Welcome to Building Windows 8

Building the next release of Microsoft Windows is an industry-wide effort that Microsoft approaches with a strong sense of responsibility and humility. Windows 8 reimagines Windows for a new generation of computing devices, and will be the very best operating system for hundreds of millions of PCs, new and old, used by well over a billion people globally.

We've been hard at work designing and building Windows 8, and today we want to begin an open dialog with those of you who will be trying out the pre-release version over the coming months. We intend to post regularly throughout the development of Windows 8, and to focus on the engineering of the product. Welcome to “Building Windows 8,” or as we call it, “B8.”

For the Windows team, this blog is an important part of developing Windows 8, as was our blog for Windows 7. Blogging allows us to have a two-way dialog with you about design choices, real-world data and usage, and new opportunities that are part of Windows 8. Together, we will start the unique adventure of bringing a major product to market. We’re genuinely excited to talk about the development of Windows 8 and to engage thoughtfully with the community of passionate end-users, developers, and information professionals.

Reimagining Windows from chips to experience

Windows 8 reimagines Windows. That's a big statement and one that we will return to throughout this blog. It is also important to know that we're 100% committed to running the software and supporting the hardware that is compatible with over 400 million Windows 7 licenses already sold and all the Windows 7 yet to be sold.

But so much has changed since Windows 95—the last time Windows was significantly overhauled—when the "desktop" metaphor was established. Today more than two out of three PCs are mobile (laptops, netbooks, notebooks, tablets, slates, convertibles, etc.). Nearly every PC is capable of wireless connectivity. Screen sizes range from under 10" to wall-sized screens and multiple HD screens. Storage has jumped from megabytes to terabytes and has moved up to the cloud. The appearance of touch-screen mobile phones with the rich capabilities they bring, have together changed the way we all view computing. Most of all, computing is much more focused on applications and on people than on the operating system itself or the data. These changes in the landscape motivate the most significant changes to Windows, from the chips to the experience.

We showed you a preview of Windows 8 in June, demonstrating the user experience and providing an update on ARM SoC support. The next major event for Windows is our BUILD conference in September, where we will provide developers with more details about the full spectrum of tools and capabilities available to make the most of Windows 8. This blog is a chance for us to discuss the details and provide a behind the scenes look at the evolution of Windows 8.

With our preview in June, we started by showing you user experience, because it is the most visible change to Windows. Rest assured we've thoughtfully engineered changes across the full range of Windows capabilities. But this presents us a challenge in deciding where to start the dialog.

We know people who care a lot about networking want to know our plans there. We know people who are invested heavily in storage want to know what is new in that area. Many want to know about performance and fundamentals. We know developers, IT pros, and gamers all want to know what's new for them. There is so much packed into Windows 8 and there are so many unique and important lenses through which to view Windows 8, and so we want to be sure to take the time to cover as many of these topics as possible, to build up a shared understanding of why we’ve taken Windows where we have. So in the next weeks we will just start talking specifics of features, since there is no obvious place to start given the varying perspectives. From fundamentals, to user interface, to hardware support, and more, if something is important to you, we promise we'll get to it in some form or another.

We’ve heard people express frustration over how little we’ve communicated so far about Windows 8. We’ve certainly learned lessons over the years about the perils of talking about features before we have a solid understanding of our ability to execute.

Our intent with this pre-release blog is to make sure that we have a reasonable degree of confidence in what we talk about, before we talk about it. Our top priority is the responsibility we feel to our customers and partners, to make sure we’re not stressing priorities, churning resource allocations, or causing strategic confusion among the tens of thousands of you who care deeply and have much invested in the evolution of Windows. Rather than generating traffic or building excitement, this blog is here to provide a two-way dialog about the complexities and tradeoffs of product development.

Focusing on engineering

We started the Engineering Windows 7 blog in 2008 in recognition of the need to re-engage the community and rebuild trust relative to the engineering and design of Windows. While engineering Windows 7, we learned some great lessons and renewed our sense of responsibility to the community.

As we moved on to building Windows 8, we took those values and have built on them. Our focus on performance, reliability, compatibility, security, and quality is now baked into our engineering process even as we change Windows for a new generation. With these changes come new ways of doing work on Windows PCs as well as continual investments in hardware, software, and peripherals.

We intend to continue our dialog around performance and fundamental engineering of Windows. The feedback on these topics and the desire to talk about them in depth was clear during the development of Windows 7.

Starting our dialog

We know that blogging about Windows 8 will bring out the passionate opinions of many people, including members of our team. As a team we're all going to participate—many of us will author posts, and all of us will read and take note of your comments on this blog. We'll participate in a constructive dialog with you. We'll also make mistakes and admit it when we do. It is almost certain that something will hit a nerve, with the team or with the community, or both, in the blog posts or in the product, or both. In any case, we'll work hard to have constructive conversations with you, share the data, and, when the situation calls for it, make thoughtful changes.

Feel free to send us your thoughts via comments or email—we can't respond to every question we receive, but your suggestions for blog topics are welcome. The email contact link in the right pane goes straight to my inbox without any filter (except spam filtering). Please note that we are also making this blog available in several other languages (acting on feedback from the Engineering Windows 7 blog) and you can expect to see those posts within 48 hours of the English language post.

If you're looking for notifications of posts, then be sure to follow us on Twitter @BuildWindows8. Look for shortened URLs at "win8.ms" with links to posts and videos.

With that, we’ll just ask you to stay tuned and join us in this dialog about the engineering of Windows 8.

--Steven Sinofsky

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Great! Can't wait to hear more news about 8! I'm expecting from it so many new things!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Excellent! Glad to see the Engineering blog start up again, and I'm looking forward to reading future posts and to learning more at BUILD.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  We are all listening - I am worried and excited about what is coming next

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  AWESOME!!!!!! GO Sinofsky GOGO !!!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'm pretty worried about Windows 8. If I wanted my PC to look like my phone I'd just buy a tablet. Microsoft are making a grave mistake trashing the look that people love and enjoy. Tread carefully.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Very excited to see the windows engineering back on this path. I can't wait to heae more about windows8 internals, performance, minwin and how the new interface will be integrated with the traditional windows UI.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Sinofsky once again talking alot but not saying anything.  Not suprised.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Exciting stuff!  I feel as though everything is coming together for Microsoft...Windows 8, Windows Phone, Windows Azure, XBox, Skype integration, keep forging ahead guys.  Will be watching this blog and looking forward to BUILD in September.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Great! Loved Engineering Windows 7 and I hope this will be as good.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'm guessing that a LOT more specifics will be available as soon as the BUILD conference kicks off. Looking forward to it.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Indeed also worried about interface. Can we get a quick answer if what is being called "the new Windows 8 interface" is actually the new global interface, or just the new touch interface?

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I look forward to reading your progress on Windows 8 development, and I'm especially interested in SEEING more about it, so please... share plenty of screens as you go!A request... please finish the migration of Control Panel applets to the new style. Keyboard, Mouse, etc. should all be changed over.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  will there be a "phone" version of Win8?

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Hey, I love Windows8 on tablets, but not PC. Why? Because, this software isn't meant to run on all systems, only ones with touch. You'd be turning consumers down if you put it on a normal, non-touch display. People are used to the classic look, like it has for like 20 years or so, now. Give a survey and see what people think.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Glad to see the Windows Engineering team start the communication on Windows 8, a la the effort on Windows 7. Good stuff, engaging more one-to-many (with feedback! ;) with customers and partners.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  One thing i'd like to see improved in the next Windows is the file explorer. Most of the people i know in IT use some third party explorer like totalCommander, Opus Directory or xPlorer Lite, even on Windows 7, because they are faster, have splitted view and file batch processing.We don't only need user-big-finger friendlyness (even if its nice) but also productivity enhancement for professionals.Same thing for app launcher, Launchy is still better than the start menu launcher.And Powershell is really amazing, but should be more integrated in the explorer.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Try to get amazing battery life with Windows 8. That would be a KILLER feature on tablets!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I loved the "Engineering Windows 7" blog, and I'm glad that Windows 8 will get the same. I wish the teams good luck with the continued development and look forward to hear about it on the blog! Should be an interesting one!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  If Windows 8 == Windows 7 + ID3v2.4 support in Explorer and WMP, you won't hear any complaints from me.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  What was shown back in June had definitely potential and I've liked what I've seen.Still, I hope that there's going to be a way to drag "classic" applications out of the "legacy" desktop and force-run them as fullscreen applications as its own page integrated with the new UI. There's no reason to relegate an application into a jarringly disconnected environment, if it's going to run fullscreen anyway (say Adobe Lightroom).

