First Look at Windows 8’s New Interface for Tablets and PCs

Earlier today at AllThingsD's D9 conference, Microsot's Windows President Steven Sinofsky unveiled the first official look at Windows 8, the codename for Microsoft's next operating system and successor to Windows 7. Demoed on a 10-inch tablet-like prototype (at 720p resolution), the build of Windows 8 prominently featured a new Live Tile-based interface that makes up a new Start screen. While the traditional Desktop will still be available, along with compatibility for legacy apps, the Start screen will run a second type of application written in HTML5 and JavaScript, much like mobile apps and widgets. Touch control (and presumably motion-control with Kinect) will also be heavily integrated so that both new apps and legacy apps can be manipulated with either touch or mouse and keyboard; Microsoft designer Julie Larson-Green described a "fuzzy hit targeting" system to give touch the precision of a mouse. More of Windows 8 will be shown this September when Microsoft hosts a developer conference in southern California.


Here are some other notable takeaways from the interview and presentation, including how Windows 8 was and wasn't inspired by Apple's iPad.

• Development on Windows 8 started almost immediately after Windows 7 shipped in 2009, months before the iPad's debut. The new Windows Store, however, reflects a idea that Microsoft adopted after the iPad's success.
• Windows 8 will boot to a new lock screen that's more like a phone's lock screen than the traditional desktop login screen. It'll have a clock, calendar appointments, and notifications.
• Internet Explorer 10 has been built as a new type of Windows app.
• As announced at CES, Windows 8 will run on both x86 systems and ARM-powered devices. The first ARM devices will be demoed on the floor at Computex. ARM versions of Windows 8 won't have legacy app compatibility through an emulation layer, which would have been a big technical challenge.
• Like with Windows 7, Windows 8's system requirements will not be higher than that of its predecessor, meaning systems that can run Windows Vista will support Windows 8.
• The new Start Screen can't be turned off (no word on whether you'll be able to disable it as the default view), but OEMs won't be able to disable the Desktop, either (eg. for tablets).
• Windows 8 won't come out this fall.

We've been excited about the upcoming Windows 8 for a long time, and today Microsoft demonstrated some of the very Windows Phone-like interface overhauls coming to both tablet and desktop computers. 

The biggest change in Windows 8's new interface is a start page that takes the place of the Start Menu, using the tile-based Metro UI that Windows Phone users have come to love. From there, you can quickly launch full-screen, HTML5-powered apps, switch between them, and even snap them to the sides of the screen for true, side-by-side touch screen multitasking.


Your desktop apps won't be going away, of course. If you're running Windows 8 on a desktop PC, you can head into the familiar Windows desktop and run your usual apps in windowed mode. It's a bit unclear exactly how this will work, and this is a pretty early look at the OS, so things could change, too. But, as Microsoft's Director of Program Management mentions in the above video, you'll be able to use Windows 8 across all machines, desktop, laptop, and tablet. Check out Microsoft's video tour to see more, and hit the link to read more details about the upcoming version of Windows.


Previewing ‘Windows 8'