Microsoft Begins Touting Windows 8, Creates New Blog To Do So

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It looks like Microsoft has made another commitment in terms of Windows 8, one that should make those interested in learning more a bit happier moving forward. Microsoft has launched the Building Windows 8 blog where they state how they “want to begin an open dialog with those of you who will be trying out the pre-release version over the coming months.”

In reality, while many may never begin using the pre-release versions of Windows 8 — it is still nice to see Microsoft launch another site to offer an inside look. Sort of like what they have been doing, and doing rather well we may add, with Windows Phone 7. Assuming they follow that path, it looks like we can expect to learn quite a bit about Windows 8 over the coming months.

Me personally, I am a Mac user on a daily basis, but will say that I am more than curious about what Windows 8 is going to bring to the table. But getting back to the blog and what we should be seeing. Microsoft kicks things off by saying that “Windows 8 reimagines Windows.”

….so much has changed since Windows 95—the last time Windows was significantly overhauled—when the “desktop” metaphor was established. Today more than two out of three PCs are mobile (laptops, netbooks, notebooks, tablets, slates, convertibles, etc.). Nearly every PC is capable of wireless connectivity. Screen sizes range from under 10″ to wall-sized screens and multiple HD screens. Storage has jumped from megabytes to terabytes and has moved up to the cloud. The appearance of touch-screen mobile phones with the rich capabilities they bring, have together changed the way we all view computing. Most of all, computing is much more focused on applications and on people than on the operating system itself or the data. These changes in the landscape motivate the most significant changes to Windows, from the chips to the experience.

Furthermore, they go on to mention how they realize that is a “big statement” and a statement they are going to “return to throughout this blog.” Anyway, we did get the early look at Windows 8 back in June and one thing we can say for certain — the parts that Microsoft has show off were of an operating system that looks rather different from what many have become used to in Windows.

Here’s what we know Windows 8 is set to offer so far (as detailed on the aforementioned site):

• Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.    
  
• Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.    
  
• Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
  
• Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
  
• Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.
  
• Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.

But that being said, some good news here, the Microsoft team also noted that it is “important to know that we’re [they are] 100% committed to running the software and supporting the hardware that is compatible with over 400 million Windows 7 licenses already sold and all the Windows 7 yet to be sold.”

In short, Windows 8 is coming and we should soon start seeing more details soon, but in the meantime — Windows 7 is not going anywhere.