Whoa, a Microsoft employee just published details on Windows 8 on their blog, claiming it will be “completly [sic]different from what folks usually expect of Windows”, and that internally, they’re calling it “Windows.next”.
Shown above is a leaked Windows server roadmap from last year, that marks 2012 as being the year of a “major release”, with “codename – Windows 8″ mentioned. The employee spoke on the blog about the codename:
“So how am I referring to the next version of Windows without saying that many words – well simple – Windows.next:) This is definitely not the official version but a version that is becoming common along my circle”
On what to expect:
“The minimum that folks can take for granted is that the next version will be something completly [sic]different from what folks usually expect of Windows – I am simply impressed with the process that Steven has setup to listen to our customers needs and wants and get a team together than can make it happen. To actually bring together dozens and dozens of teams across Microsoft to come up with a vision for Windows.next is a process that is surreal! The themes that have been floated truly reflect what people have been looking for years and it will change the way people think about PCs and the way they use them. It is the future of PCs… “
We already knew Microsoft would be shifting its attention to Windows 8 this July, so while this latest slip-up doesn’t elucidate much, at least we can mull over what the employee means by a “completly different” Windows. Does he mean it won’t have a built-in spellchecker? [ MSDN via Microsoft Kitchen via SlashGear]
DudePants
Friday, February 12, 2010 at 9:59 AMAnyone get the impression that this is the stupidest most obvious response to the recent anti-innovation and clumsy claims?
matt
Friday, February 12, 2010 at 10:24 AMoh great… so no one will know how to use it?
I’m all for adding new features in the next one, but for the love of god don’t go make something completely different! we don’t want that! we want what we have now except WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS!
randomambling
Friday, February 12, 2010 at 10:54 AMLook, I just don’t get it. The fabric of computing has changed little in 20 years. Since the GUI become the norm there have been zero real innovations. Sure the internet has become accessible to Joe Citizen, but we use the same QWERTY keyboard the same mouse, and interact the same way. It takes the same time today to produce a reasonable looking document (on paper) as it did in 1987. Will Windows 8 or OSX1 change that? I don’t think so. If these directed a fraction of the resources to true innovation as they do rebranding the same chunk of code, just maybe we might head forward – wherever that might be….
/randomambling
NoOtherDestiny
Friday, February 12, 2010 at 3:13 PMMy guess is that it’ll have some major changes in the GUI with different ways of browsing data and changing computer settings. If that is true, then it will be a nightmare for us IT folk, since users don’t like major changes…
Vladimir Popov
Friday, February 12, 2010 at 7:31 PMI hope they will address security holes in Windows.
And make it lighter, not heavier.
Radical redesign of interface is a welcome thing, but they have to have some possibility to change UI to 7-like, just for an easy acceptance.
I think that as usually it will be a dud, as Vista, and they will fix it with glorious Windows 9.
matt
Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 12:11 AMyeah, as usual, if you pretend ms didn’t make any OSs since XP… you have no idea what random shit they will come up with, its hard to know if it will be a dud until we see it, as I said I hope they keep the same framework, to avoid another ‘vista’, you can do plenty of ‘innovating’ without changing it.
and @randomambling:
the basic layout for a car’s interface hasn’t changed for what must be getting close to a century now. SOMEtimes, SOMEthing’s are just as good as they can be. Innovation for innovation’s sake is overrated, and should be reserved for the Apple marketing machine.
FLURO
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 11:33 AMWell, I think some of the most obvious improvements and direction that will most likely drive Windows 8 development will be:
1. A greater emphasis on Touch Screen usage [i.e. more friendly touch GUI]. My guess is that we’ll all be using touch screens sooner rather than later – goodbye keyboard.
2. Improved Security – Microsoft took a step in the right direction with Security Essentials and I’m quite sure they would continue in this direction since it was so well received [may we actually see a virus-less/antivirus-less version of windows that does not require third party software?]
3. Maybe more Cloud – Microsoft has talked about it in the past and maybe Windows 8 will actually get working/integrated cloud computing. This would mean a more webapp friendly desktop environment and possibly some revolutionary developments like Portable Cloud User Profiles – log onto any windows pc and have all your documents and software right there
4. Re-write of the windows code from the ground up – although this has the possibility of causing issue to users with hardware/software compatibility problems, it also has the possibility of ironing out a lot of problems that windows has inherited from its earlier versions. At the same time this could work with point two & three.
5. Apple like app market for desktop/webapps software – now I know this is a bit of a pop-culture idea right now but presenting a Microsoft Approved list of software that people know are safe and of good quality might do wonders for the OS.
6. Cross Environment compatibility – installed an app on your windows desktop and want to put it on your windows phone? No problem.
7. Really like to see desktop gadgets made with more creativity!
Teal
Friday, April 2, 2010 at 5:13 PMBetween the name “Windows.Next” and the “completely different” statement, it makes me wonder if this could be something like the version of Windows Live and Windows Office 2010 Beta that is now running on the web. What if you ran “Windows.Next” on .Net in a browser (hopefully IE something). So for people who buy a new pc the browswer client is pre-loaded and booted when you start the pc.
But on any other pc, lets say an internet cafe, or at a friends, using their pc, or at work, you could “login” to your MS Windows.Next account and access all the stuff you saved to the web (optional from your windows pc) Nice way to compete with Linux or Mac as it really wouldn’t matter what OS the machine was running as you run your own os in the browser.
Just a thought, if Google can think up this stuff, why not MS? Have you seen the New Windows Live and Office 2010 Beta? They are very very interesting.