Saturday, April 21, 2012

Why Windows 8 Is a Huge Gamble for Microsoft


 Windows 8 on a Touchscreen Windows 8 officially goes on sale this fall, but Microsoft has made its next-generation operating system available online for anyone who wants a sneak peek at the future of Windows. With a slick new interface of touchable, customizable tiles, the new Metro interface is built to help Microsoft compete in the fast growing tablet market. Apple's tablet hegemony is indisputable at this point, but it doesn't owe anything to the iOS's endless field of icons. In this play for tablet relevancy, however, Microsoft risks alienating its traditional base of desktop and laptop users. Because, as cool as Metro is, it kind of sucks without a touch screen. Here in our labs, we have loaded the pre-release version of Windows 8 on laptops, desktops, convertible tablets, and all-in-ones. Just for fun, we even loaded it on a MacBook Air. It is remarkably stable, although as you would expect, it is short on drivers and you hit the occasional beta glitch. My only frustration is that using a mouse and keyboard seems awkward.


There are ways to open up an interface that is close to the Windows 7 experience, yet Microsoft doesn't make it easy to find. The software is months away from release and there are already dozens of online tutorials on "How to get the Classic Start Menu in Windows 8." Not a good sign.
If your system doesn't have a touch screen, Microsoft hopes you will use your laptop touchpad to swipe through the Metro interface. The drivers for this are still being worked on, but it doesn't seem like an ideal interface to me. It also doesn't solve the problem for traditional desktop users who will still use a keyboard and mouse.
Obviously, Microsoft wants PC vendors to build as many touch-sensitive laptops and desktops as possible. In the desktop space, you can already see the trend; all-in-ones are among the fastest growing segments. But do we really want touch-sensitive laptops? I can see a market for a convertible laptop/tablet hybrids, but I don't want a touch screen on my laptop. The ergonomics are all off.
The Old Look at the Touch of a Button
The solution here is simple: give users one-button access to the existing Windows 7 desktop. Make Metro the default, but let users hit a button to get back to the interface Microsoft has spent the last 10 years training us to use. That way, Windows 8 could be presented as an upgrade that takes nothing away from existing Windows 7 users. Users would have an easy way to get back to an interface that was optimized for the keyboard and mouse.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like Microsoft is going to do that. The company is betting everything on Metro and seems to believe that users need to be forced into the new paradigm—whether they have a tablet, laptop, or traditional desktop. It doesn't want Windows 8 to be an incremental upgrade; it wants to push past the desktop interface altogether and create something that can span a smartphone, tablet, laptop, and even the TV via an Xbox 360. For that, it needs to be bold.
And Microsoft may be right. I can't imagine Apple would ever hedge and give users access to an older interface just to make them more comfortable. Apple forces its users to adopt new interfaces all the time and users love the company for it.
Then again, Apple still has very different interfaces for its touch-screen and non-touch-screen devices. And at the moment, it hasn't put a touch screen on any of its MacBooks or iMacs.

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Friday, February 10, 2012

Windows 8 for ARM, x86 to launch at the same time

Microsoft President Steven Sinofsky has announced that Window 8 for devices with ARM-based processors is on track to launch at the same time as Windows 8 for computers with x86 and x64 chips. He’s also confirmed that Window on ARM (WOA) will look and feel almost exactly like WIndows for x86 — but there will be some key differences. 

What to expect from WOA (apps, user interface)
Windows on ARM will have the same login screen, start page, and Metro style user interface we’ve seen on Windows 8 for other platforms. However Microsoft has confirmed that WOA will also have  the desktop-and-taskbar view that gives you a more traditional Windows experience.

That means if you pick up a Windows 8 tablet with an ARM-based chip, you’ll be able to plug in a keyboard and mouse and treat it like  the desktop or laptop computer.
However expected, WOA will not be able to run apps designed specifically for x86 or x64 architectures. That includes virtually every Window app that’s been designed to date. The only way to support those apps would be to write some sort of chip architecture emulation software which would kill some of the benefits of ARM-based hardware such as long battery life.

Microsoft also points out that virtually all of the legacy apps that WOA won’t run were designed for keyboard-and-mouse input, and many Windows 8 ARM computers won’t have that hardware. Instead the company is encouraging developers to write new apps that take advantage of the finger-friendly Metro user interface.

Microsoft Office 15 and other apps
Interestingly though, Microsoft Office 15 won’t be a Metro app. The company’s next-generation office suite will run on WOA, but the new versions of PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and OneNote will run in desktop mode.

