It was vintage Microsoft this week as the iconic tech king proclaimed its forthcoming operating system, Windows 8, to be the next revolutionary force in modern personal and mobile computing.
Microsoft’s Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky said at a conference in Anaheim, California yesterday that “We re-imagined Windows. From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise.”
Some of the tech reporters and industry analysts in attendance said the preview of Windows 8, which is optimized for both PCs and tablets, puts Microsoft in a good position to regain some of its footing and remain the dominant computing giant that it’s been for decades.
“Windows has long been the dominant computer operating system in the world,” a report from the International Business Times reads, “though it missed a couple of beats, as consumers began turning to tablets and smartphones to work and socialize. With Windows 8, Microsoft has its eyes set on the tablet market and is aiming to regain the ground it has lost to Apple.”
Based on the demonstration provided by Microsoft, Windows 8 delivers a new touchscreen user interface that takes a page right out of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS for smartphones. So far, the likes of Dell and Samsung plan to release tablets based on the new Windows 8 OS.
Microsoft has also announced that Windows 8 will come with Near Field Communication support and the company has explained the NFC usage in the Build conference.
Although we at MMW have heard many reports of so-called “iPad-killers,” never has such buzz emerged about a legitimate threat to Apple’s iPad dominance since Apple unveiled its tablet in January 2010.
Will Windows 8 take a bite out of Apple? Only time will tell.
A release date for Windows 8 has not yet been announced.
