Microsoft Windows 8

Windows 8 is the upcoming version of Microsoft Windows that follows Windows 7. It features a new Metro-style interface that is designed for touchscreen, mouse, keyboard, and pen input. It also adds support for the ARM processor architecture in addition to the previously supported x86 microprocessors from Intel and AMD. Its server counterpart is codenamed Windows Server 8. A release date for the finished version of Windows 8 has not yet been announced. The most recent pre-release version is the Consumer Preview, which was released on February 29, 2012.

Development

Early announcements

In January 2011, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft announced that Windows 8 would be adding support for ARM microprocessors in addition to the x86 microprocessors from Intel, AMD and VIA.

On June 1, 2011, Microsoft officially unveiled Windows 8 and some of its new features at the Taipei Computex 2011 in Taipei (Taiwan) by Mike Angiulo and at the D9 conference in California (United States) by Julie Larson-Green and Microsoft's Windows President Steven Sinofsky. The main feature that was shown was the new user interface.

On August 15, 2011, Microsoft opened a new blog called "Building Windows 8" for users and developers.

Milestone leaks

1. A 32-bit Milestone 1 build, build 7850, with a build date of September 22, 2010, was leaked to BetaArchive, an online beta community, and to P2P/torrent sharing networks as well on April 12, 2011. Milestone 1 includes a ribbon interface for Windows Explorer, a PDF reader called Modern Reader, an updated task manager called Modern Task Manager, and native ISO image mounting.
2. A 32-bit Milestone 2 build, build 7927, was leaked to The Pirate Bay on August 29, 2011 right after many pictures leaked on BetaArchive the day before. Features of this build are mostly the same as build 7955.
3. A 32-bit Milestone 2 build, build 7955, was leaked to BetaArchive on April 25, 2011. Features of this build included a new pattern login and a new file system known as Protogon, which is now known as ReFS and only included in server versions.
4. A Milestone 3 build, build 7971, was released to close partners of Microsoft on March 29, 2011 but was kept under heavy security. However, a few screenshots were leaked. The "Windows 7 Basic" theme now uses similar metrics to the Aero style, but maintains its non-hardware accelerated design, and also supports taskbar thumbnails. The boxes that encase the "close, maximize, and minimize" buttons have been removed, leaving just the signs.
5. A 64-bit Milestone 3 build, build 7989, leaked to Win7vista on June 18, 2011 after screenshots were revealed on MDL (My Digital Life) forums. An SMS feature, a new virtual keyboard, a new bootscreen, transparency in the basic theme, geo-location services, Hyper-V 3.0, and PowerShell 3.0 were revealed in this build.

Developer preview and BUILD conference

Microsoft unveiled new Windows 8 features and improvements on September 13, 2011, day one of the BUILD developer conference. Microsoft also released a developer preview (build 8102) of Windows 8 for the developer community to download and start working with. This developer preview includes tools for building "metro style apps", such as Microsoft Windows SDK for Metro style applications, Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows 8 Developer Preview and Microsoft Expression Blend 5 developer preview. According to Microsoft, there were more than 500,000 downloads of the developer preview within the first 12 hours of its release. The Developer Preview introduced the Start screen. The Start button opens the Start screen instead of the Start menu in this build.
On 16 February 2012, Microsoft postponed the expiration date of the developer preview. Originally set to expire on 11 March 2012, this release is now set to expire on 15 January 2013.

Consumer Preview

On 29 February 2012, Microsoft released Windows 8 Consumer Preview, the beta version of Windows 8, build 8250. For the first time since Windows 95, the Start button is no longer available on the taskbar, though the Start screen is still triggered by clicking the bottom-left corner of the screen and by clicking Start in the Charm. Windows president Steven Sinofsky said more than 100,000 changes had been made since the developer version went public. In the first day of its release, Windows 8 Consumer Preview was downloaded over one million times.

Windows 8 New features

Metro UI

Windows 8 will employ a new user interface based on Microsoft's Metro design language. The Metro environment will feature a new tile-based Start screen similar to the Windows Phone operating system. Each tile will represent an application, and will be able to display relevant information such as the number of unread messages on the tile for an e-mail app or the current temperature on a weather application. Metro-style applications run in full-screen, and are able to share information between each other using "contracts". They will be available through the new Windows Store. Metro-style apps are developed with the new Windows Runtime platform using various programming languages, including C++, Visual Basic, C#, and HTML/JavaScript.

The traditional desktop environment, for running desktop applications, is treated as a Metro app. The Start button has been removed from the taskbar in favor of a Start button on the new charm bar, as well as a hotspot in the bottom-left corner. Both open the new Start screen, which replaces the Start menu.

