This is the Windows 8 Tablet & PC Interface
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 1, 2011 10:26 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
- Microsoft
- Computex 2011
- Windows 8
Here's a quick look at the new start screen for Windows 8 running on a Dell XPS Development Tablet. The tablet supports both touch and external keyboard interfaces. The UI is ridiculously smooth, it seems even quicker than Windows Phone 7.
On tablets Windows 8 will support PlayBook like bezel gestures (the gestures actually take place on the first pixel next to the bezel, apparently not in the bezel itself). Gestures for the OS take place on the left/right edges of the screen, while app gestures happen on the top/bottom bezel.
Swipe in from the right to reveal the start button, and swipe in from the left to multitask. You just swipe between active apps like you would on a PlayBook.
The interface doesn't require a touchscreen, Microsoft showed how you can multitask or switch between screens using a keyboard on a standard PC as well. This will be a common interface across all Windows 8 devices, tablet or standard PC.
Tapping the start button switches between the standard Windows desktop and the new tile interface. You can even display multiple applications on the screen at the same time using Windows 8's snap feature.
With a widescreen display (apparently snap isn't supported yet on 4:3s) you can display two apps side by side in the new tablet style UI:
You can even have a standard Windows 8 desktop on one side and a new Windows 8 app on the other.
Microsoft also mentioned that Windows 8 will have the same system requirements or lower vs Windows 7.
Gallery: Windows 8 Tablet & PC Interface
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neuralclone - Friday, June 3, 2011 - link
Why would they even consider this interface on a desktop? It may be easy for grandma to use, but it's incredibly counterproductive for getting anything done quickly.I'm waiting for this 'app' fad to go away, just like 3D movies. But it's not, unfortunately.
azazel1024 - Friday, June 3, 2011 - link
With some tweaks and customizability I think its actually a decent tablet interface. I'd hate the living daylights out of it for a desktop or laptop interface, but it sounds like you have that option (a traditional windowsesque desktop). To a large degree interoperability and interchangability between what I am running on a tablet and what I am running on my desktop or laptop are something I'd really, really like. Especially a real file system that you can mess with (on tablet, I can already do that on my Windows 7 and earlier installs).Besides, if ARM apps won't run on Windows 8 x86 machines and vice versa, so I'll just hop on the next gen Atom tablet band wagon in a couple of years.
iOS works just fine for me on my iPad 2, but anything like that on a desktop would be anethema. OSX is a great big ball of fail when it comes to a laptop or desktop environment, at least for how I use full on PCs. I certainly wish there was more I could do with iOS, but with a tablet I am much less of a "power user" than I am with a desktop and there are enough apps that allow me to do the most important things I want to do, even if they aren't native OS options (such as SMB/CIFS access, wake-on-LAN, RDP). More integration between the two would be really, really nice though and being able to run apps interchangably wouldn't be the worst thing ever. Thus I look forward to a good Windows 8 OS (or I should say I am hoping for a good one so that I can ditch Apple/iOS).
12qw12 - Monday, March 5, 2012 - link
thumbs up if u like windows 8 more than osx lion. I cant wait much longer for it's release .......microsoft be fast!!