Windows 8

·     General

Windows 8

Windows 8 is yet to be released by Microsoft. This page will list out the links for downloading Windows 8 once the Windows 8 is released by Microsoft. There is no clarity on which editions will be released by Microsoft. Let us assume the following may be among the editions that will be offered by Microsoft

* Windows 8 Home Premium
* Windows 8 Professional
* Windows 8 Ultimate

·        Windows 8 Features

Four expected features of Windows 8

There are lot of rumors that Windows 8 would be released by the year 2012. According to many windows 8related websites, it is known that mostly Windows 8 release date is in year 2012. Here are some of the features that I expect to he there in the new Windows 8 Operating System.

1) Expected features of Windows 8

  Here is a list of features that I expect to be there in the new Windows 8 OS.

2) Face Recognition

I expect that Windows 8 to be the very first Microsoft Operating System to support face       recognition and detection. If this feature is incorporated in Windows 8, it would be very useful.

3)128 bit Windows 8 support

I expect that Windows 8 should support 128 bit architecture. As we know the new iPv6 addresses are using 128 bit address scheme, it would be better to support 128 bit architecture.

4) Faster booting time

Windows 8 should be able to boot up in very few seconds. Mac OS on Mac Books is consistently faster compared to Windows 7. I expect Windows 8 should boot up faster than these Mac OS PCs.

Windows App Store on Windows 8

Apple did it with its Back to the Mac Event, announcing a Mac App Store for Mac OS X. Microsoft should in a similar way do something for Windows 8 OS too. Windows Phone 7 already has an App store.

 

Cloud based storage in Windows 8 via Windows Azure

Windows 8 is under development by Microsoft. Lot of rumors is spreading in internet about the features being added to the Windows 8 OS. One such feature is about the online cloud back up of Windows 8 via Windows Azure.

Windows Azure provides the developers with compute and storage solutions.

Cloud based Back up in Windows 8 OS

Back up is very important for any computer user to take care of disaster recovery of computer data.

The windows users at present are depending on third party back up solutions for taking the back up of their data. The back up feature is not available in present windows operating systems. But it seems Microsoft plans to include the back up feature in Windows 8 OS. This is as per the leaked information in one of the job listings of Microsoft for developers to develop this feature in Windows 8.

·              Windows 8 Hardware

Windows 8 and USB 3.0

Adopting a new technology and out dating the old technology is often a lengthy process. USB 3.0 is no exception to this rule. According to one of the websites TechPlat.com, it seems it would take another couple of years before USB 3.0 will be replacing USB 2.0. According to Intel Manager Stege Peterson, when he attended a global conference in Germany, he said that he expected USB 3.0 to become the main stream with the advent of next iteration of Windows OS, Windows 8.

We all know that Microsoft 7 was released to the public on 22nd October,2009. As per the news posted in the site TechPlat.com, it seems Windows 8 is expected to be released by the end of 2011, or at the most 2012. Microsoft has not yet announced about the next version of operating system.

But as per the information published in TechPlat.com, it is clear that Pearson has indicated that Intel is working with Microsoft to ensure that Windows 8 will fully support USB 3.0. But the products featuring the USB 3.0 technology have already started coming out in the markets but only high-end PCs would feature USB 3.0.

USB 3.0 will give better performance improvemnent over USB 2.0 which maxes out at 480 MBPS. But USB 3.0 would support transfer rates upto 5 GBPS. USB 3.0 is fully compatible with USB 2.0.

Microsoft Windows is 25 years old

Microsoft Windows operating system has completed 25 years after its first release of Windows. Windows 1.0 was first introduced on 20th November,1985 which dominated personal computer market.

Lot of key changes was made to Windows operating system by Microsoft during the course of these 25 years. Windows operating system began in the year 1985 and 15 editions have been released till now. Let us see the history of Windows operating system now.

History of Windows Operating System

The first operating system, Windows 1.0 was not so popular. It was originally called as the "Interface Manager". Programs like Windows Paint, note pad, Write, calendar, control panel were included in this first version. The memory allowed in Windows 1.0 was 1 MB maximum. Microsoft released Windows 2.1 later on to support the upcoming processors ( 286 and 386). Here is a video about the features of Windows 1.0

Windows 3.0 was released by Microsoft in the year 1990. This operating system introduced multi tasking and virtual memory. This OS was the first major competitor to Apple's Mac.

Windows 3.1 was later on released in the year 1992 by fixing the bugs in Windows 3.0 and added greater multi media support. Microsoft also released Windows NT 3.1 later on with 32-bit APIs to replace the old 16 bit ones. Here is a video of Windows 3.1 features.

Windows 95 was released with significant changes in the year 1995. The Graphical User Interface in Windows 95 was a major shift from the previous versions and the start menu was introduced along side the task bar.

A number of versions of Windows were released during the period from 1998 to 2000. Support for DVD discs and USB devices was included in the latest OS. Windows 98 was the last version of Windows based on MS-DOS. Windows 2000 (Windows NT 5) was released in Feb,2000. This operating system targeted Server and Work station markets. Windows Millenium edition (Windows ME) was released in Sept.,2000. System restore functionality and Window movie maker were introduced during Windows ME version.

Windows XP was released on 25th October,2001. This OS was fast and stable and is being widely used even now by many business and consumer PCs. Several versions of XP were released by Microsoft which included Tablet Support, media center support.

Windows Vista which is also known as Longhorn, was introduced on 30th November,2006. This OS was delayed several times as Microsoft promised many new features which could not materialize. Windows Vista was not that much successful as Windows XP.

Windows 7 is the latest operating system by Microsoft was released in October,2009. A number of new features like snap, peek and shake were introduced. Windows 7 was a successful OS compared to Windows Vista.

 Enjoy!!!