Other features

1. Internet Explorer 10 will be included both as a Metro-style app, which will not support plugins or ActiveX components, and a desktop version which resembles Internet Explorer 9 and will maintain legacy plug-in support.
2. Ability to sign in using a Windows Live ID. This will allow for the user's profile and setting to be synchronized over the internet and accessible from other computers running Windows 8, as well as integration with SkyDrive.
3. Two new authentication methods: picture password, which allows users to log in by drawing three gestures in different places on a picture, and PIN log in, which allows users to authenticate using a four digit pin.
4. Windows Explorer will include a ribbon toolbar, and have its file operation progress dialog updated to provide more detailed statistics, the ability to pause file transfers, and improvements in the ability to manage conflicts when copying files.
5. Hybrid Boot will use "advanced hibernation functionality" on shutdown to allow faster startup times.
6. Windows To Go will allow Windows 8 to be run from a bootable USB device (such as a flash drive).
7. Two new recovery functions are included, Refresh and Reset. Refresh restores all Windows files to their original state while keeping settings, files, and Metro-Style apps, while reset takes the computer back to factory default condition.
8. Native USB 3.0 support
9. A new lock screen

Secure boot

Secure boot is a controversial UEFI-based feature to "prevent unauthorized firmware, operating systems, or UEFI drivers from running at boot time".

Microsoft will require new PCs to have the UEFI secure boot feature enabled by default to be given Windows 8 certification. Microsoft requires that manufacturers must offer the ability to turn off the secure boot feature on x86 hardware, but they must not offer such an option on ARM hardware.

Effects on the use of other operating systems

In September 2011, Matthew Garrett, a Red Hat developer, raised the possible risk of Microsoft locking out alternative systems, leading to media coverage. Microsoft addressed the issue in a blog post, stating "the customer is in control of their PC. Microsoft’s philosophy is to provide customers with the best experience first, and allow them to make decisions themselves" which was largely interpreted that they would allow OEM manufacturers to choose whether to allow users to disable the feature or not, however in January 2012, the company reversed their position and revealed ARM manufacturers must not allow Secure Boot to be disabled, causing concerns, particularly in the Linux community.

Canonical and Red Hat, two of the biggest companies involved with Linux, released a whitepaper regarding the issue, recommending that "PCs include a User Interface to easily enable or disable Secure Boot".

In reaction to the situation, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, writing for ZDNet, suggested Microsoft is locking out other systems for vendor lock-in reasons, among other hypotheses. Glyn Moody Writing for PCWorld, noted "The concern here, of course, is that Microsoft's approach seems to be making it hard if not impossible to install GNU/Linux on hardware systems certified for Windows 8." Thom Holwerda, writing for OSnews, a website dedicated to alternative operating systems, argued "This effectively makes it impossible to boot anything but Windows 8 on these ARM devices" adding that secure boot has the effect of "rendering these devices entirely useless as general computing devices" The FSF also criticized the decision, saying "Microsoft has pushed its power grab even further on ARM computers".

New Feature Of Windows 8

Windows 8 is expected to include several new features, including native USB 3.0 support, Microsoft Account Integration, the Windows Store, the ability to run from USB Flash drives with Windows To Go, and easier system restore options, among others.

Development platform                                                                                                               

Language and standards support

Windows 8 has a new developer platform according to Microsoft Vice President Julie Larson-Green, who called it "our new developer platform, which is...based on HTML5 and JavaScript."  The new applications developed for Windows 8 could be easily ported as aMetro-style application and developers could use any existing Windows Application Development language to port applications as a Metro-style app (by adding minimal amount of code). This is possible because of the architectural changes done to the Windows platform. All applications developed – whether using C#, MFC, or HTML5/JavaScript – will translate into the WinRT APIs, which sits directly above the Windows kernel. The new applications run in full-screen, but two of them can be displayed side-by-side using "Snap". Examples of new applications that were demoed include a Twitter client, a weather application, a stock-tracking application, an RSSnews feeder, and a virtual piano.

The new platform is primarily designed for 16:9 screen resolutions, with 1366×768 and larger screens able to display two Windows 8 "Metro-style" applications side-by-side by "snapping". 1024×768 screens can display one application in full-screen, and 1024×600 screens can only use the traditional desktop applications. 

Windows 8 also introduces APIs to support near field communication (NFC) on Windows 8 devices, allowing functionality like launching URLs/applications and sharing of information between devices via NFC. 

