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Windows 8 seems likely to be the most deeply Net-connected version of Windows yet, with a barrel of new features aimed at making web browsing more central to the user experience, syncing user data to the cloud, and protecting users from malicious code.
Despite constant revamping over the past decade (and the fact that IE comes preinstalled on every Windows PC, Microsoft’s share of the browser market continues to decline in the face of growth for Google Chrome and Opera. So even though IE9 is barely out of diapers, development of IE10 continues at what looks to be a pretty brisk pace. Will it be ready in time for Windows 8? You betcha.
Probability: 90%
Image Credit: Raphael Revera and Paul Thurrott
The most interesting browser enhancements we’ve run across for Windows 8 is a feature Microsoft calls Immersive Browser. Apparently based on the mobile browser in Windows Phone 7, Immersive Browser will presumably use the IE rendering engine within a simplified full-screen interface that will make the most of tablet displays. To get more web onto the screen, Microsoft reduced the number of menu options to Forward, Back, Address, Reload, and Favorite.
Some leaked screens also reveal a tiled interface similar to the Metro UI in Windows Phone 7, which would display web links as tiles across the immersive browser screen for quick navigation. This feature looks like it would be more useful in a tablet than on a PC, but it may work for both. Given all the other tablet-friendly features we’re seeing in the leaked code, we suspect Immersive Browser is a lock for the gold release.
Probability: 90%
Internet Explorer 9 includes a reputation-based phishing filter called SmartScreen, which checks files, links, and sites against a reputation database before loading them in the browser. Early Windows 8 builds appear to be pulling this feature deeper into the operating system to give users the ability to check files against SmartScreen before allowing them to launch. These options have been spotted under the View tab in the Folder menu as user-selectable features. We have little doubt that they’ll make it to the retail product.
Probability: 90%
Despite curmudgeonly resistance from a certain segment of self-described power users, the cloud is now an integral part of mainstream computing. Microsoft has been pushing hard to catch up with third-party services like Dropbox and SugarSync with its LiveMesh syncing service, which lets users sync folders on their PC to a Windows Live account.
Leaked screenshots from Windows 8 alpha builds show code that apparently integrates cloud syncing directly into the operating system itself. It’s unclear whether this will simply allow users to link their LiveMesh/SkyDrive account to Windows 8, or if this kind of functionality will be extended to third-party cloud storage services as well.
Probability: 80%
Digging through DLL files in the alpha code, inquisitive minds have uncovered signs of push-notification support in Windows 8. This comes as little surprise, given the operating system’s other tablet-friendly features. While we have no clear evidence about how push notifications will work in the next Windows, it seems probable that they’ll be able to do things like trigger a noise or flash a light when an email comes in, or announce a request for a video chat. We’re looking forward to seeing more of this in the beta.
Probability: 70%
So far, we’ve spotted few changes to the way Windows 8 will manage user accounts, but two interesting features have popped up on the rumor forums.
Guest accounts have long proven tricky for desktop operating systems. While the idea of letting just anyone log onto a PC and use it temporarily sounds nice in theory, that convenience comes with its fair share of security concerns. The Windows 7 beta included a decent stab at a Guest Mode feature that did this pretty well, but it didn’t make the final cut. Turns out it’s harder than you might think to create a temporary user account with enough system access to be useful, without opening up the machine to deep security threats that put the primary user’s files at risk. Will Guest Mode reappear in Windows 8? We have no idea at this point, but we suspect Microsoft hasn’t stopped working on the feature and we think there’s a better than 50/50 chance that it’ll ship.
Probability: 60%
There’s nothing especially new about the idea of facial recognition. It helped HAL track Dave in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and a number of PC manufacturers have shipped systems touting this feature over the past few years. In practice, however, the ability of consumer PCs to accurately spot faces has proved, well, spotty.
Back in April, Windows8Italia.com--which has been a leading force in uncovering Windows 8 features from inside the code--leaked news of a Windows 8 API called “Detect human presence,” which likely integrates face recognition into the OS. If legit, this feature would be consistent with other leaked information out of Redmond, which suggests Microsoft has been counting on the pervasive presence of webcams to power such a feature.
The big question here is not whether Microsoft is working on facial recognition. We know that they are. Our lingering skepticism centers primarily around the quality of the user experience and Microsoft’s ability to make facial recognition work well enough that people will actually want to use it. If the feature’s accuracy is less than 95%, it’ll earn Windows 8 more jeers than cheers from people who can’t easily log into their PCs. So we won’t blame Microsoft if this one doesn’t appear on launch day.
Probability: 50%
Ever want to nuke your OS back to bedrock and get a fresh start with your PC? Screens leaked by a Chinese Windows site show the presence of a feature called System Reset that appears to do just this. The menu description for the feature reads, “Remove all programs you’ve installed and restore default Windows settings. You can choose to keep user accounts and personal files.”
For those who like to occasionally reinstall windows as a way of reducing bloat, this could be a real boon. And for system administrators, it could be a huge timesaver in managing loaner systems. Whether System Reset would pose any potential security risks in administrative scenarios remains to be seen, but the feature sounds almost as plausible as it does cool.