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  As a web developer I am pleased to hear the web and its technologies will now be the premier way to interface with the operating system, and in this case, an operating system that will now be available on many different types of devices and platforms.This is indeed the future and it is with my firmest belief that Microsoft has bet right on this one.Windows 7, Xbox 360/Kinect, and WP7 (selling or not) are great consumer products so I expect nothing but greatness from Windows 8. Keep up the great work Steven and team!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  It would be great if this blog supported IE9 as a pinned site.  That way, I can be notified of any new posts.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  not bo bash but for most consumers, windows is a source of pain and frustration. something they relate to bad experiences at work and home. This is why ipads are successful. they are simple. The fact you are calling it windows makes me cringe. can't your marketing gurus come with a great catching name that people will love? you didn't call the xbox "windows game edition" did you. you see it can work. just think outside the windows.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I think the first thing you need to communicate to folks and keep stressing until they get it is that the classic look is there.. one click away, or if they want give them the option to make it the default..This has to be stressed a lot until people understand. Windows 8 is there to run everywhere (pc/tablet and hopefully phone) and should a user choose, can decide to run Windows 8 as Windows 7 like in classic mode. Am I the only one who saw the video where Windows 'classic' with the start button was there.. A click away?My understanding is as follow. Windows 8 will run everything Windows 7 runs + now is much much more touch centric en par with Windows Phone 7... why are people nervous? This needs to be communicated properly to re-assure folks.Another suggestion I have is for Windows 8 to be as configurable as possible.. nothing should be hard coded.. if i want 20 tiles across because i have a big screen, so be it.. if i want to boot into classic mode.. so be it.. users should switch on/off some flags to completely control how Windows 8 behaves/looks.. You can satisfy a lot of the complainers this way.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Will Windows 8 support playback of Blu-ray disks?  They have become increasingly popular over the past couple of years, due to their unrivaled video/audio quality and bonus feature support.  Currently, I have to deal with a buggy third-party player that was bundled with my computer.  It's slow, disables Aero while running, and makes Windows freeze up for 30 sec. while it loads.  It would be great if I could just pop in the disk and have it "just work", like you can do with DVDs in Windows 7.Also, I'm really curious about how new games will be developed for Windows 8 (games like Crysis 2, not Angry Birds).  I assume that they will integrate with XBOX Live, as they do on Windows Phone, but how will they be written?  HTML and JavaScript seems very doubtful.  Perhaps XNA?  And what about current Games for Windows Live titles?  Will they appear in the new interface?Thanks for listening and keep up the great work!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'd like to know more about the Enterprise capabilities, the new UI, the development tools, etc. I think Windows 8 has so many new things that whatever it may be, it'll surely be exciting! :DI love Windows 7 and I think it's perfect. Can't imagine how Windows 8 is going to be. The only word that comes to my mind now is "legendary"! :)Best of luck to the Windows 8 team!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Can we expect blog posts before the BUILD conference or soon after? Not 100% clear after reading the blog.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Welcom Back Sinofsky.Love my WP7 and I am very excited to se the same interface used on my next computer! What I really look forward to are Ultranotebooks with detachable touch screens. There you got a potential iPad killer. Go Go Go Windows 8!!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'd be very curious to hear about whether Windows 8 will have an improved command prompt: I don't mean the shell (which I can replace with NYAOS), but the console window itself: will copy/paste preserve wrapped lines? Will horizontal resizing work properly? Will QuickEdit mode be the default (and not pause the running program)? Will the default scrollback buffer size be more reasonable?  Will it be possible to change the color scheme without following this tedious method? www.bruno.postle.net/.../changing-windows-cmdexe-coloursI've seen Microsoft employees give demos where they seem to struggle with the Command Prompt as much as the rest of us, and this makes me wonder why it hasn't been improved in so long.  Also, this is an area that non-Windows users have serious trouble with, and it reduces the quality of OSS software on Windows (because Linux users don't want to deal with cmd).  I offer them instructions on how to make cmd usable, but it's still vastly inferior to terminals on Linux and OS X.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  @hgirma: The concern is that the desktop mode, which some people are already calling 'legacy', is more powerful in many senses than the new touch UI. The concern is, if we treat the existing windows 7 look as legacy, instead of developing it further / or introducing a new similarly-powerful desktop experience, then power users' use case would stagnate, while the casual computing would be the only use case that evolves.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'm as much of a geek as the next computer scientist, I look forward to whatever this new frontier is. This is the first time I've been close to returning from Mac. It's looking good and promising good things, but will this live up to the hype?

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Thanks for continuing what you started with the Engineering W7 blog, these posts were often very interesting and insightful. The things I'd like to see discussed here most are of course new features introduced in W8, but also posts about underlying architectural changes (e.g. "Protogon" file system, new version of COM, MinWin, how the new HTML5 app model has been realized under the hood, etc..) or statistics gathered from W7 users.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'm hoping for a truly unified Windows Marketplace.  With an avenue for small development shops to get their Windows apps out to a large audience and make 70% on the dollar, well I would thinkt that would spur Windows app development quite a bit.  I would like to be able to buy Desktop gadgets though the marketplace. I hope that with the possibility of making some $$ we would get more and better desktop gadgets.  I would like to find desktop themes there (mosty free) as well as games, utility apps and even big apps like Quicken.  I could even see cloud based apps/services being sold through the Marketplace.  And it would be nice to have all those apps serviced (updated) from their just like on Windows Phone.  And it would be great if the Marketplace could recognize me on mutliple devices (work PC, home PC, home laptop, phone, xbox) and allow me to buy something once and use it on those mutiple devices.  One thing such a Marketplace needs to be able to handle well is when I repave a PC or get a new device.  It should know which apps I've purchased, which apply to that device and give me a choice of which apps to deploy to the new device.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  What I've seen so far looks good, want to try it soon. I hope I can get a device similar to ASUS eee Pad Transformer form factor running Windows 8, but possibly lighter. I hope the "tablet" mode will be as speedy (or more so) as the iPad2 on a similar lightweight device. (without the lagging seen in honeycomb) If tablet mode can include an optimized version of office for tablet then we are really talking some serious iPad competition.I hope we can see beta soon, and really hope an ARM beta can be released to general public. Please a method to wipe out Honeycomb and replace with Windows 8, that would be awesome.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I can't wait for win8 beta!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Awesome, can't wait to hear more!Just wondering, why are you using the term 'engineering' to describe the development of Windows 7, but 'building' to describe the development of Windows 8?But maybe I am reading too much into it.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Thanks for again keeping The Internet in the loop, Steven. While I don't work with Windows on the same level as many of the commenters here, I interact with it on a daily basis to support a few hundred machines. Having an open dialogue about your process was really helpful during Windows 7 -- in fact, I still mention abridged versions of posts here to people when describing certain behavior.I'm definitely looking forward to future posts!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I love Microsoft! Great products and even better consumer experiences! Im looking forward to Windows 8 and all the ARM goodness!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  @Bob Page Well, I don't know whether or not it'll include those features, but Windows 8 seems to include PowerShell 3.0:www.winrumors.com/windows-8-includes-powershell-3-0-and-appx-distribution-cmdlets

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Include WMC in the ARM SOC versions of Win8 so that the TVs can be MC Extenders!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Give us full info about the future of .Net/Silverlight development. Stop playing these strange games with us! If MS sees the future as HTML5 then I have to switch to other technologies immediately.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Very very very good! Having people's opinions surely will help you building a better OS!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Congrats to the Windows Team, waiting the WDP.Thanks Mr Sinofsky.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  This is a excelent news, i wanna know all about windows 8, thanks 4 shared this info, bye bye  ; )

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  i'm looking forward to this! if the new UI is in fact the new UI (minus any "classic mode" theming), i'd like to hear more about file system changes and what might be done to further abstract the file system from the user. it doesn't seem like a sleek new UI would revert to a classic windows explorer with hundreds of thousands of files nested in folders upon folders...let's see something revolutionary!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I am holding off on purchasing any tablets  or a new Phone until Win8 goes live... I just want to know since my entire home is bing run my Media Center if there will be any upgrade to MCE?Thanks

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  thanks for this new blog. Hopefully we can learn new things about Windows 8.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I am holding off on purchasing any tablets  or a new Phone until Win8 goes live... I just want to know if you will have a Media Center 8.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  As a part of this "new generation" of Windows users since, I am very excited about Windows 8.  I have used a Win95, Win98, WinXP, WinVista computer during my first sixteen years.  I currently have a Win7 laptop.  What I'm really excited about, is the possibilities.  Microsoft needs to cash in on the "three screens in one" concept.  TV, computer, and game center all on one device is where the future is going.  I'm hoping Windows 8 integrates Xbox with the computer (hello, Windows Marketplace anyone?).  I'd also like to see TV integration, but Hulu or Netflix pretty much takes care of that, even if it isn't LIVE TV.  Of course, the phone and the computer is the big one.  And most of that hinges on the GLORIOUS cloud.  I don't like cables or syncing.  The stuff on the phone (apps, music, documents, pictures, purchased content, etc.) should sync to the computer as soon as you tell it to (or automatically if you prefer).  Computer stuff (documents, pictures, music, etc.) should be available to the phone via the cloud.As for tablets, I'm waiting on a tablet COMPUTER, not a tablet sorta-computer, and/or a  sorta-phone, and/or a sorta-something else.  I don't want to sacrifice the functionality of my laptop for a nifty half-pound screen.  I've toyed with the notion of getting a Win7 computer, but I don't see the point any more than I do getting an Android tablet or iPad.  There should also be a bridge between the tablet and the phone, much like HP does with their webOS.Anywho, I'll be back to keep yall on track.  Daniel

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I think what should be focused on is going to be performance. If this OS will be the same for desktop and tablets they need to make it battery efficient. I know MS can do it but will they think about it to be more competitive in the tablet marketplace. Also if they were to bring the ecosystem more integrated they could have the Xbox desktop for friends and stuff like they are doing with Windows Phone 7. Back to battery, if they could have it use bare minimum like booting in safe mode the boot up times will be amazingly quick and  will help battery over time. For multi task have it freeze the process so its using no power / cpu until you resume the program like on a phone.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'm excited for Windows 8. It will redesign the desktop and mobile PC world.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I DO NOT WANT MY PC TO LOOK LIKE A PHONE!!!!Got it?

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Please, Please....NO TILES....we don't want any resemblance to some phone.  I thought this was supposed to be a professional product, not some Fan Boy mimic.  Develop a professional file system and interface.Stop it.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I have a lot of clients that use Windows XP. 2003 server and now, 2008 R2 server. A lot of our tools, that worked perfectly fine in XP and 2003, broke in 2008R2, a lot of batch scripts simply don't work.Lucky for us, we still have UNIX versions that worked for years and still do, so as a work-around, we installed a few virtual Linux machines and got our database monitoring tools working again.If you look at the changes of macOS over the years, for an OS with virtually no scripting languages to UNIX underpinnings, you start to wonder, why Microsoft can't go a similar route. Build the GUI on top of a UNIX kernel, keep cmd.exe around for backwards compatibility and make the entire OS a lot more stable.The "look and feel" can stay as it is, but I have always missed the flexibility of UNIX when working with Windows.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Looking forward to reading this blog. Thanks for the engagement.I know with Windows 7, there was a massive feedback program, and the latest rumours suggest this isn't to be the case for Windows 8. For whatever reason, that's your choice at the end of the day, but I hope SOME suggestions make it through to you guys.. like this one:please allow the "snap" feature demonstrated in June to work on displays of 16:10 aspect ratio.I really don't want to miss out on such an important feature just because I didn't buy a particlar screen aspect.And there are a few people who already own Window 7 tablets (not I) who would be a bit upset about this decision if you didn't change it.Thanks

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  My expectation for windows 8 is it should beat every other operating system on the followingFaster Boot Time Faster App Response Time Faster Installation Time Automatically switch between tablet/pc view based on the hardware state. Be able to run on a phone, tablet and pc

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Will Win 8 finally have a professional SYNC product so we can sync our MS product with our other MS product such as syncing Win7 Phone with our Outlook on the desktop via USB.   Since most of us will never ever use a cloud service or be allowed to by our corporation...we need a desktop interface for home use.Let the developer kit get access to the OS to write one.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  good stuffhttp://techtt.hassantt.com

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Shall we get spellchecker in IE10? Please! Is it hard for MICROSOFT to use 17 lines of python code for the spellchecker? Plz reconsider that once..

