Showing posts with label windows 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label windows 8. Show all posts
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The rumor catches marke from I’m A WP7, an app that helpfully reports the version numbers of operating systems that run the app. As you can see in the image below, the first two entries are for Windows Phone 7, but at the bottom it reports that “Windows 8.0 Desktop” version 6.2.8283.0 also uses the app. The current public build of Windows 8, the Consumer Preview, is 6.2.8250.0 — a lower version number — so it would seem that Microsoft is trying out Windows Phone 7 apps on internal builds of Windows 8.
At first I thought this might just be Windows Phone 7 apps running inside a Windows 8 development environment — a Visual Studio emulator or something — but the mention of “Jupiter” almost certainly blows that idea out the window. Though it hasn’t been confirmed by Microsoft, Jupiter is thought to be the codename of one of the core libraries that powers the new Metro-style Windows 8 apps. Metro apps can either be designed in HTML/CSS, or in XAML — and XAML is the same language used to create the user interface for Windows Phone 7 apps. This on its own isn’t a big surprise — XAML is a big part of many .NET technologies — but get this: The codename for Windows Phone 8 is Apollo, who in Greek mythology is the son of Zeus — and the Roman counterpart of Zeus is Jupiter!
In short, Windows Phone 8 is the son of Windows 8, which tallies with previous rumors that WP8 would even use the Windows 8 kernel. Taking a quick gallop through ancient history might seem a bit obtuse, but back in reality this is a no-brainer for Microsoft. Windows Phone 7 apps are just Silverlight apps, and Windows Phone 8 apps will almost certainly be XAML-based Metro apps. Microsoft has already said that WP7 and WP8 apps would work on Windows 8 with only a few changes to the code — but really, there’s no technical limitation that would prevent Microsoft from providing a framework that can run WP7 and WP8 apps as-is in Windows 8.
There are practical concerns, however. For a start, Windows Phone 7 apps are designed for low-res (800×480) portrait displays, while Windows 8 will generally be used in landscape orientation and at much higher resolutions. Thanks to the Metro style’s reliance on geometric shapes and typography, scaling itself probably won’t be an issue, but I foresee a lot of apps that hug the left and make very little use of the rest of the screen. The Windows Phone and Windows 8 app stores are obviously quite different as well — the approval processes are completely different, for a start — but this isn’t an insurmountable issue.
While it’s easy to attribute this to Microsoft taking a leaf out of Apple and Google’s playbook, it’s obviously better for consumers and developers alike if Windows 8 comes with as many apps as possible. Microsoft’s strength has always been the sheer size of its app and developer ecosystem, and the success of Windows 8 — especially on tablets — will come down to how well Redmond leverages its incumbent might. It is one thing to make Windows 8 apps easy to develop — you can write Metro apps in HTML and JavaScript! — but if Microsoft lets developers write a single app for Windows Phone and have it work across the entire ecosystem… well, it could catch Android and iOS rather quickly.
Sunday, March 25, 2012 0
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Microsoft may have just taken the wrapping paper off of IE9, but the IE10 rumors are already starting to surface. The latest, and possibly first, IE10 rumor says that it will ship with Windows 8.
This information comes from Win7China, who also provided some of the first legitimate Windows 8 screenshots. Because they potentially have a solid source of information, this rumor holds a bit of weight. They also state that IE10 is already in Windows 8 M3, but we have yet to confirm that information.
The idea of including IE10 with Windows 8 seems logical. Considering that IE9 just launched, if the rumored Windows 8 launch days are correct, the browser would be well over a year old when Windows 8 finally ships to the consumer. Other than this little bit of information, not much else is known about IE10.
There have been a lot of leaks surrounding Windows 8 over the past few weeks. While we have yet to see the new dynamic interface in the new platform, 'Aero Lite' has shown the general direction Microsoft is taking with the Windows 8 UI.
This information comes from Win7China, who also provided some of the first legitimate Windows 8 screenshots. Because they potentially have a solid source of information, this rumor holds a bit of weight. They also state that IE10 is already in Windows 8 M3, but we have yet to confirm that information.
The idea of including IE10 with Windows 8 seems logical. Considering that IE9 just launched, if the rumored Windows 8 launch days are correct, the browser would be well over a year old when Windows 8 finally ships to the consumer. Other than this little bit of information, not much else is known about IE10.
There have been a lot of leaks surrounding Windows 8 over the past few weeks. While we have yet to see the new dynamic interface in the new platform, 'Aero Lite' has shown the general direction Microsoft is taking with the Windows 8 UI.
Sunday, April 17, 2011 1
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
It's no surprise that Microsoft has been working on Windows 8 for a while, moving from general planning to more in-depth discussions in the spring; earlier this month the Windows team finalized the key scenarios.
That's not down to dissatisfaction with Windows 7; Microsoft always starts planning the next version as soon as it's clear what's going to make it into the version under development.
At this stage there isn't any official information and there won't be for a year or more. But there are some things we do know.
1. Windows 8 release date is late 2011 or early 2012
That's 2-3 years after Windows 7; leaving aside the aberration of Vista, that's the typical time between Windows releases and it matches up with the 2012 dates mentioned on leaked Windows Server timelines.
While Windows President Steven Sinofsky says he doesn't want to "underpromise and over-deliver" for Windows, it's likely that Microsoft will announce the later date and ship on the earlier one.
2. Hibernate and resume will have a new engine
According to the profile of an intern on the Windows team, there's going to be a new Hibernate/Resume Integration API using what he calls "the new TLZ file compression engine". That could mean even faster hibernation and resume times – if it makes it into the final code.
3. Windows 8 will have new networking and security features
Another intern reports working on "new networking features"; that tells us about as much as the profile of the Software Security Engineer who's working on "Windows 8 security".
Changes in network security, authentication and encryption detailed in a Software Design Engineer's profile are again probably related to Windows Server. Another online resume mentions a possible "follow-on" to the PatchGuard system that stops viruses changing system files that was delayed from Windows 7.
4. Windows 8 will have better multimonitor support
Steven Sinofsky has already said there wasn't time to do more work on the user interface with multiple monitors but that it's on the list for Windows 8, not least because "we all use it at Microsoft". Expect scenarios for handling three or more screens, in various arrangements.
5. Steven Sinofsky is in charge of it
This is both good – he was responsible for getting Windows 7 out on time and working well – and potentially very bad. Sinofsky's expertise is execution rather than vision and for Windows 8 that could mean a pedestrian set of improvements rather than anything potentially game changing.
Windows 7 is more than Vista done right, but it is an excellent execution of the Vista architecture changes. With Windows 7 to compete against, Windows 8 will need to be a lot more exciting than that.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 0
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