Microsoft Unveils Windows 8

You already knew from the early "developer preview" of Windows 8 that Microsoft released in September just how radically different this version of the company's ubiquitous operating system is from its predecessors. But now that Microsoft on Wednesday unleashed a more complete preview version of Windows 8 — which consumers can get their hands on — we really are on the threshold of a whole new era of personal computing.

Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows and Windows Live, at the Windows 8 Consumer Preview presentation
at the Mobile World Congress.

The stakes for Microsoft and the entire computing ecosystem are enormous. This new era is built around tablets as much as traditional laptops and desktops, and multi-touch as much as the keyboard and mouse. At the same time Microsoft marches toward Windows 8, archrival Apple is revving up a new version of Mac OS X called Mountain Lion.

And Apple has a huge lead in tablets with the iPad, a new version of which is expected to be unveiled in San Francisco next week.

For its part, Windows 8 provides consumers the flexibility to go back and forth between touch and the keyboard and mouse. And this cloud based operating system — Windows 8 is tied into various Microsoft services online, including SkyDrive, where you can store and access documents and pictures — is designed to work on all types of hardware.

"With Windows 8, we reimagined the different ways people interact with their PC and how to make everything feel like a natural extension of the device, whether using a Windows 8 tablet, laptop or all-in-one," said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft. Sinofsky calls Windows 8 "a generational change for Windows."

Microsoft announced the availability of the "consumer preview" at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

This version of Windows 8 isn't quite final but pretty darn close, and you can download it for free at preview.windows.com. I got an early look at it on a Samsung test tablet. (Microsoft says that to date the developer preview received more than 3 million downloads.)

Keep in mind that however far along, this is still a test version that carries some risks. Not all your peripherals or software drivers will be compatible at this stage, and bugs are to be expected. Microsoft says a report will be generated during setup to alert you to known issues. Moreover, the "beta" will eventually expire (and you can't retreat to Windows 7 or earlier versions when that happens), though that's likely to be well after Windows 8 actually goes on sale.

Microsoft wouldn't give firm dates and didn't reveal pricing or other details in Barcelona. But a very reasonable assumption is the fall.

So what can you expect? Highlights:

As with the developer preview, you notice the dramatic turn in Windows from the very start — even before you get to the newly designed Start screen. At your option, you can log in with a picture password, instead of the standard typed password, by "drawing" a chosen image with your finger on the touch-screen in a predetermined pattern. You can see notifications from Twitter and Facebook.

From the Start screen you can view the weather, appointments, contacts, and more — you get to choose how the information is organized.

Suffice to say it looks very different from your daddy's Windows. At the core of the new operating system is an attractive, customizable user layout called Metro, similar to what folks using the latest Windows Phones see, and based on colorful and dynamic touchable tiles of different sizes rather than standard icons to display information.

You can click on a Desktop tile to return to a more familiar Windows layout. You can pin apps you use frequently.

If you have a touch-capable computer or tablet, you can switch among apps, pan and zoom and get around through finger gestures. You can tap to launch an app, follow a link and so on. Swiping from the right or left edge of the screen summons system commands called "charms." You can slide to pan or scroll through lists and pages. A feature called semantic zoom gives you a birds-eye view of your system and makes it easier to navigate a computer with lots on it.

You can type with one of two onscreen touch keyboards, a full-size version with large buttons or a thumb keyboard for when you're on the go. The latter splits the keyboard on the screen and is designed for portable devices.

Of course, you can also plug in a physical keyboard and/or a mouse.

Each of the various actions has a mouse equivalent, and there are keyboard shortcuts too.

Microsoft will supply a set of apps, including a mail program containing all your accounts in one place (Hotmail, Gmail, Exchange, etc.).

Similarly a photo app brings in albums from the likes of Facebook, Flickr and SkyDrive. A people app consolidates an address book with contacts from Hotmail, Messenger, Twitter, LinkedIn, Gmail and so on.

You can also chat in Messaging with pals on Messenger and Facebook.

And a music app will connect to the Zune Marketplace. App controls are hidden until you need them. A video store will let you buy or rent first run movies and TV shows.

With the consumer preview comes the beta launch of the Windows Store.

It will feature free and fee-based downloadable apps, from Microsoft and various third parties including USA TODAY, demonstrated during Microsoft's Barcelona launch. At the event, Microsoft showed off a version of the popular Cut the Rope game for Windows 8. For now apps are free to try.

Eventually if you buy an app on one Windows 8 PC, you can sign into the store and install it on up to 5 other computers. Microsoft says the store will organize offerings into categories. There'll be purchase recommendations. But the store was not available in the days leading up to the consumer preview launch. The various Metro-style apps can take advantage of the live tiles to display info even when they're not running.

Though the new operating system looks different, if you open a familiar app such as Word or Powerpoint, it looks and works the same as before.

There's more. A new preview version of the venerable Internet Explorer browser IE 10 also arrives with Windows 8. It promises an edge-to-edge Web experience on the screen — with navigational controls that are concealed.

Microsoft claims Windows 8 won't put excess demands on power, leading in theory to energy efficiencies and better battery life on ultrabook computers, tablets and other hardware. Time will tell. And the company says that if your computer has the specifications to run Windows Vista it should handle Windows 8.

I'm impressed by what I see. But I'll still reserve judgement until doing a final review on an actual product. No matter how stable (and fast and fluid), given the nature of any early operating release I'd recommend most consumers wait for a final version of Windows before plunging forward. But if you're the least bit curious, and a little bit tech savvy, go ahead and take a spin.

Republished from USAToday