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  @Everyone complaining about tiles/Windows Phone-esque lookPretty sure that you can go back to the desktop as it is now...

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I hope my software will run on a Windows 8 tablet. It runs well on Vista.  www.youtube.com/watch

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Must be great. Seems it will be surprising for all. Planning to buy a tablet soon. Hope W8 will also run there.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Is Windows 8 going to remedy all this below?www.alphaila.com/.../how-windows-7-is-epic-failBecause, for one, if the stuff that has been broken since Vista happens AGAIN...

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  HTML5/Javascript/CSS is the future, WPF & Silverlight is as good as deprecated and dead.LONG LIVE OPEN HTML5

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Excelente, estaré visitándolos frecuentemente.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Glad to see the blog up and collection users and developers interest and ideas. Windows 8 will be more powerful and attractive Operating System I think. And hope Windows 8 more user friendly and more strong in security. Congratulation and thanks for your hard work Windows Team.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Glad to hear this comment.Please share few screen shots.I am just waiting to get it!!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  what to cfhange windows 7  to windows 8

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I hate to touch my laptop's screen, indeed.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Hey Sinofsky, stop the RSS spamming!!I love your blog and will follow it through the RSS fees. But please stop the spamming that occurs. All Comments are sent out as RSS updates and drowns my inbox!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  @Bruno H -- there are two feeds, one for posts and one for comments.  The links for each are on the right rail of the page.  Sorry for the confusion.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Thanks Steven!Got it. Spamming - off :-)

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Glad to see engineer blog is opened again for W8.I want to know which languages are the main develop language in W8. HTML5, JavaScript? or still C++,.net,COM,Win32 API?

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  When do you think a time frame will be announced for  the BETA version to be released for public testing?

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  First, Win7 did a lot of crowd sourcing. And came out awesome. Thanks for doing the same in Win8What are some of the bold decisions Windows 8 took in terms of designWhat are the things that are seamless in win8 in terms of end user experience.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Hi Steve, Good article, are there any possible dates for the Beta release in update, and any idea on when latest it will be available to public for evaluation.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Hi Steven!Will have the opportunity to leave a comment for example in the Russian version of the blog?Sorry for my English.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Hi StevenI recently used the 7989 build of win 8 and am very interested to learn more about the way the virtualised application layer works, ie will all apps use it or only new ones like office 15? does it afect performance of apps, how does it enchance app security, etc.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'm trying to access http://win8.ms/ with with my Windows Live account. I get a simple Access Denied page.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Everyone is waiting for release eagerly, but some questions still arrive in mind, Check this:alldailyupdatesandnews.blogspot.com/.../microsoft-launches-windows-8-blog.html

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Please create and link a Twitter and Facebook profiles for this Blog.........

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Long post, lots of words but in the end we dont know anything more then we did before.Let's hope the next posts will provide more insight in windows 8 and answers some of the questions everybody has..

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Oh and one thing i think you guys should add is a panel, or something, that shows all running applications (kind of like that of "alt" + "tab")because grabbing from the side and bringing up the previous app isnt a smart idea when you have 15-30 applications running in the background!But i guess u guys are either doing it or have done it because thats how microsoft roles! :)

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Cool! I will follow this blog closely!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  It is with great interest I will follow this blog, hopefully it wil give answers in what Microsoft will do for us gamers, I do hope it will come out as a strong platform for PC games.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Hi.Im sure you'll make the same step of improvements as between vista -> win 7. In case you don't here are some misses that were as bad with win xp as win7:i saw one request above about wmp, and i cannot agree more. Your loosing so many users to VLC and others because you dont have any codecs for sale/decent ones included, on your homepage and also support for avchd from a digital camera, mkv, divx and subtitle support wouldnt be a miss. Charge money for this if your to cheap not to include the licenses, atleast then we knew well get good compatibility with wmp rather than the half working k-lite codec pack. Also add DLNA and 3d bluray support.Your widget library is really poor compared to standalone yahoo widgets and google desktop, how about opening up for the community developers. This is what paved for the app sucess of Apple IOS and ANDROID. You should have live wallpapers for the desktop with either animated or web content easilly customizable. Movie and computer companies will love this for commercial instore or downloadable themes.Fix the standard windows UI that has been lagging us up since win xp. Almost every right click on desktop or opening of controlpanel or selecting "open with" freezes even an intel core i5 for a couple of seconds. store this rather few selections in a database instead of building the controls on every opening.You should also makeprogram windows pinnable aka "deskpins" and fix that not all programs can be auto align side to side etc. that now is hit and missRunning all windows versions now win7 on Asus intel i5: 6g RAM: 2 sli gtx 580

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I am especially interested in what changes/differences it will be for a .NET programmer like me.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Would love to get my hands on the beta version. I am a tablet/umpc fanatic and would love to get my hands on with the new GUI

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Looks great. Can't wait for a Beta.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  please remove all remote access items from the next windows version, make them a seperate download for those who need/require these, not enable by default and therefore a security risk to the average jo/joeie remote registry , remote assistance, remote desktop and remote firewall rules,,, i hate having to reconfigure my windows 7 every time i reinstall it, drives me nutz!oh, and purleeese! also lets see photoshop PSD files supported this time too, its about time MS, and adobe have given you the rights long ago,, XP show em,, so lets not dispute this any further, make it so!!! (in me best picard imitation!)

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Some years back, Mark Russovinovich commented on channel9 about MinWin, which basically was about the reachitecture and refactoring of code and dependencies within the Windows kernel.I'd like an update on this, how (and if)  that work continued, and how (and if) it helped development for Windows 8.Thanks for listening. Looking forward to some interesting posts!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Very exited to see Windows 8 Blog.As a developer I'm also worried about the HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript based dev. model. I believe WPF/Silverlight provide richer developer and end user experience. If .net/WPF/silverlight are not first class citizen in Windows 8, for writing the ‘Immersive applications’ then, in my opinion Windows loses the edge over competing platforms and also the developer community will feel like being stabbed in the back.I know these are all speculations and more will be revealed at BUILD.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I love the new overhaul, can't wait to get that touch interface. The only thing I see MS needs to do regarding the interface is to let the user/IT departments choose what is the default view at start up. then those with touch can get the new touch interface right away and switch to the traditional one when appropriate and those with non-touch can get the traditional one and switch to the new one when appropriate.I'm certain that this UI fear will simply dissapear if MS would announce something like that

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  At least improve windows font please.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  can't wait for windows8sorry，but my english is poor。

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'm just waiting for an updated/bugfixed Media Center in Windows 8.besides that, the new tiles layout looks terrible.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The problem Microsoft has always faced is that PCs (and now tablets and other mobile devices) have been used for such a huge range of tasks that one unifying UI can’t satisfy everyone. Looking at what you're developing now it’s obvious you are going for the mobile apps “market” and whilst the new UI looks and feels good for that it won’t satisfy a more traditional way of working. Sure you can get to the Office applications, etc. if you want to, but the way to get there is no longer as simple as the current UI makes it. It’s great that you have this blog, etc. to get user feedback, but I think the general direction of travel is too far down the “what works for mobile” route and there will be a kick back.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Great start to communication. Don't forget Enterprises in the consumer rush. We have to buy and deploy 3rd party encryption and removable media control tools due to Bitlocker not delivering all required. New UI looks cool - however Enterprise customers need to know they can deoploy and control the new OS easily and that app compat is even better for W7 -> W8 than than under Vista -> Win7.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Eagerly expecting to know about future of c#/.net framework.please give details about how they will used in win8

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Mr. StevenWindows 8 was born 60%  for the consuimer, and 40% for enterprice .Many people have already purchased a tablet with Windows 7, and I must say that some tablets are very interesting, especially those who use AMD Brazos (I Love AMD Brazos ) .Windows 7 is a great OS, but what really completes our tablet will be Windows 8 .Many consumer enthusiast ,expect a beta for testing with this tablet,I hope that Build  will receive something tangible for the consumer enthusiast , that it is rewarded for having waited .-Domenico

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Might want to include IPv6 protocol in WIndows 8 and be ahead of the game!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I found the Windows 7 development blog to be quite insightful and I'm looking forward to getting the skinny on Windows 8 via this blog in the same way. Some feedback on features, etc, would be most welcome as you're in the unenviable position of trying to convince people who are very happy with Windows 7 to upgrade.Let us know why we should!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  After looking at the video, I was blown away by the fluidness of how everything worked together, but I was disappointed to see that there has been almost no "metrofication" of the standard UI at all. It would be nice if that got looked at as well. Even if it is only slight midifications like making the windows clear cut rectangles like the rest of the OS would be nice.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I agree with the other posts, dont make win8 look like a phone?? plzz, seems you have the advantage now with Mac OSX Lion going down that road, you basically caught up with win7 now you can be top dog with win8.. One thing though, why the steep pricing upgrades, after vista you need to take a leaf from Apple's book and charge a minimal upgrade price  £25 should do it  :)

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  einai mia malakia kai misi ta 8 ante gamithite re malakes

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  o pigkouinos tha gamisei tous kolous sas se ligo re kolotripes eseis akomi asxoliste me to gamo leitourgiko ??

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  not sure if the blog is intended for General w8 or specifically for the desktop side, if the later, suggest to make a smiliar one for the server side. while i am excited about windows 8, i am way more curious what the server side will bring (hyper-v 3 and so on)

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I'm not really that worried about .NET/WPF/Silverlight in Windows 8. Pretty sure Microsoft won't be throwing everything away after having put so much work in it. Remember their "Use what you know, do what you've always imagined." tagline?I'm a little bit more worried about the new user interface to be honest. Many people/news websites still keep thinking the interface is for tablets only, and hopefully the Windows team can make clear it isn't just for tablets but also for desktops and non-touch notebooks. On the other hand, I'm having a hard time recognizing myself using this new interface without frequently needing to go back to the old desktop to get (advanced) things done.The new interface is nice and pretty, but from what I've seen in the June demo, I think it's too basic for power users.  I think the new interface will be very hard to manage when having lots of files and applications on your PC. And it would get even worse when having a lot of applications running in the background. For example, when writing this post I have about 5 applications open and think it would be tedious if I need to swipe about 5 times to switch between these applications, or go to the start screen and scroll through an endless amount of  tiles to find the application you need.I really hope the Windows team can make Windows 8 both easy to use and at the same time very expanded for both "normal" end-users and power users without the need of going to the old windows all too often to change settings, updates or in-depth file/error management.  

