Windows 8 Pains 'n' Gains- Here we go again

For those people that missed this excellent article in our ePub this week, here’s the first part of it for your reading pleasire.

by Jan Fagerholm, Pained Previewer

The Bullet Points: Windows 8 is the next version of Microsoft's operating system. Windows 8 is intended to be a single code base that will run on Intel and compatible processors, and additionally run on ARM processors, the principle processors found in smart phones as well as many tablet computers. The intent is to create a Windows that will run on everything from enterprise servers to smart phones. The central feature is the new Metro interface, intended principally for multi-touch screens found on smart phones and tablet computers. Windows 8 Developer Preview is reviewed here on a CTL 2GoPAD SL-10 multi-touch screen tablet computer running a 1.8 GHz Intel Atom N470 64-bit CPU, 2 GB DDR2 RAM, and a 64 GB SSD hard drive.

The Review:

You’ve heard it. Windows 8 is coming. We just got Windows 7 fixed and now Microsoft has a major media blitz promoting Window 8. It’s still a year away, but they are spending millions of dollars to put  Windows 8 in your face. Why?

Windows and Intel are not getting warmed by the hot space in the computer marketplace. Intel CPUs are conspicuously absent from any of the popular tablet computers, and what few there are run the underpowered Atom CPU and have abysmal battery life. Windows tablet sales have been slight against Android and iPad. Sales performance was epitomized by HP’s late introduction of a Windows 7 tablet followed a few weeks later by its cancellation.

This is the first in a series of articles chronicling the development of Windows 8. My effort is sparked by a lack of media coverage on Metro as implemented on touch screen tablet computers, its intended audience. Apart from Microsoft demonstrations at developer conferences, there is very little about actually using the Metro interface. And after all, it is tablets, not desktop PCs, that started Microsoft on this project to begin with.

Microsoft is often on the backwash of the marketplace, and now is no exception. Tablet and netbook sales are the growth market, and Windows’ heavy resource requirements are deplorably unsuited to this hardware. Thus, Microsoft has set out to rewrite Windows to be leaner, run on more than the Intel platform, and to create an interface suitable for touch screen use. We will explore how they are doing.

The new interface is Metro, and is populated by Tiles, which are big pushbutton icons that start things. Metro looks sparse, a stark contrast to Aero, and a clear nod to the lesser graphics hardware found in tablet computers and smartphones. In Windows 8 Developer Preview, Metro is invoked by the desktop's Start button and replaces what used to be the programs menus.

Tomorrow: installation.