
Keyboard, gotta reach into the middle, we have a very ergonomic sty,e keyboard that feels very natural ….. Yet next opportunity has to show-off they use the normal style keyboard, huh ?????
Creative room ….. Hum, looked more like a bunch of post it notes hung on a wall, whatever …..
And this system, brothers and sisters does not look “geeky” so Softie will loose some of that crowd back to Windoze 7 or XP, which is the world my brother is stuck in ……
Not to mention the monitor cord hanging down the wall over their post it notes ……
Can’t even imagine Apple setting up a room like that, talk about hacked together ……
What a garbarge article, lol.
I realise it’s called “mac”dailynews, but seriously, you couldn’t be more biased if you tried.
It’s pretty amazing how little you understand of msft’s business. Apple doesn’t need to care about legacy, because nobody has a serious invested interest in the platform. You can’t go and tell 95% of the business world that none of their custom developped programs handling critical business processes won’t work any longer, you retard.
I will be laughing 3 years from now, when apple realises that windows 8 is like the 90’s and windows 95 all over again.
this is the most biased review i’ve ever read and im disgusted by the author and the mindless group of mac users who are acting like teenage fan girls. Windows 7 is actually very easy to use for any decent human being with some form of intelligence. And yes, Macs are too…actually, you know what? i’m not even going to bother saying what windows is still a good os. because you morons will still insist that apple is better. For the price you idiots pay for macs, pc users get twice the better computer. Ipod is going to the shits, andriod tablets are taking over (yes, the new android tablet kicks ipad in the ass so hard it’s hurts to just watch), mac will be useless once windows 8 is out because the exclusive programs you fans desperately hold on to will be compatible with windows. So for this author who wrote this brainless article, if windows 8 become some ‘wannabe’ mac, it’s more likely people will change over to windows because it’s fucking more cheaper and useful than your overpriced shits. That is all.
“more cheaper”? 😐
Ummmm….. has anyone else thought that HTML5+JavaScript app development, besides the obvious primitivity, is …… wait for it ……. PLATFORM INDEPENDENT? Mind you, there might be proprietary APIs, but it seems these could be ported over to Linux and OS X.
Full Disclosure: I have 2 MacBook Pros, an iPad, an iPod, an iPhone, and an Apple TV. I’m an iOS developer. I have emotional rancor toward Microsoft. Their CEO is so bad, I wonder if he might be a mole sent from a competitor to destroy MSFT.
——————-
HOWEVER…. Windows 8 MIGHT ROCK!!!! Let me explain.
Windows 8 looks like it will finally open up some REAL competition not just in the tablet market, but compete directly with iOS as a **mobile operating system**. That’s great news for Apple fans. It will drive innovation for iPad and iOS and prevent Apple from getting fat, lazy, and resting on laurels.
Fanboys have already pointed out every visible shortcoming of Win8 above, so let’s look at some heavy hitting pros:
1. IT HAS A FILE SYSTEM. You can access your files!!! Your tablet hasn’t been deliberately handicapped to be less than it can be.
2. Flash (which is crappy and I salute Steve Jobs for slowly killing it). Flash is nevertheless viewable on Win8 tablets, giving the full web.
3. IE 10. The browser is THE bread and butter app on a tablet. IE 10 actually looks better, cleaner, and easier than Safari on iPad+iOS 5. Unbelievable. OK, I can’t believe it. Wow. Really? Apple has long neglected mobile Safari, for some reason. iOS 5 finally started to remedy it, but IE 10 is ahead.
4. APPS. Windows apps will run on Win8 tablets!! iOS has more apps than Android? Smashing. Win8 having every windows app out there? Explosive.
5. You can actually run full-blown Word and Excel on a little portable tablet! In the business world, that alone could be an iPad killer. I say COULD BE because it’s very possible the UI and usability of these apps will be awful on a tablet. Never underestimate MSFT’s ability to fumble an opportunity. Nevertheless, full blown Word/Excel vs. iOS diluted versions of Pages and Numbers.
All in all, I’m not saying Win8 tablets will be better than iPad. I’m just saying that the competition is on. Believe me, competition is GOOD for not just for consumers, but developers as well.