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  I urge you to roll with the new look. Don't be trapped by the comfort of sameness. The classic Windows frame'n'toolbar look has run its course. Think minimalistic, full screen, touch support, better use of real estate.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Windows 7 is big and inefficient.  Vista was a disaster.  We kept or downgraded all our client base back to XP and even use XP in our development office (along with Linux) only because Windows 7 makes simple tasks complicated.  THe find feature in Windows 98 was great.  You could either enter part of the name, the date modified, or the location.  Indexing often doesnt turn up files so I end up manually locating them instead of using indexing.  Alternately, indexing gives too much including emails and file contents, so if you know the name, you can not limit the search to just those files.  --- This is a classic example of taking something that worked well and making it complicated.  XP connects to wireless networks better!XP allowed simple setup of small office networks.  These are ridiculously complicated to operate and maintain with 7 so most users now use email or foot-mail or Google Docs instead of shared files on simple file servers.

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Ne dekuje ta 7. Tobbi lostat olope systemma operationa godiska importa!

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  @John 15 Aug 2011 1:04 PMThe reason you haven't heard anything from MS about the deprecation of .net and C# in favour of HTML5 and Javascript is because it's a dumb question to ask. Do you really, honestly, truly think that MS is going to deprecate all of .net in favour of HTML5 and Javascript? I'd like to see you run the HTML5 version of Visual Studio and SQL Server. It's a dumb question brought up by people that saw a 9 minute video which didn't mention anything of the sort, yet came up with ridiculous ideas of their own. Guess what... MS has been silent about supporting iPhone and Android apps on Win8 as well... want to start an outcry about why they haven't addressed this important issue? Give it a break and stop jumping to conclusions. C#5 is around the corner with compiler as a service and other improvements... do you really think they'd be sinking money into developing technology they've already decided to deprecate?

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2011
  Great, now I know. I can stick with Windows 7 forever, or change to linux.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Windows 8 should be billed as the first desktop OS "for the cloud."  Consistently over the years the Windows team has worked to make the desktop more than just a place for artwork and a mess of links.  Windows 98's ability to embed web pages onto the desktop was the first attempt, followed by the obligatory "widget" bar in Vista.  Now, I think they're finally going to strike gold in Windows 8 with an organized active desktop layer functioning as a dashboard for the digital world.  People will actually use this, and not just on tablets, especially as powerful dashboard apps become a reality.  I only wonder how the team will ensure I don't have to work harder than I do today to do the work I do today... it's a tricky UI merger they're trying to pull off.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  WOOOW!!! Windows 8.... it is amazing!!!! great job!!!

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  If they're calling Building Windows 8 "B8" for short, what do they call the masters of the project?  Master B8ers?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Very exciting! (Good time to buy some stock?)

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I would also really like to see a Windows Marketplace.  I'm currently wasting time evaluating shopping carts and e-merchant vendors building out the ability to sell my software.  I'd rather be making my software better.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Can Windows 7 users get a free upgrade to Windows 8?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Will Windows Phone 7 applications work on new Windows 8 platforms. What's the story behind unifying applications across phones, tablets, pc and may be XBOX..

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  This blog manages to say nothing concrete while trying to relay the message that Microsoft communicates and listen to its audience, the same audience that is in the dark, kicking and screaming for almost a year. Steven Sinofsky must be truly delusional.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Some questions that my readers have for the Windows 8 Team.www.windows8update.com/.../your-questions-for-me-to-ask-at-the-build-conferenceHoping that BUILD will answer most of them.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Hello, this is great news to hear. We'll be happy to relate everything you post here, and i hope to get back from you really soon with good news. Thanks :)http://www.windows8rumors.com

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Widows ad-hoc design will always make problems. I was hoping Windows 8 will be based on Unix/BSD as Mac OS X ☹...BTW, "Post" button is visible only with disabled ABP. Is it bug or feature?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  ... and please... Juste ONE edition... :/

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I have just one request for the next version of windows.Fix the reporting of disk and memory sizes,don't mix and confuse between binary, decimal and other combinations of prefixes!And by the way, the majority of people already assumes the in most other fields decimal prefixes are decimal.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Gaming has always been a huge part of Windows success and I feel this can be taken to the next level with W8. If you get up on that stage come BUILD and tell me that Xbox 360 will be apart of every W8 device sold, then I will say you have just eliminated iOS and Android from competition. Games on Demand, Live Arcade, Indie Game, party chat, cross-platform play...it must all be there. W8 must fully believe its an Xbox 360 when it comes to gaming. This also means W8 must allow native wireless compatibility with Xbox input methods (gamepad, chatpad, headset, racing wheels, Kinect etc) and have a software way of syncing with these inputs. Since Xbox 360 is now going to the low end as far as price, I see no reason why W8 would cut into Xbox business...buying a $150 game console for the living room is different than $500 tablet or PC in the office or on the go.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  "Today more than two out of three PCs are mobile.,,," Umm wouldn't that be three?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Will any developers be pursuing a complete SYNC program so we can sync our Win7 phone with Outlook on the desktop via USB....some of us will never use the "cloud" or livemail or hotmail etc.  Why wont MS make a sync program to sync with their OWN software.And hopefully we can clear away these awful "Tiles" or whatever they are called that clutter the screen....sheesh.   Don't need Fan Boy stuff.  Get a professional clean screen.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I'm sure Windows 8 will be something cool. I can't wait to see all the new features i heard will be new.I'm very curious about the programming model.I can't wait to write about them on http://www.windows8rumors.com

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  "B8" is a bad name.  If it's bait, what is Windows 8?  Also, it allows for juvenile antics.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Why do we need w8 if we already have beatiful, community driven, free and powerful android? Want to beat MacOS, huh? :)  Find me a fool willing to see the viruses and, of course, the most beloved BSOD again  :)

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  If you need help translating into Spanish, I'm available.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I'll give you 99 cents for a true blue bonifide Windows Phone 7 app that's just for this blog.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I hope they change the name from 8... Windows '7' was OK, but enough numbers from now on... :P

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I hope you won't capitalize on 16:9. 16:10 aspect ratio on tablets is so much better for web browsing in both portrait mode (no vertical scrolling) and landscape mode (better overview and less scrolling). Photos are almost always 4:3 format and is much larger on a 16:10 display.I also hope the classic/desktop mouse UI for Windows 8 is mostly created in C++ and uses Direct2D and is smooth and responsive, but still have small task bar and min/max/close elements. Create a second template/theme for deskop/touch use. Windows 7 task bar is too big for mouse use and wastes alt of space. This is especially bad on 16:9 displays.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Hey there. I'd just like to give my input.I think HTML5 + Javascript apps and a universal os is a step in the right direction. I understand where people are coming from when they cry out for the current GUI but believe it or not the PC era is over.One thing I'm concerned about is the UI for the new start page. I think that it right now looks too childish or basic. When compared to iOS and Android, I think that Windows 8 doesn't look professional.My other concern is native apps. If the intention is to move towards HTML5 and Javascript applications, can native applications be put into tiles too and contain the power and control of previous native apps? Obviously HTML5 and Javascript cannot be used for applications such as video editing and modeling, will these apps be forced to run in "legacy mode" or will a new api be given for integration with the new user interface?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Does this mean the public beta will be soon? :D I want in the beta!

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  why is  window8 ?only UI?only package?only ...?is open soft?why is OS?kernel + UI + micorsoft ?no.is kernel + world!

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  What about Windows Live. 6 years of broken promises, cancelled services, slow improvements that are below what the competition has to offer. And you are called a president of Windows Live. I think perhaps I can do a better job.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I'm a web developer and I can't wait for BUILD.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I have one concern:Can Win8 runtimely relocate user/system profiles to drives other than C: ?I think this is important for end-users who have more than one harddisks or SSDs:relocation can help increasing system performance. good for backup good for network storage

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Let me explain. Windows Live was going to be an excellent service or list of services, offering everything from a new e-mail experience, to a new social network, to a new blogging platform, to a place where all your apps and data could follow you on any device. And yet, after it launched in 2005 amongst much funfair, 6 years later most services have been cancelled, closed down unexpectedly angering loyal users or have never materialized. In 2005 Windows Live experiments were numerous. Most of those got discontinued. In 2005 Windows Live Messenger had 500 million users. Now even after 6 years, you haven't even improved its audio and video functionality yet, enabling Skype to take away most of your users, and forcing you to buy it. In 2005 Hotmail could have been the next Gmail. In 2011 Hotmail still is not up to speed with the competition in features or in anything. In 2005 we were promised quick and significant improvements. In 2011, 6 years after, and improvements are coming so slowly that nobody notices. In 2005 everybody was talking about the new Windows Live satisfaction. In 2011 Windows Live forums are lead by robots and support personnel who do not understand or cannot help even in the slightest. In 2005 you had a chance of creating the best social network. In 2011, some stupid manager has thought during these last years to make Facebook a present and make Windows Live into a ... surprise surprise ... a social hub. Who needs the kakophony of a social hub, a noisy place and full of services which cannot integrate well together. People need a social network that just works. Look at Google Plus for example. But your manager thought that a hub was really clever. Well, if he/she is so clever then then why isn't Windows Live never ever in the news. Why doesn't anybody get or got excited over a "hub"? And what happened to your vast user base? In 2005 you had a chance of creating a great API platform around Windows Live. In 2011, and very very recently you came out with a half-baked SDK. In 2005 you had the chance of becoming the next Gmail, Facebook, Google Plus or Youtube. In 2011, the president of Windows Live nees to find, I think, a new job.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The Windows 7 desktop interface is the best interface MS has ever created.  Why change it, at least on the desktop?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Windows World!!..waitting forward 8...

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Cannot wait to get my hands on Win 8.  Stoked that MS is doing something different!

