As expected, Microsoft today showed off the an early version of the next major release of Windows, codenamed “Windows 8.” There are plenty of new features in the new OS. The most important one may well that this single platform will work on PCs as well as tablets, delivering a consistent experience no matter what device you are using (and quite consistent with Windows Phone as well).
“We reimagined Windows,” said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft, in his keynote address to the thousands of developers in attendance. “From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise.”
Among the new features in Windows 8 are:
- New Metro style interface built for touch but also supporting mouse and keyboard
- Content, including photos, email, calendar and contacts, that is synced or accessible across devices
- Improvements in performance, security, privacy and system reliability and a smaller memory footprint than Windows 7
- Windows Store offering new apps for sale to users
- Support for ARM-based chipsets, x86 (as well as x32 and x64) devices, touch and sensors to allow Windows 8 to run on different types of devices and display sizes
- Improved boot up times
The video from WinRumors.com below gives you a quick overview of Windows 8:
The Windows Developer Preview will be available via the new Windows Dev Center later this week.