Apparently leaked secret documents outlining a product strategy for Windows 8 indicate that Microsoft is taking cues from Apple to design its new operating system, which may be released as early as 2012 and represent an evolutionary stage above Windows 7 and not the revolutionary new operating system Microsoft may need.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote an article about Microsoft running out of ideas, under the headline 2011: Microsoft Has Run Out Of Ideas. There is a 2012 sequel to that story, at least if slides that have been published by an Italian blog are, in fact, authentic. The slides, which have been apparently removed by now, but are available on several websites of European publications, provide us with the best clues how Windows 8 will look like.
Most interestingly, there are no major new features outlined other than ideas that can be directly traced to origins at Apple. Microsoft has obviously monitored Apple and its OS model, as Microsoft recognizes that people will pay for a “virtuous cycle” that has created a “high quality” Apple brand that delivers brand loyalty. Windows 8 will, in turn, provide brand value and help people understand a certain, higher value.
Another Apple idea will be the integration of an App Store for applications that will run in full-screen mode. However, ironically, Microsoft is taking a much more traditional Windows approach than Apple does with its app store. (This App Store may, by the way, the reason why Microsoft is fighting Apple for the app store trademark.) The Windows 8 App Store is not just a way for people to acquire new apps, but also to recover old apps – if the PC crashes and suffers data loss. Windows 8 would be able to automatically reinstall apps.
There is very little information about other new features that are overall new. Microsoft hints that cameras in PCs may be ubiquitous in PCs in 2012, and it may be time to use facial recognition techniques for user logons. I admit, it is a bit of a stretch to conclude because of that remark that Windows 8 will surface in 2012, but given the fact that Windows 8 has already been released as M2 and if we keep in mind that it too Microsoft less than 10 months to take Windows 7 from M2 to a closed Windows 7 beta, then it is likely that we will see Windows 8 in the 2012 timeframe, before Christmas. However, the pressure to release Windows 7 was much greater than Windows 8, which will succeed a fairly successful OS.
Facial recognition is designed to replace the password for user logon and the entire Windows experience will switch from a machine experience to a “user experience”. there was no detailed explanation given but we would assume that this has to do with a customized interface and app installations and a much more personal experience that inches closer to “user aware computing” – a concept we have been hearing about for at least 10 years.
However, as far as we can tell from the slides, Microsoft’s logon idea is much more a new version of Google’s Chrome OS logon system, as Microsoft also aims to stores those data in the cloud and enable the PC to sign on to software and services itself. We don’t see much more than a facial-recognition enhanced Chrome OS sign on here.
Microsoft, did you, in fact, run out of any new ideas? Is it time for an evolutionary OS or a revolutionary OS?
You can find all slides
here ◄ German. There is also a website that claims to have the first
Windows 8 M2 screenshots ◄ Italian.