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Buen trabajo Microsoft, Espero las Versiones de Prueba para hacer el Test Correspondiente, Por mi parte muchos Éxitos, Saludos desde PERÚ - CHIMBOTE ^^,

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Those who don't want Windows 8 to look like WP7 and have no tiles just stick to Windows 7 :) We can't stay on the same spot with the development and have no interface improvements because 10 or 11 guys don't like it! Get used with it and live with it, if not just go back to Windows 7 which is an amazing OS.@Ryan - don't worry you'll still have the Windows 7 desktop, what you've seen in the first video Preview from Microsoft was a "start panel" :) I bet you can disable that (I definitely won't).I love you Microsoft, and Steve, amazing job!

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Wooo Windows Phone 7 will beat iPhone and Android according to Developers & IDCihackuall.blogspot.com/.../windows-phone-7-will-beat-iphone-and.html

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I'm pleased with W7, so I guess W8 would be a fine, quality product :)

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I read in a articel of a website that Windows (all versions) does not support multicore Processors well. and Mac support multicore Processors better than Windows. In fact multicore CPUs works better in Mac.Is Windows 8 optimized for multicore processors?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Where we can send our suggestions to windows team?i have a suggestion for Notepad. in Notepad when i want save a note, in Save As window there is a option of Encoding and has 4 items. i want when we select a item of Encoding, always be selected that item auto.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  If I have 10 apps open, switching between them would mean flicking 10 times from the side of the screen using my trackpad?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Looking forward to the first testable beta. Windows 7 beta testing was a good experience so I am looking forward to Windows 8 if I am invited.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Muito bom o blog.. esperamos o windows 8 com muita novidade.. sera a revolução..

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I am worried that Windows 8 will be labeled as "bloatware" once again.I would be nice if Microsoft decided to take the approach and do everything modularized, ie. only one version of Windows with minimum features. With appstores on all major platforms people are getting more or less familiar with the concept of a minimum functionality OS at purchase time. Addons create the whole value of OS. Why not do the same for Windows 8?Base price around 50-75 dollars.Base size around 150-200 mb. (to avoid bloatware label)Within this Windows version should be an appstore where people could purchase upgrades / extra modules.Just an idea.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Looking foward to the release of win8!

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  WINDOWS 8 IS VERY GOODThe Windows Start menu is very dry and aridIf possible, use the Start menu of the graphics and more beautiful If you like an Office program, open the Start menu in Windows does notIf you see something that Windows 8 with 1 GB of RAM to work comfortably and not have problems at workI love Microsoft

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The Windows Start menu is very dry and aridIf possible, use the Start menu of the graphics and more beautiful If you like an Office program, open the Start menu in Windows does notIf you see something that Windows 8 with 1 GB of RAM to work comfortably and not have problems at workI love Microsoft

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Windows 8 dovrebbe essere con molte novità, tipo l'introduzione di nuove interfacce grafiche, e sopratutto un sistema di sicurezza maggiore. Che dire, speriamo che questo OS sia ancora migliore di Win 7 e che lo miglioriate, e che invece non sia come Windows Vista.Buon lavoro ;)

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  I have the beta version of Microsoft Windows to 8 people can more quicklyUp to September 2011

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  از مایکروسافت خواهش میکنم که نسخه بتا از ویندوز 8 را هرچه سریع تر در اختیار مردم بگذاردحداکثر تا سپتامبر 2011

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  A new bar which destroys the mac os one!!

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  www.aloneme.blogfa.comilove you microsoft

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  new information in windows 8www.windows8news.com/.../steven-sinofsky-kicks-windows-8-beta-comingwww.aloneme.blogfa.com . windows8 information new

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Hi!I'd like Windows Media Player to play BD iso files straight from my media library. Generally, I'd like to be able to do things EASILY.Thanks.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Just make it fast and stable. We don't need the eye candy. Just boot fast, run fast. Click a link and your there. If you can't do that then nothing else matters.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  As a desktop user, I am not even slightly interested in Win8's touchy feely qualities. I want to be able to run my applications -- Office, Lightroom, Photoshop -- with mouse and keyboard, and not to have to burrow behind the touch interface to do so.Unless Win8 boots up to a mouse keyboard interface that performs at least as well as Windows 7, I have no incentive to upgrade.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  what about that UEFI thing? you wrote somewhere about compatibility with my "old" hardware. but that wouldn't be the case if BIOS isn't supported anymore.so will it be UEFI only? looks like I need a new notebook soon, as the old one's gonna die soon ...

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Fabian030what about that UEFI thing? you wrote somewhere about compatibility with my "old" hardware. but that wouldn't be the case if BIOS isn't supported anymore.so will it be UEFI only?you are German? heise.de wrote nonsense, they only looked at the pictures and didn't watch the complete keynote. UEFI is ONLY required for the ARM version. BIOS Still works with x86 and x64 version.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Por que no simplemente abren el codigo y permiten a la comunidad mejorarlo con hechos y no sólo con opiniones?.

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  [QUOTE] Dario D. Tue, Aug 16 2011 3:48 AMIs Windows 8 going to remedy all this below?www.alphaila.com/.../how-windows-7-is-epic-failBecause, for one, if the stuff that has been broken since Vista happens AGAIN...[/QUOTE]+1 for that.Especially the part about 7's Taskbar, and the missing Up-button in Explorer.In addition to the Up-button; I still miss the Cut/Copy/Paste-buttons

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2011
  Maybe if you fart. You will feel better for Windows 8.

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  Good luck! You're going to need it. An entertaining challenge.Honestly, you should think seriously about rewriting the entire OS from scratch. And have it done by a Skunkworks-type team.

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  Excellent... the Windows 7 Engineering Blog was both informative and useful, and I very much look forward to contributing again. Good work Steven for actively promoting community involvement!

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  Excellent... the Windows 7 Engineering Blog was both informative and useful, and I very much look forward to contributing again. Good work Steven for actively promoting community involvement!

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  I WANT MY PC TO LOOK LIKE A PHONE!!!!

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  @Steve Jacobs,On Windows 7 (and maybe earlier) you can put focus on the notification area by pressing Win+Tab then pressing "tab" twice.  Then you can use the arrow keys to move around the different notification icons.  Hope that helps :-)

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  Ack, had to re-type my comment and made an error.  That should say Win+T then "tab" twice.

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  Can we get a trackpad for desktops, similar to laptops?  Thinking this would be a bluetooth or usb device.Looking forward to the new experiences on Windows.Karl

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  I know it has been a bug bear for many years but please sort out the scanner programRe-instate XP Scanner and camera manager as this was brilliant.  Just add the duplex opiton to the main screen, I am sure I am not alone in using thsi feature more than many others.With the XP version, I open the scanner manager, Choose  some settings, a location and a file name and scan!Vista and 7 is so long winded.As a manager as well as a techy I simply want to get my post/letters whatever scanned quickly into folders I want, not into a common folder and then have to move them around.  We don´t all have fantastic document management systems nor do many of my smaller clients so to bring back a simple scanner interface would be marvellous.Thanks

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  Im so very happy about this blog. I will like to see in Windows 8 those things :1 - A marketplace like the one they have on windows 7 phones.2 - Im a gamer, i always need more and more perfomance, windows 7 is great on that, windows 8 should be better.3 - The kinect integrated with windows 8, so we can use it as input gesture. As exemple, i would love to be able to sit lazily in my computer chair and turn the pages of a document im reading just by moving my finger from right to left, or stop, pausing  a media player when i watch a movie / listen music. etc...4- Better integration with the cloud, ex : i will like to left clikc on folders or document i want to be saved automaticly in my skydrive driver.5 - A cloud multimedia player, so i can put my mp3 on some cloud drive and play them remotly.Thanks

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  My only request for Windows 8 is the same that I've had for a long long time.  Can "Yes to All" really mean what it says?  It would be nice when I am doing large data moves and some desktop.ini file holds up the whole process and I say "yes to all" that it would just do as instructed.  Also, would a "No to All" really be that hard to add in?  I know that previously these kinds of features were considered too dangerous for the average user... but as Generation X makes its way out of college and into the main stream world I think it's now safe to assume we actually know what we are doing and we won't just accidentally delete files... just a thought.  On a side note, having the Details view show the size of a folder would be a huge help for me as a Sys Admin.  I don't think I should have to select a folder and view its properties to see the size.  

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  First off I want to say this is a great idea.  Second I think the new look and interface for Windows is awesome.  However, I have some concerns.  The first is that this new interface is not suited for a desktop experience.  Sure you can get rid of it, but why include it at all?  Ok that one's more of a nitpick, but they're my two cents.  Second thing is, why the decision to use javascript for the new touch interface?  I don't quite understand what the idea is of not only having a completely different development language and methodology but also one that is different from Microsoft's several other completely valid and awesome development languages and methodology.  Sure the code-behind will probably be the same and use regular .NET libraries, but why not silverlight?  Why not a UI built on native code?  Anyways, I will be sure to keep checking in here.  Good luck guys!  I am a huge fan of Windows 7, and I can't wait to see what's in store for Windows 8.

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  I am waiting until 8 comes out to build my first "from scratch" computer. I am in a degree program for IT and can't wait to see it. Saw the preview in June and LOVED it!

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  @Brandon - I typed up a nice reply to you sometime this afternoon, but either I forgot to hit the Post button or the Blog-Gods ate it.In a nutshell, I thanked you IMMENSELY for that tip. I've longed for that bit of knowledge for at least a decade.Thanks again, you've made my day, week, and month.-- Steven S --> please don't let WIndows 8 take away the extensive keyboard navigation that exists in Windows 7. Thanks.--

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  @Steve Jacobs, you can directly take the focus to the notification area by pressing Win+B.

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  estoy como muchos esperando la llegada de windows 8 y que traiga con esta muchos cambios que nos dejen satisfechos de poder disfrutar algo que este realmente a la vanguardia como los son los tablets ya es hora de que microsoft no se quede en la oleada de los Desktop o laptops antiguas es hora de cambiar y actualizarse con mayor brevedad posible con inicios mas rápidos, sistemas mas seguros, programas portatiles, estables, y de inicio instantáneo, y muy compatible, y sobre todo precios accesibles. SLDS.

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  @SteveTo put focus on the notification area (called mistakenly by most as the system tray) press Win+b. That is the Windows key and the letter b.@MSPlease document this shortcut key. It existed at least since Windows 2000 but it is not mentioned anywhere in Windows Help.

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  You should create A POOL feadback board, to make the best ideas, come-up by theirself, with our vote.Take ideas by Comments, Useless way...

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  it's great to hear starting of Windows 8 Engineering blog. Will be in touch in future.