There will also be Metro-style apps for mail, calendar, photos, and other functions. We may see some of these apps in the upcoming Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Advantages of WOA
So why buy a Windows 8 device with an ARM chip instead of an x86 processor? Here are few reasons:
  • These new devices will have lower power usage and longer battery life.
  • They’ll support a “connected standby” mode instead of sleep, hibernation, or “off” modes — allowing the device to spring to life as soon as you hit the power button, and continue collecting information from the internet even when they screen is off.
  • Low-power ARM chips generate less heat and will enable thinner and lighter fanless Windows devices.

WOA restrictions: You can’t install it yourself, you can only get apps from the Windows Store

Microsoft is working closely with Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and Texas Instruments to develop Windows on ARM — and each of those companies is working with hardware partners. Unlike Windows for x86 and x64 chips, it looks like you will not be able to purchase WOA and install it on off-the-shelf hardware yourself. If you want a WOA computer you’ll have to buy one that comes preloaded with the software.

In other words, it doesn’t look like we’ll be running Windows 8 on the HP TouchPad anytime soon.
There will also only be one place to download new software for WOA — Microsoft. The company will only offer software updates through the Microsoft Update process, and the only place to download WOA apps will be from the new Windows Store.

On the one hand, this will ensure that you won’t accidentally try to install legacy x86 apps on a tablet that can’t possibly run them. On the other hand, I suspect this will lead hackers to try to jailbreak Windows 8 hardware in order to install apps that are rejected from the official Windows Store for one reason or another… or apps which simply aren’t submitted at all.

Testing Windows 8 and WOA
Microsoft will launch the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 for x86/x64 at the end of February.
Soon the company will also make a limited number of test PCs with WOA available to developers and hardware partners. These machines will be available for testing purposes only and will probably look different from the WOA hardware expected to go on sale later this year.

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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Repairing Windows 8 tip windows 8

If Windows 8 stops working at some point (quite likely - it's a very early version) then there are new ways to restore normal operations.

If Windows will start, select the Metro Control Panel app, and click "General". Choose the Refresh option to essentially reinstall Windows while keeping your data. Alternatively, choose the Reset option: this restores Windows but removes your data and applications as well.

Windows 8 won't start? Then boot from your original installation disc, instead; choose your language and keyboard; click "Repair your computer", then select "Troubleshoot". Again, you may refresh or reset your PC. Click Advanced Options, though, and you'll find tools to restore Windows from a previous restore point or system image file, as well as an Automatic Repair option which looks for and fixes some common startup issues.

Or, if you don't like Metro, open the new Recovery applet in the old Control Panel: it has all these options and everything else you need to get your system working again.
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Windows 8 crashes tip windows 8

When Windows 8 has a blue-screen crash it displays a far less intimidating status message than previous versions of the operating system. It also has much less information about the cause of the problem, though if you look immediately below the "now it needs to restart" message you may see something helpful.
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Troubleshoot performance problems tip windows 8

If your Windows 8 system seems sluggish and you don't know why, the new Task Manager may be able to help you uncover the cause.
Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch it, or right-click the taskbar and select Start Task Manager,
The Processes tab then gives you a detailed view of what's currently using your CPU time, RAM, hard drive and network bandwidth. The Performance tab gives you a graphical view of resource use, and the App History dialog shows which app is the most resource-hungry.

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Improved file copying tip windows 8

Try copying files in Explorer and you'll see an enhanced dialog which provides more information about what's happening. If there's a problem, you can click the Pause button to stop the operation for a while. And, if there are conflicts, deciding which files to keep and which to drop is easier than ever.
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Quick Access Toolbar tip windows 8

The latest Explorer features a Quick Access Toolbar immediately above the menu, providing easy access to options like "New Folder", "Minimise", "Undo" and more.

This is customisable, too - click the arrow to the right of the default buttons, in the Explorer window caption bar, and choose whatever options you need. And you can include add any other ribbon option on the Quick Access Toolbar by right-clicking it and selecting Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
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An Explorer secret tip windows 8

Windows Explorer now includes a Ribbon interface. This is context-sensitive, which means it displays different sections according to what you're doing - and so until you click on an executable file in Explorer, for instance, you'll never know that it has an Application section. Click this, though, and you'll find options to pin the file to the taskbar, run it as an Administrator, or another user, or troubleshoot compatibility issues if it won't run at all.

Similarly, there's a "Shortcut Tools" which appears when you select a shortcut, although this only has one option: to open whatever folder the shortcut is pointing at.
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