Windows Store
Microsoft has confirmed the introduction of a Windows Store on Windows 8, similar to the Ubuntu Software Center, and Mac App Store, that allows developers to publish their Metro-style applications on Windows 8 devices. The Windows Store will also allow developers to publish their Win32 or "traditional desktop" applications; however, the store will only provide links to such applications on their websites. Ted Dworkin, a Partner Director of Program Management on the Windows Web Services team said that the Windows Store will be the only means of distributing Metro-style apps to users to allow Microsoft to scan apps for security flaws and malware. 

Shell and user interface                                                                                  

Metro-style user interface

Windows 8 features an extensively redesigned "Metro-style" user interface, optimized for touchscreens as well as mice and keyboards. A new "Start screen", similar to the one in Windows Phone 7, includes live application tiles. The start screen replaces the Start menu, being triggered by the Windows key and Start button, and is also the first screen shown on start up. The user can go to the regular desktop, which is treated as a Metro app with its own "Desktop" tile on the Start screen. Starting a traditional desktop-based application also switches to the desktop. The Start screen also displays the user's name and picture.


Metro applications run in full-screen, or two can be displayed on higher resolutions by snapping one to the side of the screen.
Windows 8 features a new login/lock screen that shows the date and time and notifications, along with a customizable background.

New logon methodsPIN

Instead of typing a password, users can create a four-digit PIN for easy logon to the computer. This feature is optimized for tablet PCs, but it is also available to desktop and laptop users.

Picture Password
Another authentication method, the picture password, allows users to use a set of gestures in the selected picture to login. These gestures will take into account the shape, the start and end points, as well as the directionality. However, the shapes and gestures are limited to tapping and tracing a line or circle. Microsoft found that limiting the gestures improved the speed of sign-ins by three times compared to allowing freeform methods. Wrong gestures will always deny a login, and it will lock out the PC after five unsuccessful attempts, until a text password is provided. 

Taskbar
Windows 8 provides a configurable taskbar in the traditional Windows desktop that spans multiple monitors. This spanning can be turned on and off and is used to display the minimized windows. Similarly, Windows 8 provides the user with the ability to show different wallpapers on different monitors, or the same wallpaper stretched across multiple monitors. The Start button has been removed, but the user can still click in the bottom left corner of the screen to open the Start screen.

Windows Explorer
Similar to Microsoft Office 2010 and Windows Live Essentials, the re-designed Windows Explorer will use the Ribbon interface to enhance discoverability of commands and bring relevant commands to users depending on their file selection. For example, selecting photos in a folder brings up tools to rotate the photos and to start a slide show. The interface was selected to bring forward the most commonly used commands for easy access.
Additionally, Windows Explorer features a redesigned preview pane that takes advantage of widescreen layouts and the "Up" button removed from Windows Explorer in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is now included in the interface.
Windows Explorer will feature a new user interface for copying and moving files, offering both a simplified interface and an advanced interface for users to monitor the speed of the operations. Users now view all simultaneous file operations in one consolidated window, and can pause file operations in progress. A new interface has also been introduced for managing file name collisions in a file operation, allowing users to easily control which conflicting files are copied.
Windows Explorer can now mount ISO, IMG, and VHD files as virtual drives through simple right-clicks or the Explorer toolbar as compared to Windows 7 where VHDs could be mounted in a less-discoverable way, via the Disk Management section in the Computer Management MMC, or by using diskpart from the command line. 

Task Manager
Windows 8 includes an overhauled version of Windows Task Manager where the following changes were made.

1. The tabs are hidden by default. This view only shows applications
2. Resource utilization in the Processes tab is shown with various shades of yellow, with darker color representing heavier use.
3. The Performance tab is split into CPU, memory, disk, Ethernet, and wireless network (if applicable) sections. There are overall graphs for each, and clicking on one reaches details for that particular resource
4. The CPU tab no longer displays individual graphs for every logical processor on the system by default. It now can show data for each NUMA node
5. The CPU tab now displays simple percentages on heat-mapping tiles to display utilization for systems with many (64 or more, up to 640) logical processors.
6. The color used for these heat maps is blue, with darker color again indicating heavier utilization
7. Hovering the cursor over any logical processor's data now shows the NUMA node of that processor and its ID
8. A new Startup tab has been added that lists startup applications
9. The Processes tab now lists application names, application status, and overall usage data for CPU, memory, hard disk, and network resources for each process
10. The new task manager recognizes when a WinRT application is in "Suspended" status
11. The normal process information found in the older Task Manager can be found in the new Details tab

New easy restore                                                                                                                                      
The Developer Preview comes with two new recovery functions, namely Refresh and Reset, both of which make a complete restore easier than a re-installation. The former keeps all settings and files of the user intact and only reverses all changes to Windows files to its original state and removes all installed programs and apps. The latter deletes all files and effectively re-installs Windows, but without any additional user input such as agreeing to license agreements or selecting a hard disk required. After a reset completes, the user will be asked for the product key and will then proceed to account creation. 