• Anonymous
  August 17, 2011
  I am eagerly waiting for this new version of Windows. However, I do want to be able to choose which of the two home screens I can use. I would like to be able to choose the classic windows UI with my 15.4 inch mobile workstation while selecting the tablet UI with my future Lenovo convertible tablet. What I need is to be able to use my classic engineering programs wherever I am (from MathCad and MatLab to Finite Element Codes). Although I am skeptic that my organization will choose Windows 8 very soon (we are still using XP 32 bit :( ) I hope that this will change as well very soon.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Readers,is it the first time MS is collecting suggestions this way ?

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  what about taextra taskbar on multiple windows operating systems. there are rumours that windows 8 is going to provide extra taskbar on secondary monitors www.dual-monitor.biz/.../dual-monitor-in-windows-8

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  I'd like to see some history retained when using the "Search Programs and files" option, last 10 searches would be nice.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi, I'd like to see a return of Pinball :) and an update for the existing games of chess and cards to have the possibility to play in wifi and online with friends

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Looking forward to beta win8.If you have to make the OS larger in size, to give us more, so be it so be it no problem.Nice job.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi, I would like to see in Windows 8 an integrated recording software (with avi recording support) and an option/way to change the colors of the gadgets/icons based by the color of the desktop

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hey hi,Howdy Steven,Will I be able to write application like I do with Silverlight (Blend + Vs + C#)  but for which it targets all platforms ? iPad, iPhone, Android and WP7 ?Thank you and keep on the good work for every engineer working on 8 or whatever the nane will be.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  One last thing.  I've been using Windows Vista x64 since it's out and I really never understood all that thing around Vista saying it's not good or whatever because, hey it's way far better than windows 7 since there's so many features lost in 7 that Vista kept.  And I never had any trouble whatsoever with it and it's so stable, fast and reliable.  Anyway,  Like I said, I never understood all the negative comments about it.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  I forgot to say that there's no doubt that I will go from Vista to 8 and will never had a single need for Windows 7 :)

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Well.Using MsPint in Windows 7. I told when betatesting W7 that there was a mistake when moving the lines to make bigger or smaller the MsPaint window. It was very thick the limit to move the window with mouse. Now I doscovered somethign that can be just in my PC, but... Ill say.When I paste a big image in MsPaint and put zoom to 25% or so to do things on it, something strange ocurrs. I move a little the image to the left and then I try to adjust the size with the mouse at the extremes to take off the white background and... it cuts a lot more. Lets say it in another way to make it better to be understood, though my english is terrible. If I paste a big image or a big background and I try to cut some space in the right or down using the mouse  on the little squares in MsPaint to do it, then the image is cut more than what I want. This always happens to me when zoom is 12,5, 25 or 50% and image is big. Then I have to zoom less and move it slowly so MsPaint respects my opinion :)Thanks for watching this  silly show :) Thats all folks.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi, I'd like to see in windows 8 more icons (that are situated in system 32 I think) and an animated boot screen like that of windows 7

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hello, I'd like to see an integrated software that allows burning iso, music CDs and video ..... I also like to get back windows media center (I have heard that it was removed, so maybe make it available as an optional update from Windows updates) because it was very helpful in viewing TV channels ..... I would like to have an implementation in this software, however, is the ability to choose which format to record TV (for example, avi, mkv)thanks:)

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  In windows 8 I'd want to see an update of Paint, that recognizes and allows me to make trasparent backgrounds of the images

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Will windows ever have a pluggable desktop effects API.. something along the lines of Compiz ?

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  In addition an option (which we can enable/disable) that makes the windows opened "elastic" (like when you drag a window in Ubuntu) would be fantastic ;)

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi I do not know if I'm saying something of stupid or something of feasible, but I'd like to have the ability to have multiple cursors on my desktop, one for mouse / touchpad to be clear .....If i can do that in windows 8....wow

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Now in windows 7 I can connect the wiimote via bluetooth, but I every time need to unistall and reinstall the drivers to make it working.....i'd like to see a faster way to reconnect it without unistall/reinstall driver....thanks for patience

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi :) , i'd like only to do not have problems with the navigation of my internet key (in my opinion the drivers make windows unstable/blue screen when try to connecting, can you test it please? )

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  In addition to the up post, it will be very useful to have an integrated tool to clean up the ram except for the ram disk.....but I don't want to ask too much...thanks in any way :D

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi I'd like to see the possibility of put "computer", "download" or any other destination folder in the application bar....thanks

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  i too would like to right click on a folder and set a password to it, encryption is slow

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  I would like windows 8 to be one copy of windows unified with the same features across all form factors maybe slightly different versions for touch and non-touch models and I think that users should have the option to run all programs in a windows 8 environment and not need to go into the desktop to make it more touch friendly. Even if my thoughts are not considered I will still buy into windows 8

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi, I'd like to have in windows 8 some drivers that recognize my sixaxis ps3 connected via usb/bluetooth.....please I really need to play games with it :(

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  it's great.i hope windows 8 can provide more api for mobile equipment.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi in windows 7, when u click in the desktop and when after I move the mouse, there's a blue rectangle used to select items and folders......I'd like to see it in windows 8 in the color that I want as yellow, red ecc.ecc.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Hi hope to see streaming of live tv with Media Center

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  "The current version of securing folders require encryption which is slow. Can the folder get locked by a password without necessarily encrypting it?""I too would like to right click on a folder and set a password to it, encryption is slow"Password protection is nothing without encryption. without encryption, all the password will rely on is compliance with Windows access rights. If someone really wanted to get your data, then all they will do is just load a LINUX live disc and extract it.Although, the idea to have password protected folders is quite an interesting concept, that probably should be implemented into Windows. Perhaps there should be a button in the right click context menu that says "password protect" which brings up a pop-up window. Within this pop-up window it should have the following options.-Whether you want the files inside the folder to be encrypted.-What level of encryption you desire.-Whether it should request the password every time you access the folder, or just once per a login session.This way you have all levels of security depending on the sensitivity of the data contained in the folder, or alternatively, how paranoid you are that someone is spying on you.  XDI think another good option is to have the whole user folder encrypted on-the-fly, like in some LINUX distro's.  In the event of password protecting a folder within a encrypted user folder. There should be a option asking whether you would like the password protected folder to use a brand-new password (along with the new encryption key) or to use the password that is currently on the user folder.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Silly question: Why did you go from E7 to B8, instead of E8?

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2011
  Un blog tutto per Windows8... grande!

• Anonymous
  August 19, 2011
  Steve - What do you think of having the native support from Windows 8 to run on Mac hardware - pls. see this articlewww.zdnet.com/.../3798

• Anonymous
  August 19, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 19, 2011
  Hi I'd like to see an option that do that I can select one of the boot screen available in windows 8, like the fish, the logo and the precedent boot screens of windows :)

• Anonymous
  August 19, 2011
  Windows has always been a great platform. I am certain that the next version will not disappoint. Many of the posts hit on key points. I just hope that Microsoft better markets the new Windows. As an IT Pro, it is difficult to push Microsoft products because they still ahve a bad stigmatism associated with them. They aren't portrayed and "cool" and "hip" products. I remember when that didn't matter to the CEO or CFO, but times are changing and image now outpaces performance or integration requirements. This is another opportunity for the Windows team to shine brighter than the competition once again, I just hope that marketing can paint a better picture!

• Anonymous
  August 19, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 19, 2011
  I aggree with a lot of the other people here, microsoft need to get an appstore/market place happening for windows.

• Anonymous
  August 19, 2011
  Is there a way to chage the color of the cursor :) ?

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2011
  Awesome! I am really looking fwd to this great Release. U Rock Windows Team!

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2011
  As a C# developer, I'm curious as to what I should be looking at now as the next thing to learn. I'm currently trying to get to grips with WPF.

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2011
  I love the eye candy that is the interactive tiles. So simple and informative and so much more eye candy than a row of icons.

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2011
  As both an avid video game player and a software developer, I have to say I think the preview video for Windows 8 looks like an absolutely horrendous idea. It looks great for a phone, or tablet, and remarkably similar to how Windows Phone acts, however for a desktop environment, it totally breaks the familiarity and swiftness of a mouse and cursor. Click dragging is not an enjoyable experience.

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 21, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 21, 2011
  i really would like to know about backward compatibility of the ARM version of windows 8 would be. can it run AutoCAD or Photoshop (2011 version) for example? will it has desktop view? i wanted to know this because i intended to install it in a good ARM tablet with good spec (galaxy tab 10.1 for example) and still want the productivity and compatibility the windows is known for. is this at all possible? also will you be releasing a beta for all version of windows 8? including the ARM version?

• Anonymous
  August 21, 2011
  I hope Windows 8 will have more changes. I'm waiting for release date of Windows 8 beta.

• Anonymous
  August 21, 2011
  First of all, thank you for sharing your working experience.I'm a bit worried about what supporting ARM processors could mean: while I understand the need to support tablet computers, I hope this won't be a letdown for desktop computers.

• Anonymous
  August 21, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 21, 2011
  A great idea, but there is not a blog in Spanish?

• Anonymous
  August 21, 2011
  i hope windows 8 integrates tessellation computing

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  cool, i love Windows 8

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  I think this new version is more oriented towards tablet users and those who use computers for entertainment. You guys should remember that the majority of Windows users use Windows for business purposes. Remember that a tablet is a tablet and a computer is a computer. Im a software developer and I wont be pleased to have a tablet interface and then click on some buttons to go to the real desktop, remember that you should satisfy the needs of everyone, and with this design you are satisfying only the new and entertainment users.

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  yuk - I don't want my computer to look like a Wii... surely there are better targets for the engineers than what is in this video.

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  I have to say, Windows 7 has been an extremely pleasant upgrade from Win XP. I hope you manage to continue on the same path, as W7 is par none the best Windows I've ever used.  The UI on W8 looks funky, but I doubt it's that usable on a desktop machine. On a tablet in the other hand, it would work.

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  I have to say, Windows Vista and Windows 7 has been an extremely unpleasant upgrade from Win XP. Unstable, crashing programs. Completely unusable for me as an musicproducer with older programs. Not even the drivers for the soundcard works properly in Vista / 7. Both operatingsystems are big huge jokes.... Nah, i stay with XP as long as my old computers keep running. No, i don't wan't to run XP virtual on Windows 7 !!! Why should i ? Then i can run it properly as the sytem os. Why should we with older hardware throw away that and by new ? Don't we waste resources enough in the world ???

