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Joined on stage by Julie Larson-Green, Microsoft's corporate vice president, Windows Experience, Sinofsky began by providing Windows 8 demonstrations that built on those already provided in June. As the executives showed, the OS will default to the "Metro-style" user interface (below), with live tiles, that Microsoft has already made familiar via Windows 8.
"Virtually everything you can do with a mouse and keyboard [also] happens with the swipe of your hand -- panning, zooming, organizing and arranging yourapps so theyre customized to your preference," Microsoft promised. And Windows 8 will include a "chromeless," full-screen version of the Internet Explorer 10 web browser, the company added.
No immediate revelations were provided on whether Windows 8 will run unaltered Windows Phone 7 applications, or whether its "big Windows" kernel will be turned into a rearchitected Windows Phone 8 operating system, as some rumors have suggested. (On that score, more information may yet emerge from BUILD.)
Meanwhile, Sinofsky promised that Windows 8 will:
Sinofsky said Windows 8 will offer the Windows Runtime (WinRT), described as a "straightforward set of APIs used to build Metro-style apps. WinRT APIs will be available to developers in multiple languages, including JavaScript, C++, C#, and Visual Basic. Further, a Windows SDK for Metro-style apps will include not only HTML5 and CSS3 APIs, but also a subset of traditional Win32, Component Object Model (COM), and .NET Framework APIs, according to Microsoft.
On x86 and x64 PCs -- though not ARM-powered ones -- Windows 8 will run legacy apps (such as Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and a myriad of others), Microsoft promised. Users will be able to launch these from Metro via assigned tiles, or they'll be able to touch/click on a tile that starts up the traditional Windows desktop (which itself is now nothing more than an app), the company says.
Showing that power users haven't been forgotten, Microsoft also showed off tools such as a revised control panel and a Metro-style Remote Desktop client. Windows 8 will also have improved multiple-monitor options that will allow displaying the Start screen on one monitor and the desktop on another, and will also allow multiple task bars.
A developer preview and new tools
According to Microsoft, BUILD attendees are being provided with a preview build of Windows 8 that is also downloadable from the new Windows Dev Center website. Both attendees and downloaders can also obtain a new version of Visual Studio Express (below) that allows creating apps using any of the languages Windows 8 supports, the company adds.
Visual Studio Express is packaged with Expression Blend, a visual designtool that helps programmers work with HTML5 and XAML and also give you access to Windows controls, says Microsoft. Also included will be "a full set of tools and interfaces to help you write, build, compile, sign, test, debug, and verify drivers, along with tools to port your existing driver files to new Visual Studio Express project and solution files."
Microsoft says the Windows Dev Center site will also provide app developers a Dashboard that allows monitoring the success of software they're selling on the Windows 8 app store. Available reports will include the number of downloads, revenue, usage, in-app transactions, customer ratings, and market trends, says the company.
Also promised is the ability to access reports and telemetry data that show failure-based and cause-centric data indicating how reliable products are in the field. "Consistent and actionable" information will reveal how often apps crash or hang, how they compare to other apps in the Windows 8 ecosystem (no personal or company information is revealed), Microsoft adds.
Microsoft additionally says Windows 8 will include enhanced security capabilities, easier-to-use cryptography, SmartScreen technology (for defending the system from malicious websites and malware), plus a secured boot facility that makes it "significantly more resistant to low-level attacks." The company also repeated earlier information that Windows 8 will boot much faster than Windows 7, since it can hibernate its operating system kernel session instead of shutting it down.
Finally, "Windows 8 works great on the same hardware that powers Windows Vista and Windows 7," Microsoft promised. This means a 1GHz or faster 32- or 64-bit processor, 1GB of RAM (32-bit) or 2GB (64-bit), 20GB of available disk space, and a DirectX 9 (or better) graphics adapter.
Although executives branded at least one ARM-powered Windows 8 tablet during the keynotes, such devices apparently aren't stable enough to be let into the wild. Instead, BUILD attendees are receiving a Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC that, apart from coming with a Windows 8 beta installation, is apparently much the same as the Samsung Series 7 tablet announced last month.
Developers apparently won't have to suffer wimpy Atom power, since the Series 7 tablet made its debut with a Core i5-2467M CPU (1.6GHz clock speed, dual cores, and 17-Watt TDP), 4GB of RAM, and 64GB or 128GB of SSD storage. The Series 7 tablet also includes an 11.6-inch capacitive touchscreen and a stylus, apparently paired with an active digitizer from Wacom.
Availability
Microsoft did not discuss a final release date for Windows 8, saying only that after this week's developer preview, there will be a beta, an RC (Release Candidate), and then an RTM (release to manufacturing). Meanwhile, Engadget is hosting what appear to be two detailed, official documents for developers in PDF format, a Windows 8 Developer Preview Guide and Windows 8 Developers Build Fact Sheet.
The Stephen Sinofsky keynote mentioned in this story is replayable from the BUILD website. Additional information may also be found via a Sept. 13 posting on the Building Windows 8 blog.
Jonathan Angel can be reached at jonathan.angel@ziffdavisenterprise.com and followed at www.twitter.com/gadgetsense.
