http://www.viddler.com/explore/engadget/videos/2817/

Interesting how the live tiles interface elements are being carried over from WP7. The multitasking interface is very different from what was demoed for WP7 though.

It looks great with touch, but it looks like it would be clumsier with a mouse.

It looked like from a hardware perspective they corrected a lot of the mistakes of the past, but I think they should have gotten rid of the two allowed legacy modes as well.

There should have been a hard minimum resolution and no option to fall back to the old UI.

very nice.. looking forward to that

Question? When did programs become apps? It does not feel right to call a 70$ program an app. :)

Windows for tablets. Great idea but a couple of years late. It's a good thing the legacy mode it there for existing PCs. I wonder how long the Apple Apple vs MS lawsuit will last?

Windows for tablets. Great idea but a couple of years late. It's a good thing the legacy mode it there for existing PCs. I wonder how long the Apple Apple vs MS lawsuit will last?

What do you anticipate a lawsuit being over? The concept of Windows on tablets?

The interface. Maybe you don't remember that Apple sued MS over the original Windows interface. There have been a number of lawsuits about interface patents and copyrights over the years, enough to dub them "look and feel" lawsuits. I would guess that Apple has patents and copyrights on many aspects of it's "i" device interface.

I have not read a thing about this new OS. But maybe some of you have..

Questions to further the discussion of this thread:
-What are the minimum hardware requirements?
-will current netbooks/laptops or desktops be able to upgrade to this without a touch screen?

This is a vast departure from Windows Xp,vista,7............ Will it be well received by the current windows market? It seems very much geared towards the home pc/tablet market.

What do you anticipate a lawsuit being over? The concept of Windows on tablets?

Probably over patents on finger movements to accomplish some tasks. Yes, some interface finger movements are patented.

The interface. Maybe you don't remember that Apple sued MS over the original Windows interface. There have been a number of lawsuits about interface patents and copyrights over the years, enough to dub them a "look and feel" lawsuits. I would guess that Apple has patents and copyrights on many aspects of it's "i" device interface.

If I recall, Apple was never successful in getting a judgement against Microsoft for those look and feel lawsuits. Of course, corporations have the money to drag things out in court for a long time, but I believe it all ended in 1997 when they cross-licensed their patents and Microsoft promised to keep developing Office for the Mac.

Probably over patents on finger movements to accomplish some tasks. Yes, some interface finger movements are patented.

Sure, but Microsoft also has a respectable patent portfolio to "go to war" with. If Apple went after Microsoft, Microsoft could simply refer to prior art in their own Surface project for many of those finger movements that predated the first iPhone. Besides, if Apple really had a case, they should be going after Google and Microsoft already (for Android and WP7 respectively).

I'd predict that Apple will recognize there is no clear victory when going after Microsoft's "metro UI" in a patent fight and just fight it out in the marketplace. The metro user interface is far too different than what Apple created with iOS. They would have a better case going up against Google Android, and indeed more incentive to do that since Android is winning the Smarphone war.

If Apple went after Microsoft, Microsoft could simply refer to prior art in their own Surface project for many of those finger movements that predated the first iPhone.

I doubt that. For instance, Apple was awarded the "pinch to zoom" patent by the US Patent Office. I think it'd be too late to argue prior art since the application process took 4 years to allow the dispute.

But I have to agree that patents are like a nuclear arsenal. Don't attack me and I won't attack you, but we got the nukes for mutual destruction.

Hardware specs for display is 16:9 layout.

I believe the minimum for 'win8' functionality was 1366 x 768

Yes they have some plans for touch screen 'shortcuts' on the keyboard, how well that will work remains to be seen. It mostly seemed to revolve around mapping lesser used keys (pgup/pgdown) into the swipes.

Great?! MS is going to bastardize the PC keyboard again. I wonder how many more useless keys will be added? :mad: IMHO, the IBM XT keyboard was the best ever made from a productivity viewpoint. Everything change since then has made typing more difficult. Windows specific keys have no place on a keyboard. (Just press CTRL-ESC to see why.)

Seriously? The XT keyboard? You mean this one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IBM_5150_Keyboard.jpg)? With the backslash next to the "Z", the Ctrl key where "caps lock" normally is, the bizzare shape and positioning of the "enter" key... No thanks. I think you may be talking about the IBM model M keyboard layout, which was post-XT, and was a pretty standard keyboard for the PS/2 machines in the early-90s.

Actually, I like Microsoft's tablet keyboard innovation with the split keyboard so that even on a tablet form factor you can do thumb-typing on a landscape display. Smart.

On the keyboard topic, I think its very interesting how the QWERTY keyboard was originally a good idea (trying to make it so "the next letter" usually came from alternate sides of the keyboard as the previous letter in English), turned into a bad idea (with electronic keyboards that no longer had the "jamming" issue of manual keyboards). Now, with smartphone thumb typing QWERTY is a good idea again: it tends to make you alternate sides of the keyboard from letter to letter, and that is exactly what you want when typing with two thumbs.

Windows specific keys have no place on a keyboard. (Just press CTRL-ESC to see why.)

The WinKey is far from just for the start menu. I use it all the time for other tasks.

The split keyboard has been used before on touchscreen devices. Toshiba had a similar style split keyboard on their dual screen Libretto W100.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq169/ITechDiary/toshiba_libretto_w100_1.jpg

Seriously? The XT keyboard? You mean this one?
The one I am referring to is more like this one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AT_keyboard.jpg). (Probably almost a dirty too. ;)) From a programming and plain text editing point of view, it was great. There was a standard 97 key layout I liked even better but it was unavailable except with a few Unix workstations.

The WinKey is far from just for the start menu. I use it all the time for other tasks.
That's why the CTRL key is so prominently placed on the above mentioned keyboard. That and the ALT keys provide an abundance of functions. If that wasn't enough, the readily accessible function keys added over 30 more special keys.

Now MS wants to slow down and dummy things down even more by making us use touch screens and by putting more unnecessary keys in places where they will be accidentally pressed. I'm not impressed if that's what Win8 is going to do. Win8 will be great for sufficiently powered tablets and touch screen applications. It will be an absolute disaster for text based applications or conventional PCs.

From a high level perspective I understand what Microsoft is doing, but I just don't see myself using a touch interface on a desktop or laptop. In a desktop situation real keyboards beat virtual keyboards. Accurate pointing devices beat your fingers. On a smartphone I can never seem to position a cursor between the two letters I want it to be between on the first attempt.

For mobile use, I totally get it. I think this new interface is great.

I just want to know (from an application developer's perspective) how are you supposed to develop an app that works across these two interfaces? Right now it looks like the answer is "just make it a web app and it'll work on touch Windows, Mouse/Keyboard Windows, and on all the other tablet and smartphone platforms as well".

Perhaps Facebook is on to something by not making tablet apps and just encouraging users to use their website for both tablets and PCs.

Developers may need to design two interfaces for their apps, one for mouse and keyboard mode and one for touch screen mode. The app would need to detect the mode and adapt correctly. That's a lot of extra work for interface developers.

Developers may need to design two interfaces for their apps, one for mouse and keyboard mode and one for touch screen mode. The app would need to detect the mode and adapt correctly. That's a lot of extra work for interface developers.

That is exactly my point. If you built web apps instead of native platform apps, then you your app works well in both interfaces (desktop and touch), as well as on all the competing tablet platforms (iOS, RIM, webOS, Android, etc). I think this platform fragmentation may be exactly the thing that drives developers to embracing modern web standards and delivering cutting-edge web apps.