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  Go Microsoft!!!! Can't wait for the BUILD

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 22, 2011
  Looking forward to better integration.

• Anonymous
  August 23, 2011
  If you are really serious about redesigning Windows, here is what to do:Replace the NT kernel's win32 wrapper with Microsoft Research's Drawbridge.Implement UNIX using Drawbridge.Implement Win32 using Drawbridge.Move all of the userland code in the NT kernel to userland.Turn the Drawbridge project from Microsoft Research into a proper emulation layer for legacy Win32 software.Make the UNIX layer the new ABIRebase your entire userland on FreeBSD.Make your new graphical shell run on top of the FreeBSD userland.This is basically what Apple did, but more sophisticated. It would ensure compatibility with the rest of the world,  reduce the amount of code needed to run a minimal Windows system and be easier to do in a secure way.As an added bonus, you could write a Mac OS X compatibility layer on top of Drawbridge to enable Mac OS X software to run on Windows.

• Anonymous
  August 23, 2011
  Any chance Windows 8 is going to have better font rendering? I'm a web designer and am seriously considering switching to Mac because Windows font rendering is so ugly. Please fix this for Windows 8

• Anonymous
  August 23, 2011
  I think the Windows Phone 7 Layout for a PC is a brilliant idea!Number of reasonsEasy Email Notification like Email on WP7Lync Messenger Notification like SMS on WP7 Helpdesk tickets Notification for IT Staff (As this will be programed in Java and HTML 5 this would be easy to have a tile) Server Notification tiles like the new WP7 SBS/Home Server application that tells you status of servers (Green, Yellow, and Red) I’ll try thinking of some more…

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2011
  Brilliant idea, I never thought about it lol. Hello my name is Rafael Souza de Carvalho, I'm from Brazil and I have a suggestion for Windows 8: It would be VERY handy if I once transferred files to my Desktop and Windows will automatically send to their respective folders. For example, I once transferred to stick a photo, text and music for the Desktop, and the photo will automatically go to the Pictures folder, Documents folder for the text and music to the Music folder!

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2011
  Make "Windows Explorer" Windows into Tabs!!! Also MS Word, Excel, Etc. Thanks!

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2011
  I am amazed with the WP7 and the new Xbox 360 dashboard. Microsoft is making a great job, and the future would came to be better with Windows 8. I want to know if Microsoft will consider to give full support, and special attention, for hardware like: -Toshiba Libretto W100. -Sony S2. -Acer Iconia 6120 -Microsoft Courier tablet (prototype) I have great expectations with this kind of hardware, i hope Microsoft too.

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2011
  I would downgrade to Windows 7. I don't want touch, don't want stupid blocks on my pc screen, and I don't like Windows phone 7. So don't try to stick this new Windows 8 down my throat because I will throw it up!

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2011
  Windows 8 Should have a common notification interface that applications would be able to access. The notifications that pop up now vary widely from software to software because there is no nice looking (balloon tips are so outdated) standard to use.

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2011
  I would like to see option to have Recycle Bin icon in more than 2 states. I mean you could have 4 levels depending on the size of the HDD-empty,under 10 MB,under 1% of HDD capaity, over 1% of HDD capacity, or something like that. Or maybe just the option to have the size of the files written at the bottom of the icon, aka 132.7MB on the boottom right part of the icon.

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2011
  Hey Guys, I love the new blog, can't wait to see what your up to!

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2011
  Hey Guys, I love the new blog, can't wait to see what your up to!

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2011
  eu gostaria que o novo windows 8 tivesse o visual do windows xp com tudo igual (igual mesmo) para a gente escolher, e nisso o sistema ficasse super rápido igual ao xp, pois mesmo o windows 7 é lento e imcompativel com alguns softwares que eu uso em minha empresa, sendo que quando usassemos a interface (visual xp) o sistema automaticamente rodaria o modo xp para os programas serem totalmente compativeis com o novo windows 8, isso ajudaria muito a todos nós. eu gostaria também que o novo windows fosse 100% compativel com os antigos drivers do xp para instalar-mos aquele digitalizador de polegar, aquele scaner antigo e etc... em um modo protegido dentro do sistema, chamado modo xp.

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2011
  Any Ubuntu version is much, much better.

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2011
  It would be nice that Windows 8 would have an option to have the start menu as an alternative to the start screen since there are PC users that wouldn't need the start screen if you have a workstation PC. And it would be nice to have an option to default to the traditional Windows desktop because I feel that the start screen is a feature that would used more by tablets and not traditional laptops or desktops.

• Anonymous
  August 27, 2011
  Hi guys Looking forward to see Windows 8 at BUILD. Please don't forget Media Center.

• Anonymous
  August 28, 2011
  wow windows 8... can wait no more longer :D yay

• Anonymous
  August 29, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 29, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 29, 2011
  I also really enjoyed Michael Fortin: Windows 7 Efficiency video interview. I hope he will have interview for Windows 8 too. channel9.msdn.com/.../Michael-Fortin-Windows-7-Efficiency

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2011
  release date

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2011
  I am very concerned with the direction of Windows 8. Making the OS touch first oriented for all platforms is a HUGE mistake. I do not develop on a tablet or game for a very good reason. I do not want to click six or eight times just to fire up the program of my choice. Marketing research may tell you one thing but let me assure you that people like my self, a small business owner, will refuse to waste my time frustrating my self and adding work to what used to be one or two click solutions. With that said, there is no need to abandon the entire design. I think there are some good elements - but the emphasis on mobile technology and the belief that most computers are wireless is both frustrating and discouraging. Please do not force me into becoming a MAC/Chrome platform user. Thank you.

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2011
  the explorer with Ribbon tool bar, its really too complicate for the look.

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2011
  For all the gripers on here, you can choose either the new tile format, or the traditional layout.  Gosh!  As far as things I think might do well:   a.) Make an emulator to run both android and iphone apps.  That would be awesome.  The commercials would be great.  Every app they make, MS has access to. b.) Make the tiles so they can be customizable color wise.  Not just -all red- or -all blue-.  I want a palette to choose from.   c.) Keep programs from making their own shortcuts when you install them.  I know what I want on my desktop.  If I want a shortcut, I'll put it there. d.) I have a ton of files in word 97-03.  Make it so I can convert them all over to the latest version (half the size) without me having to go in one at a time and resaving them. e.) Make it so the media player keys (play, rewind, etc..) work when a window (itunes) is minimized. f.) The feature in OSX where you no longer have to save a doc is extremely nice.  Being able to visibly go back and look at all the changes you've made.  That would be great.  Would have saved my bacon two or three times, (due to my own incompetence.) That's all I can think of for now, except for: buy Nokia.  Admit when you're wrong about something.  If you're serious about software, you have to be serious about hardware.  Follow Apple's lead on this. I think the new os looks great.  I think the new phone is wonderful.  I like the idea of everything being the same cross devices.  I have a pc, but I'm typing this on a macbook pro.  In all likelihood, I will not buy another apple.  I  like the user friendliness that MS is going after.  I'm tired of everything getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller till I feel like I need a magnifying glass to see things. And I like win7.  Never crashes.

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2011
  That win 7 never crashes,pull the other one what you get from Redmond,ah?

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2011
  Is Redmond paying me back or any compensation for the headaches and frustrations of badly designed operating system,no I do not think I will try Beta or RC. Too bad Sinofsky or Dickosfky,I do not know your real name.

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 31, 2011
  Probles with TRIM. I`m running a OCZ revodrive 3 x2  + a pci card with 4 hdd in raid 5. Yhe annoing thing is that the disks support TRIM, but it seems that windows do not support trim on pci units. anotger thing is, there is no support for hard drive activity on drives conectet to PCI. Will there be a change to this ?? Doc Holister

• Anonymous
  August 31, 2011
  Take that Linux!

• Anonymous
  September 01, 2011
  Hello:  I am a blind computer user excited about Windows 8.  I am a Windows 7 user who uses both JAWS for Windows and Window-eyes as screen reading software.  I hope that in the design of Windows 8, you'll include a talking install so a blind computer user will not have to depend on a sighted person to help install the system.  This was one of the major things that attracted me to the Mac.  I love to be independent!  Perhaps you might design the system so that holding down a function key such as F9 would alert the program to switch to a talking install.  Please consider.

• Anonymous
  September 01, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 01, 2011
  Yes Kristaps or Sinofsky or Dickofsky Linux and much more for free

• Anonymous
  September 02, 2011
  Please implement font rendering like Ubuntu in Windows 8. I am actually using Ubuntu over Windows because of the extremely nice and smooth fonts throughout the system. A basic font like Arial looks stunning in Ubuntu. This is so important to so many users!

• Anonymous
  September 03, 2011
  Don't use a phone interface on a PC, it sounds good only if you're using a tablet but unfortunately everyone dont have one. Moreover my PC will look like a toy :(

• Anonymous
  September 04, 2011
  Going to be quit the juggling act. Satisfying the touch geeks and the old school mousers.  Will be fun watching it evolve. Count me in

• Anonymous
  September 06, 2011
  the vids look great,the features you tell us about sound great,the rumours doing the rounds sound better...however,please make (VS and .NET older versions)compatible with 8.I would really hate to dual boot my PC and install every app twice/build a VPC.we love what you are doing but we need our apps,so hope we can run them on 8.and could you please introduce cover flow for WMP(13?)? Here's hoping the best...full steam ahead.Keep it up. P.S. This MetroUI is awesome,forget Lions and other animals.

• Anonymous
  September 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 07, 2011
  A ver si se puede solucionar el problema de las pantallas azules, a poder ser que no puedan salir nunca, ni azules ni negras, es un incordio que se tenga que apagar el ordenador por estas pantallas azules.

• Anonymous
  September 07, 2011
  Estaría bien que Internet Explorer leyera bien las páginas y las mostrara correctamente como hacen otros navegadores, por ejemplo navegadores como Mozilla Firegox o Google Chrome muestran bien la página movilinvasion.es/mapas-cobertura y todas las versiones de Internet Explorer no, hasta la versión 9 que es la que utilizo yo no la muestra bien, a ver si se soluciona en futuras actualizaciones de internet Explorer.

