Microsoft BUILD: Windows 8 combines functionality and convenience in tablets

At the Microsoft’s BUILD conference that started in California yesterday, Microsoft unveiled its new OS Windows 8. With tablets running on the next generation OS, Microsoft is hoping to take on market leaders and rivals Apple and Google.
   
Windows 8 is sleek, smart and easy to use. When a tablet is switched on, users come face to face with a lock screen. Along with a full screen picture, it shows the time, the date a list of notifications from various applications. Once users log in, the start screen shows up. Microsoft has developed the start screen on the lines of Windows Phone 7’s Metro UI, complete with ‘live tiles’. The new screen acts as a replacement for Windows’ old start menu and is remarkably touch-sensitive and easy to navigate.

Microsoft has loaded ‘charms’ or navigation icons on the start screen, which include functions like ‘search’, ‘share’, ‘start’, ‘connect’ and ‘setting’, for the users convenience. These navigation icons are available with apps as well. Applications themselves show up on ‘live tiles’ on the screen, with notifications updated in real time. These can be customised and resized for easy viewing and accessibility. What’s more, multiple applications can run on tablets powered by Windows 8.
       
Applications can be downloaded from the App Store, something Microsoft has been developing over time. Apps are powered by the web and are built in HTML5 and JavaScript. This experience is similar to one of working with Apple’s iOS.

Windows 8 has another face. It can run the easy and fun touch programmes along with the more complicated professional programmes found on PCs and laptops since it is compatible with a keyboard and mouse. This makes the tablet turn into a laptop anytime with the keyboard dock.

Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft, of Windows 8 said,”touch first, but equally at home with a mouse and a keyboard.” Another plus for Microsoft is the speed Windows 8 takes to start up, mere seconds.

The new OS will support ARM, Intel and AMD processors. Windows 8 will most likely retail by 2012 on tablets, though the OS is built to work across devices and platforms.

With all that it is offering with the new and improved Windows 8, Microsoft may well become a force to reckon with in the tablet market. Something for Apple and Google to think about.