Posted on July 8th, 2010If there’s one thing Microsoft has always had a tough time remembering, it is the fact that the technological world can change in an instant. Thankfully, it seems to be learning its lessons, as secret slides of Windows 8 development were leaked even at a time when Windows 7 is still selling 7 copies every second! We have been taking a peek at the slides ourselves, and the sweetness of it all amazes us. While no one expects Windows 8 to be released before 2012, the mere knowledge that Microsoft is already working on it puts a smile on our faces. We list the biggest changes you can expect in Windows 8.
Faster boot-up times
This is something they try to improve with every OS iteration. This time, however, MS wants to make boot-up and return from sleep almost instantaneous. Instantaneous in technical terms does not really mean zero seconds. But it is likely that boot time will be reduced to less than 10 seconds.
Facial recognition
Even after the instantaneous boot-up, windows 8 will continue to amaze you as you look at its log in screen. That’s because looking at it is all you need to do to log in. Microsoft plans to make facial recognition a standard feature on all Windows 8 machines. Whether this will make the final cut is debatable, since this would involve support from OEMs. Manufacturers might not want to make a webcam on all machines a standard feature and might oppose this development.
The app store
Once you log in to your Windows 8 account, load up the newly introduced Windows Store. This is something that Microsoft seems to be planning. With a comprehensive Windows store, downloading and installing programs should be a breeze. Hopefully, there will be an option for you to carry your programs from one machine to another, should you decide to change.
Push button reset
Uh-oh. Did some newly downloaded app from the store just mess up your Windows settings? Fret not. With Windows 8, you can restore the default Windows settings without losing your files. Programs will have to be reinstalled, but the process will be made simpler since Windows 8 will show you a list of the programs you had previously installed. This is a major new feature which has been unavailable on any previous version.
Other standard features
Internet Explorer 9 is being planned for Windows 8. No big news there. Another area of focus is energy efficiency. Microsoft is specially focusing on reducing Windows 8’s carbon footprint. One of the ways it plans to achieve this is by using a newly planned feature that sends the PC into hibernation as soon as you log off.
Comparison with Apple
It’s impossible not to draw up comparisons with Apple and its OS X every time a new generation of Windows comes out. This time, however, the comparisons are better justified, what with MS itself drawing inspiration from Apple’s development process. A rendered vision of what it wants future desktop computers to look like is notoriously similar to a Mac look. Maybe Microsoft is feeling the heat of Apple overtaking it in market valuation after all.
Our thoughts on it
The leaked slides reveal mainly what changes the user will see. They don’t talk much about how things will function behind the scenes. The changes that seem to be planned are interesting, but not ground breaking. Features like facial recognition are already available on some laptops. As for the app store, we are not sure how much a desktop OS will benefit from it. Unless it will allow users to carry their applications effortlessly from one computer to another, it is doomed already.
The visual upgrades, we would hope, are striking. It’s not that Windows 7 doesn’t look beautiful enough, but we just think it’s time Microsoft made some innovations in the UI department. With that being said, we also hope that in its bid to introduce too many features it doesn’t end up creating a mess like it did with Windows Vista.
For more pictures, visit the report on msftkitchen.com. A point to remember, however, is that the features revealed in these slides are still in the planning and data gathering stage. It is likely that many features will be eliminated before the final release.