At DataCare Solutions over the last few weeks we have been trying out the Developer Preview of Windows 8. The release date for Windows 8 is rumoured to be sometime in Q2 of 2012 although if you want to try it now you can download the developer preview for free on the Microsoft website (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516) it is also possible to run using Virtualbox (https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads) so you don’t have to remove your normal operating system to try it.
Here is what we think are the top 5 new features for standard users:
Interactive Tiles
Cloud Sync
Faster boot times
Windows Store
Internet Explorer 10
Interactive Tiles
Interactive tiles make the Start Screen a real alternative to the Desktop using a similar layout to the Windows 7 Phone operating system. Standard tiles are included for Email, Calendar, Notes and several other options meaning things like the last 5 emails, today’s appointments and post it style notes are always available on the start screen without having to open up the separate applications.
Cloud Sync
Start screen settings, some application settings and internet favourites are all synced to the cloud meaning that you can have the same settings on each Windows 8 PC, Laptop or tablet you own.
Faster bootup times
Windows effectively saves the system state and memory contents to a file on disk at shutdown allowing much quicker start-up times similar to putting Windows 7 or Vista into hibernation mode. Microsoft has demonstrated start-up times of less than 10 seconds from the power button being pressed to the desktop being fully loaded.
However standard full shutdown options will still be available for users wishing to fully shutdown and reload/refresh all drives on the next boot up.
Windows Store
With the rise of Apple's iOS App Store, Microsoft has decided to start a Windows 8 version to give an incentive for developers to build Metro-style tile apps. Users will have the availability of both classic Win32 programs and Metro apps for Windows 8 via the Windows Store.
Internet Explorer 10
Internet Explorer 10 will be included in Windows 8 and will probably also be released for Windows 7 at the same time as the Windows 8 release. Expanded HTML 5 support with graphics acceleration will mean smooth running of the latest web technology for videos and animations.
General browsing will also be much faster, with tests on the beta version showing large increases on Internet Explorer 9 speed and speeds matching and sometimes surpassing Google Chrome.
The Metro User Interface is also a part of Internet Explorer 10 with an interface similar to that on Window Mobile including built-in sharing options to share pages by email and social networks.
Come back next week for our next blog where we will talk about the top Windows 8 features for power users and administrators.
