Microsoft is preparing to release its Consumer Preview of Windows 8 (beta) sometime in the next few weeks. Although many details of the upcoming operating system have already been revealed, a few new leaks suggest the company has some radical new alterations in store for users.
Chief among these, possibly, is the loss of the Start button that long-occupied the left-bottom corner of the Windows desktop. According to The Verge, which cited anonymous sources “close to Microsoft’s Windows 8 development”, the Start button that first appeared in Windows 95 is gone, having been replaced by a “hot corner” and a “thumbnail-like user interface” that offers previews of “where you will navigate to after clicking on the new visual element”.
Either touch or mouse input will activate this new interface. In contrast to past versions of the operating system, Windows 8 will feature a start-screen of large, colourful tiles linked to applications – the better to touch, in the case of tablets. Users will also have the option of flipping to a more traditional desktop interface.
Microsoft is actively tweaking Windows 8 in response to user feedback from the Developer Preview and its blog postings. It has also adjusted the copy operation to pause in the event of system hibernation or sleep, and included a new option to the conflict-resolution dialog box for two files allocated the same name.
“By checking the box in the bottom left of the dialog,” read a note on the blog, “you can filter out all files that match on name, size (down to the byte), and time (down to the granularity of the file system timestamp: two seconds for FAT, 100 nanoseconds for NTFS). The system will skip copying or moving these files.”
If Microsoft ends up releasing the final version of Windows 8 late in 2012, it will be exactly three years since it launched Windows 7, which became a monster seller and, for many users, eliminated much of the bad door associated with the much-maligned Windows Vista. However, the success of Windows 7 could also work against Windows 8, if users feel they have upgraded too recently to consider doing it again.
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Sooo they're aiming to be a slightly crap Apple? The very thing I like about Windows is I can dive into the folder directory easily. I have the wit to put my own shortcuts on the desktop, although making them dynamic to inform of new email etc would be helpful.