Probability: 60%
So far, the screenshots we’ve seen of Windows 8 don’t appear substantially different from those of Windows 7. It may be that Microsoft just hasn’t applied all of the interface changes it’s toying with, but so far we don’t see too many changes worth getting excited or irritated about. Here are two tweaks worth talking about.
One of the most noticeable interface tweaks in Windows 8 pre-release builds is the proliferation of ribbon menus throughout Windows Explorer. Already present in included apps such as Paint and Word Pad, the ribbon interface adds a host of new buttons to the Windows Explorer menu. From the screens we’ve seen, it looks like the new interface will put more of the classic menu options within one-click accessibility, eliminating the need to click Edit, Select all, for instance (or learn the hotkeys, for that matter).
Probability: 80%
Of less impact to usability, but potentially more interesting to everyday users, is a leaked feature called Aero Autocolor. This simple menu option in the Window Color and Appearance control panel empowers Windows to automatically change the desktop color scheme to match the dominant color in your wallpaper. So if you have green rolling hills as your background, Windows would auto-select a hue from the wallpaper and apply it to window borders. Will this be preferable to window transparency? We can’t say.
Probability: 70%
Comments are closed on this article
caterin
January 04, 2012 at 11:54pm
To help users manage disk space, Microsoft appears to have revamped the Disk Cleanup utility for Windows 8.Phlebotomy Training
pyrilampes
May 25, 2011 at 8:39am
So, Basically,
Now Windows 8 has taken the cue from the third party apps that supported its functionality and put them into Windows, added another proprietary disc format. Added another "are you sure you own this software," fixed some problems, matched features of existing operating systems, promises you have to buy new software again and wants you to pay for it?
By the way iso burning has been an option you could install in XP. lookup dvdburn.exe and cdburn.exe I am not sure, but cdburn.exe was also available in windows98...
Caboose
May 25, 2011 at 9:00am
proprietary disc format? You mean WinFS? That'd be a file system. Disc Format would be more along the lines of Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, CD, SACD, etc. and I'd be very surprised if WinFS actually sees the light of day in Win8.
ISO Burning though is built in to the OS and isn't a 3rd party add-on. That's like saying that DVD movie playback has always been an option since Win98 (when using $app)
pyrilampes
May 25, 2011 at 11:07am
Still Propriety and probably not compatible with other systems out of the gate.
Actually there are two ways to say it... Mine is just better.
Disc format could be a file system, or it could be a string(not very usefull)
Just to let you know, once you put partitions on a disc, you have to "Format" the Disc. Hence a disc format.
listing the other formats of discs is educational as well as way off the point.
ISO Burning was not a third party add-on, but a Microsoft supplied tool for the OS that was not released for unspecified reasons. And Playing a video codec has nothing to do with writing files to a disc but playing the files stored on the disc.
cprtnic
March 11, 2012 at 8:13pm
No sir. WinFS would definitely be a file system for a DISK, not a Disc. Disc format is DVD, CD, Blu-Ray, etc.
NeroCafe
May 23, 2011 at 2:26pm
NOOOO! Not MORE of this Genuine Advantage crap! it has sneaked into my system twice, and said that I don't have a legal compy of Windows, which I DO, and I then have to remove it. It's so ANNOYING!!!
Caboose
May 24, 2011 at 8:52am
Have you contacted Microsoft? If you are using a legit copy, contact Microsoft and get it cleared up. Its not rocket surgery! Instead of bitching and complaining about it, actually do something to get it resolved!
Yeesh!
tylerjgarland
May 21, 2011 at 5:32pm
I still find it funny for the facial recognition login feature. Now I can hold a photo of someone I dislike, login to their system and wreak havok.
frizzly
July 25, 2011 at 10:05pm
with touch screens becomeing more common, I would rather see finger print analysis for logins
tonymus
May 21, 2011 at 8:26am
Good article, thanks for the heads up!
As a business user, I think the Modern Reader might save me from buying Adobe Acrobat Standard for my computers (yes, I know it probably won't write files, but Reader has enough issues, including security ones, for me to want to use Standard). The full system restore might be interesting, also.
But, if Microsoft wants to make Windows exciting again, they really need to take a look at their software. Their home user software is lacking the "juice" of Apple's offerings. They need to get out more games (Flight would be a good start), make iLife-style programs available from their app store, and come up with new uses for their computers so users don't become bored with them and move onto slates or phones (iOS, especially). And, why does Microsoft consistently let itself get out-marketed by Apple?
A new OS is nice but, from a user's standpoint, it doesn't DO anything...
Caboose
May 24, 2011 at 8:54am
So you'd rather spend a few hundred dollars on Acrobat Standard instead of using one of the other multitude of free PDF readers out there?
Remind me to never take financial advise from you ever!
steve771
May 20, 2011 at 8:03pm
Here's another thing to know (like you didn't?). It's another M$ money grab!
