Microsoft Shows First Look at Windows 8 Interface

By Marcus Yam
published

Windows 8 to be all touchy-feely.

Microsoft demonstrated at the D9 Conference the next generation of Windows that we've been referring to as “Windows 8,” for the first time. Interestingly, Microsoft is calling the next OS release as Windows 8 too, but that's just a code name for now.

The change in interface is pretty substantial for a desktop OS, so there could be a chance that Microsoft will want to call it something that's just "one more" than Windows 7. Microsoft said that this new release is a "reimagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface."

Windows 8 is meant to scale from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.

Microsoft has released a video showing its new touch interface that is clearly inspired by tablet and smartphone operating systems.

In the video below, Microsoft demonstrates the following new Windows 8 features:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
•Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.
•Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.
•Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
•Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
•Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.
•Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.

 Microsoft said that it will have more Windows 8 to show off at its BUILD developer event during Sept. 13 - 16 in Anaheim, Calif.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
111 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Marco925
    ewwww..............
    Reply
  • techseven
    I wonder if they use customer feedback and suggestions like when they developed Win7....
    Reply
  • hellwig
    Remember when XP came out, and they "simplified" the desktop by removing the standard links to My Computer, My Documents, etc..? This seems to be going in the exact opposite direction. I wonder if we will be able to turn this off and use a traditional desktop, or if we're stuck with this crap?
    Reply
  • aoneone
    Cmon... What was wrong with Windows 3.1? Haha. "640 KB should be enough for everybody!" - Bill Gates
    Reply
  • SpadeM
    Last time i checked PCs use a mouse and keyboard to navigate so ... how is that UI supposed to "help" my productivity by turning my 24 inch LCD into basically a Phone screen? For a tablet/phone style device sure, touch it, rub it, lick it even if that's your cup of tea but I for one hope there's a second UI I can default too that looks just like the one in previous versions of windows.
    Reply
  • reggieray
    Oh look it's windows phone on a big screen, fail.
    Reply
  • sceen311
    cool, so I can upgrade to windows 7 and have it last for several years to come then.
    Reply
  • molo9000
    Microsoft's marketing is so horrible.... and has been for years.
    The interface looks good for tablets, but I really don't see how this could work well on desktops.

    btw: they are apparently going to drop BIOS support (UEFI only now), which is going to piss off a lot of people with old motherboards.
    Reply
  • stratplaya
    I hope they'll have a version for adults.
    Reply
  • sykozis
    molo9000Microsoft's marketing is so horrible.... and has been for years.The interface looks good for tablets, but I really don't see how this could work well on desktops.btw: they are apparently going to drop BIOS support (UEFI only now), which is going to piss off a lot of people with old motherboards.Steve Ballmer might want to start deciding what his next career will be then. Stockholders are going to be pissed when it doesn't sell due to lack of support for, I dunno, most of the PC market... I for one, refuse to build a new system just because Microsoft thinks my 9 month old computer is obsolete....
    Reply