Family Safety                                                                                                                                            
Family Safety will allow Administrators to monitor and restrict user activity via web filtering, application restriction, and computer usage time limits. 

Microsoft account integration                                                                                                                  
User accounts do not have to be local-only anymore, but can be linked up to one's Microsoft account. This has the advantage that users will not lose their settings and files, as they move from their home computer to their work laptop or to any other computer also using Windows 8, and signing in via their Microsoft account. 

Windows To Go                                                                                                                                         

Windows To Go is an upcoming Windows 8 Enterprise feature that will allow users to create a bootable USB Flash drive (usually called a Live USB) with Windows 8 in it, including the user's programs, settings, and files. It is planned to work on both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, and both on legacy BIOS and UEFI firmware. In addition to that, the system will pause if the USB drive is removed, and will resume operation if the drive is returned within 60 seconds of removal. 

Storage Spaces                                                                                                                                        

Storage Spaces is a storage virtualization technology which succeeds Logical Disk Manager and allows the organization of physical disks into logical volumes similar to Logical Volume Manager (Linux), RAID1 or RAID5, but on a higher level. 

A storage space will behave like a physical disk to the user, with thin provisioning of available disk space. The spaces are organized within a storage pool, i.e. a collection of physical disks, which can span multiple disks of different sizes and different interfaces (USB, SATA, SAS). The process of adding new disks or replacing failed or older disks is fully automatic, but can be controlled withPowerShell commands. The same storage pool can host multiple storage spaces. Storage Spaces have built-in resiliency from disk failures, which is achieved by either mirroring or striping with parity across the physical disks. Each storage pool on the ReFSfilesystem is limited to 4 PB (4096 TB), but there are no limits on the total number of storage pools or the number of storage spaces within a pool.

Device support                                                                                                                                          

USB 3.0

Windows 8 will have built-in support of USB 3.0 for better power management and longer battery life. 

New architecture support                                                                                                                        

Windows 8 will support System on a Chip (SoC) architectures, including ARM-based systems. On the x86 architecture, Intel Corporation and AMD continue their work on low-power SoC designs that support Windows. 

Other features and changes                                                                                                                     

Activation

Mike Angiulo confirmed at Computex 2011 that Windows 8 will use OEM Activation 3.0 instead of OEM Activation 2.1 (used by Windows 7), which supposedly makes it less prone to cracks.

Virtualization

Windows 8 will also include Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization software. Previously only offered in Windows Server, Hyper-V will now be available in client versions of Windows for the first time. The system requirements for Hyper-V are a 64-bit processor, a 64-bit version of Windows 8, and a minimum of 4 GB of RAM. Hyper-V also requires a 64-bit system that has Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), a feature that helps with memory management. Many of Intel's and AMD's recent processors support this feature, including many of Intel's i-Series processors (with Extended Page Table) and AMD's 10h family processors.

Shorter boot times

On September 8, 2011, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 has short boot times, because it saves the kernel's memory to the hard disk on shutdown (similar to the existing hibernate option) and reloads it on start up.

Boot security

Windows 8 will support the UEFI secure boot feature. This will enable a new foundation for an architecturally neutral approach to platform and firmware security. It is based on a public key infrastructure (PKI) process to validate firmware images before they are allowed to execute. A secure boot helps reduce the risk of boot loader attacks.

New Virtual Hard Disk format

Windows 8 offers a new VHD format, called .vhdx, which supports up to 16 terabytes of storage. It reportedly has built-in resiliency as well as protection from corruption that can happen during power failures. It also helps prevent performance degradation on some large-sector physical disks.

Windows Display Driver Model                                                                                                                

Windows 8 includes WDDM 1.2 and DirectX Graphics Infrastructure (DXGI) 1.2. New features were first previewed at the Windows BUILD conference and include performance improvements as well as support for stereoscopic 3D rendering and video playback.

Other major features include preemptive multitasking with finer granularity (DMA buffer, primitive, triangle, pixel, or instruction-level), reduced memory footprint, improved resource sharing, and faster timeout detection and recovery. 16-bit color surface formats (565, 5551, 4444) are mandatory in Windows 8, and Direct3D 11 Video supports YUV 4:4:4/4:2:2/4:2:0/4:1:1 video formats with 8, 10, and 16-bit precision, as well as 4 and 8-bit palletized formats.