Hey, M$ operating systems are like Star Trek movies... only every other one is worth anything.
Caboose
May 24, 2011 at 8:45am
Really? You're spelling Microsoft with a dollar sign? Did the supposed Rapture take us back to 2001 or something?
tonychow70
May 20, 2011 at 12:06am
There is one thing I really want Windows 8 include: total uninstall.
In most time, when we uninstall some app from Windows, there were lots of leftover folders, files, registry keys, sometime devices and drivers. Even Revo can't 100% make them clean. So I want Microsoft can add a feature maybe call: Installation monitor, that can monitor all the apps installation, and when I don't want use them anymore, this monitor can notified me after uninstall, which leftover files and registry keys or the other thing belong to this app and I can safely remove them.
Kaze
May 19, 2011 at 4:45pm
What I want in Windows 8 is:
1) Native Multiple Desktops like Mac OS and Gnome/KDE/LXFE etc have had for years.
2) A better user account management system, meanining that the administrator can totally control who sees what and when. It should be easy to determine what goes into the default user profile on which all limited users are built, plus it should be easy to *hide* drives or folders that the limited user should not have access to (should not even see that they exist, let alone interact with them in any way.
3) Easier skinning of the entire OS. Adding stuff like logonscreen customization, wallpaper customization per desktop, placement of start bar per desktop etc. should all be elegantly and natively implemented.
4) Move the Users folder painlessly. I don't want my users folder on my SSD, I want it on my 4TB Raid10 partition. This should be easily done with no need for any simlinks and whatever. My SSD should remain for programs and programs only, and I should be able to do this without any hassle, and specially without having to specify each and every folder manually which is both idiotic and, more importantly, time consuming.
That's it really. I don't want nor need any of the other crap.
aarcane
May 19, 2011 at 1:24pm
Hey, they're finally figured out that we want to be able to change our product key sometimes. you know, like when we accidentally use our dumb brother's generated key instead of our legit key, both of which are stored on the network in a file called "keys.txt" in different folders. yeah, that's why we want to change keys.
What I really want is per-user licensing, as well as per-system licensing. I want to be able to buy a copy, and use it on any system I own, so long as it's for my own use. Household systems shared by many users, should still get the per-system licensing. I'd also like an account through microsoft that I can sign in to to activate my windows 8 on my new system automatically. That'd be nice. Or at least some good family-friendly volume licensing. our house has ten people in it, and just as many computers all of which need windows and office, many of which are running xp or vista, because volume licensing is too expensive.
frizzly
July 25, 2011 at 10:18pm
how about getting some flash drives and setting up multiple virtual enviroments then booting each computer with a flash drive. then all you have to do in instal and save your programes and files on the computers HD. now you have multiple installs from one copy. by definition this would be within the EULA becouse you only installed it once and used the software in its intended fasion. 8-)
TommM
May 19, 2011 at 11:25am
With the exception of the System Reset option, I don't see a thing here that I need to have or even want. Especially the damn ribbon menu system which I detest as well as most of my tech friends do too. Unless some other unbelievable, must-have addition comes through, looks like I'll be hanging on to Win7 for a long, long time.
Forte125
May 19, 2011 at 11:23am
I wouldn't put money on integrated cloud storage. Microsoft sells so many licensces of Windows that the amound of data they would need to provide is massive. Hopefully they will include some new API's that allow third parties like Dropbox to provide more integrated cloud syncing.
CPPCrispy
May 19, 2011 at 10:45am
What I would want in Windows 8 is the ability for Windows to read and write to other file systems such as ext3.
ThomFrost
May 19, 2011 at 10:17am
i dont know from what i have seen and heard from here and other places not sure i will switch to win8 when it comes out. this may change when it comes out and i can play with it a bit at the store.
i still say that microsoft is being stupid by putting all this stuff in windows. a os is suppose to get you to what you want to do and then get out of the way. more and more microsoft seems to want to involve its os in every part of everything i do. microsoft has this stupid me too thing going. they look at osx and linux and see all the extras included and say me too. osx and linux has to put this stuf in so people will see the value of installing the os. all this junk that microsoft puts in windows is just more vulnerability that hackers and viruses can exploit, and more code that has to be maintained.
all this bloat is why microsoft got caught with their paints down with netbook and now tablets. if windows wasn't so bloated they could had with a few changes port it over to the new tablet systems.
let apple pretty up their os and put all the junk on it just let me do what i want to do and just get out of my way.
Caboose
May 19, 2011 at 2:28pm
The thing is though, Apple includes features x, y and z but Microsoft doesn't. Then when it comes time for someone to buy a computer and they compare the two, and see that OSX has features x, y and z and Windows doesn't, and said user would use those features, that could be a deal breaker for some. This way though, you have to install less stuff to be able to do what you want. I'd rather not have to install a PDF reader, or Virtual CloneDrive. I'm happy that I don't need a large disc writing app anymore w/Win7 and use ImgBurn for 80% of my disc writing (15% is the windows utility and the last 5% is Nero 9).