• Anonymous
  September 07, 2011
  Please make it easier to re-install, to refresh the operating system.  Right now I use the upgrade method of refreshing my system files.  Problem is it has to be started from inside the operating system, and if you can't boot into the operating system, you can't use it. Some kind of disk that would have a button like: "Refresh your operating system without changing your installed programs--click here."

• Anonymous
  September 10, 2011
  We all want a new good email manager working with the majority of email services....

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2011
  You want a good email services,Ubuntu is for you free,safe,secure and no price to pay at all.

• Anonymous
  September 13, 2011
  i was watching this and i was like "WOW" but then you opened the Excel and ...i mean... is it just me or this is like Windows 7 look with a Startup Media Center? i mean...c'mon guys? This is why i bought a mac.

• Anonymous
  September 13, 2011
  That's right Renato,that is why I bought Mac,their software so good and cheap comparing to MS

• Anonymous
  September 13, 2011
  I want a better task manager and a better windows explorer and I think I will get those. I try the Windows developer preview in a virtual machine and I think is looking good, but I will wait for the beta to have a better view. I would microsoft to make more theme and not only release with aero.

• Anonymous
  September 14, 2011
  Seeing as I've only recently dived into Windows 7 - this seems all too much.. well almost. Great work! :)

• Anonymous
  September 14, 2011
  WHY in this economy would you want to release a new Windows when people have just switched to 7 and there are still a lot of problems with 7? Why would you make a consumer buy all new equipment for 8 when they just bought their computer that has 7 on it? You are making this DIEHARD PC fan think about getting a MAC!!!

• Anonymous
  September 14, 2011
  I just bought a Mac,Redmond lost.ha,ha,ha. And you lot kiss my back side

• Anonymous
  September 17, 2011
  One feature I miss from the old days of C64 computing was the whole "instant on" functionality. I am hopeful the USB "live disk" install option I have heard rumors of with windows 8 will bring some of this back.

• Anonymous
  September 17, 2011
  Are you hopeful that,Win 7 will be fixing all the so called "vulnerabilities" as no hope at all with Win 8,if there is gonna be one. Keep dreaming on you Prima Donnas.

• Anonymous
  September 19, 2011
  I have been running windows8 developer preview on a VM for few days now and it is superb. Wish I could make use if all the touch features, I dont have a touch enabled device yet. gr8 job with win8!

• Anonymous
  September 19, 2011
  Wow, It is great to hear we are going to update to Windows 8 from windows 7. We are really happy with the Windows OS. Thanks for the update ans eagerly waiting for the new one. Ahsima http://www.m6.net

• Anonymous
  September 19, 2011
  Steven, As a user of Windows 7, I seriously suggest that you keep ALL the desktop area in Windows 8 EXACTLY THE WAY IT WORKS IN WINDOWS 7. I saw some information about the preview of Windows 8 and it seems that the Start button in Windows 8 has changed; when you go to the desktop area in Windows 8, you do not have anymore the Start menu and so on. Before it is too late, change Windows 8 so that it preserves the desktop area exactly the way it is in Windows 7, apart from any enhancements planned.

• Anonymous
  September 20, 2011
  I have tons of suggestions for Windows but one major one that comes to mine is cut the different versions of the OS, Please! It should be 1 major version of the OS and turn on and off features. Make a selection during the setup, is this a business pc no or yet (and how to change this later) and customize our experience automatically instead of offering 10 different versions.

• Anonymous
  September 20, 2011
  Any info on pricing yet? Thanks,Ed http://shdcomputers.com/

• Anonymous
  September 20, 2011
  I'm using it now on an Acer Aspire 8930g laptop and it works just fine. A couple of points: I'm using a dual boot via 2 separate hard drives and the boot from cold is OK, not fast but OK. However, the restart takes an age. Conversely, shut down takes no time at all. I've yet to find the sleep/hibernate function without using the hardware power button. So far all applications I have used work well, except Avast - which removed all the exe files from previously installed applications! I'm using Adobe CS4, Cerious ThumbsPlus, Picasa, Windows Live essentials, Olympus Studio Master, Media Player Classic, Winzip/Winrar, Flikr. My overall experience thus far is smooth, reliable, stable, fast, and rewarding. I'm looking forward to being able to personalise further (add tiles, change colours, use apps, more right-click context menus and actions). Jaie

• Anonymous
  September 26, 2011
  Take your time developing Win 8. I do some PC and laptop work for people who can't afford to maintain technology updates or repair due to cost. I work for free only for technical knowledge and they (owners) pay for hardware fixes. Most of the people I deal with are just barely going to Windows 7. Main reason is "Stability", they want to know is it worth it.

• Anonymous
  September 26, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 28, 2011
  Steven, First off I want to thank you so much for including Windows Media Center into Windows 8.  WMC is by far one of the best features in Microsoft's OS since XP.   I installed the Developers Preview of Windows 8 and I will give my own feedback.  I would lead with the traditional Desktop experience and have an option to go to tablet or mobile mode which would then start the OS at the tile screen.  I understand the competition from Apple, but for the every day computer user I can honestly say that the majority of my time is not spent on an IPOD/I-Phone interface.  From a business perspective it would not make sense to limit the user from the Operating system.  Cater to the tablet and cell phone user by means of an option; please do not require every Windows user the cell phone/tablet interface.   I can see the direction we are headed, but Microsoft Products are so much better than Apple's and will always be that way - the phone/IPOD  market is the exception, but Windows Phone 7 is the answer.  Just my two cents and please keep up the good work.  Windows 7 is above and beyond what anybody could expect coming from XP or even Vista.  Love the OS and look forward to Windows 8.

• Anonymous
  September 29, 2011
  Indeed a very good read! Very informative post with pretty good insight on all aspects of the topic! Will keep visiting in future too! cheapestcomputerdeals.com

• Anonymous
  October 04, 2011
  I do not recommend Windows of any version Ummmm,what a bunch of "DHs"

• Anonymous
  October 04, 2011
  Oh yes,yes,yes for free,never mind my  friends from those regions,that they copy everything may give me and activated as well,good eh,why not. Free as Open Source,yes,yes,yes,more,more,more

• Anonymous
  October 05, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  Thanks Steven

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  Thanks Steven for what, or referring about those geeks above.

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  There are numerous other games that use this old Warcraft feature that I'm sure will encounter the same issue. I also think that the Windows 8 bootloader should recognize an installation of Windows XP and show the option to boot it, since XP will be supported by Windows Update for a while longer yet. Oh, I tried to install Avast Free Antivirus even after being warned by Windows that there was a compatibility issue. By the way, I like your new blue screen of death. (More below...)

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2011
  What is this give a break,as IT Software Eng I see the days of MS are over.

• Anonymous
  October 07, 2011
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2011
  I tried to install WDP in my PC, however, my screen cannot control brightness. And I do everything, but it's not helpful when I restart my PC. I need a help from you.

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2011
  I tried to install WDP in my PC, however, my screen cannot control brightness. And I do everything, but it's not helpful when I restart my PC. I need a help from you.

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2011
  Son you came to the right place. Get rid off what you got.

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2011
  To the development team, I don't know if you guys spent much time testing WDP in multi-boot situations, but you may want to look into it. In my case, my PC was already dual-booting XP and 7, with a separate partition I use for storage and backup. The partition table was winXP-0, win7-1, and storage-2. I resized the storage partition to create free space to install WDP. This all worked out fine, but when I set WDP to give me boot options for 5 seconds before booting the default, it doesn't give XP as an option. I imagine you intended it that way, but I don't like it. If I set WDP to boot Earlier Version of Windows by default, I get the win7 boot menu at power on, which gives me all 3 options. However, at times on startup, and with no rhyme or reason, it skips that menu, goes straight to WDP's boot menu which shows WDP and win7, and after 5 seconds it proceeds to restart the PC and start XP with no option screen. I like the graphical boot menu in WDP, but why couldn't it have just overwritten the win7 MBR, and gave the option to boot XP as well, instead of starting a Battle of the Boot Records?

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2011
  By the way, Vung, it would help if you would provide some details. I don't quite know what you mean. What kind of PC are you installing it on, and how is it acting? I'm not with the development team, but I'd be glad to try to help. I try to hunt down glitches the developers might have missed. WDP is an early stage in development, but it's best they know about any issues as soon as they arise.

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2011
  Well, rdbrooks,I could teach what I know about developing software. My Master in Computer Sciences,may show true the meaning of Windows,yuk

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2011
  kaustubha_bhilare Sat, Oct 15 2011 6:56 PM

windows 8 Dev Pre has doesn't satisfied me too much because Microsoft has only done few changes to WIN 7 do develop windows 8 . Meanwhile a large change in features improvement was seen at the time only when Microsoft windows moved from xp to vista . then Microsoft has done poor works just developed WIN 7 with few features improvement only because vista has failed gaining popularity on pcs . Now same things for windows 8   Microsoft should take a look at apple and their improvements for Mac OS X. take look at here is an application program made my Samsung www.samsung.com/.../pcsw which does same work as a macs airdrop does en.wikipedia.org/.../AirDrop_%28OS_X%29 So Microsoft should take the copyright`s or source code or logic behind the useful apps made by their partner O E M  like HP ,DELL , Samsung, Acer , and much more and invent them to windows 8 . then windows may have great value and popularity over Mac or Linux bhilare_kaustubha@rediffmail.com

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2011
  windows 8 Dev Pre has doesn't satisfied me too much because Microsoft has only done few changes to WIN 7 do develop windows 8 . Meanwhile a large change in features improvement was seen at the time only when Microsoft windows moved from xp to vista . then Microsoft has done poor works just developed WIN 7 with few features improvement only because vista has failed gaining popularity on pcs . Now same thing for windows 8   Microsoft should take a look at apple and their improvements for Mac OS X. take look at here is an application program made my Samsung www.samsung.com/.../pcsw which does same work as a macs airdrop does en.wikipedia.org/.../AirDrop_%28OS_X%29 So Microsoft should take the copyright`s or source code or logic behind the useful apps made by their partner O E M  like HP ,DELL , Samsung, Acer , and much more and invent them to windows 8 . then windows may have great value and popularity over Mac or Linux bhilare_kaustubha@rediffmail.com

• Anonymous
  October 17, 2011
  I would really like to see Windows Backup able to create mulitple backup sets, and able to schedule them at various times.  For example:  I would really like to have schedule a daily backup to one location, and a weekly backup to another location.   Not sure why it was felt Windows 7 should only allow a single backup, but it is really limiting. Thank you -- Mark