Windows 8 News » Windows 8

More Job Postings Hint At Windows 8’s Future

Everton — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:32:41 +0000

Several sites have been keeping a close eye on the job postings at Microsoft Careers, to see if there are any indicators on there as to what direction Windows 8 may go in. In total in November they spotted seven job postings for Windows 8 and windows server 2008 R2.

One interesting job posting was for a software engineer to work on delivering critical updates through Windows Update for Windows 8:

The WinSE UX Test team is one of the most fun teams in Windows Sustaining Engineering to work with! We release hot-fixes, security patches and Service packs for all Windows platforms on a regular basis. We help keep our customer install base humming through a significant portion of the lifecycle of the product. If the experience of shipping deliverables to millions of people on a regular basis energizes you, if you enjoy working on issues that impact those millions of our customers all the time, if you enjoy being in the limelight, and if you enjoy the thrill of solving critical problems, you have come to the right place!!!
The WinSE UX test team needs an strong SDET to develop new test automation, write robust test plans, designing test cases, debug reported issues across Windows Shell and related UX, help establish sound test engineering processes, and influence and contribute to the serviceability of Win8. As an SDET on this team, you’ll design, implement, and execute various types of test automation, including functional, integration and release tests. You will also have several opportunities to write test tools, and work on security bugs, and will be interacting with PM and Dev counterparts in a dev/test/pm trio, and various partner teams. In this team, you will have an opportunity to ship important updates for Windows to solve critical reliability, performance and security issues via the Windows Update mechanism. This position requires strong communication and collaboration skills, and a drive for results. Overall, this position is best suited for a strong SDET looking for an opportunity to showcase your skills and innovate.

Another software engineer job posting asked for a Windows 8 tester:

The Windows International Test OOB (Out of Band) team is handling a variety of International test projects including Windows Small Business Server (SBS), Home Server, stand-alone out of band releases for Windows 7/Windows 8, and down-level support packages requested by different business divisions by utilizing a state-of-the art vendor outsourcing model.
As a team member in this position, you will write test plans for World-Readiness- (Globalization & Localizability) as well as Localization Testing, and develop and manage test tools and guidelines. You will also perform globalization code reviews as part of the OOB process using tools and globalization guidelines. In addition, you will have to engage with Program Managers, Developers, International Project Managers and partner SDETs to collaborate on specification reviews, scheduling as well as budgeting and planning. Test execution will be done by vendor test resources in Beijing, China, so management of remote vendor resource will also be required.

To see details on the other job postings, which give insights into Windows 8 security, click here.

Windows 8 – 128bit Rumours Were Fake?

Everton — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:46:34 +0000

Last month a number of sites, including this one, picked up on rumours that Windows 8 would support 128-bit processors. The main ’source’ of the rumours was a Robert Morgan who was a “senior member of Microsoft’s R&D team” who leaked information about Windows 8’s 128 bit capabilities on his LinkedIn profile.

However, it looks now like the information was fake and that Robert Morgan never actually existed:

The LinkedIn page has since been removed (cached version)
When questioned about Robert Morgan, Microsoft have replied that “Microsoft has no comment regarding Robert Morgan”

i.e. Microsoft have made no attempt to quash or confirm any leaks that have been made, maintaining the official radio silence around Windows 8. As George has stated on our sister site, the official position from Microsoft is that Windows 8 is under development and that’s all they are prepared to say for now.

That’s not to say that Windows 8 won’t support 128bit processors, but it looks like this particular leak was probably started by sites looking to benefit from the traffic. It was a nice story, but unfortunately it looks like we are still waiting for the first set of concrete information concerning Windows 8.

Windows 8 ‘Confirmed’ for 2012 Launch

Everton — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:52 +0000

More and more evidence is emerging that Windows 8 will be released in 2012. At this years Professional Developer’s Conference (PDC 2009), budding attendees managed to get their hands on two Windows roadmap slides that show ‘Windows 8′ launching in 2012:

Now these slides don’t really provide any information that we didn’t know; Microsoft typically leave 3 years between each release and with Windows 7 launching this year, Windows 8 was always likely to be in 2012. It is unlikely that Microsoft would pull Windows 8’s launch forward to 2011 because it would impact Windows 7 sales with customers delaying upgrades, and unlikely they would delay until 2013 as Windows 8’s development seems to be progressing quite nicely.

Source: Microsoft Kitchen

Looking Forward To Windows 8, What Microsoft Missed In Windows 7, Part 5

Everton — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:58:07 +0000

Resident editor Mike Halsey has just published on Windows 7 News, the latest post in his series ‘Looking Forward To Windows 8, What Microsoft Missed In Windows‘. In part 5, he covers improvements he would like to see to Windows 7’s libraries and search in Windows 8:

I’ve spoken before about Libraries being an excellent example of this. You can add folders to libraries, even on Homegroup connected PCs, but why can’t you filter those folder by content type, or have a library of all your Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) files? This is a very annoying omission and one that makes the otherwise excellent Libraries feature much less useful than Microsoft would like it to be.

To read the full post, click here. Below you can find links to the earlier instalments in the series:

Windows 8’s Known Knowns

Everton — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:12:01 +0000

Long after Donald Rumsfeld has died, he will be known (sic) for one of the worst quotes ever:

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.

Now although information about Windows 8 will eventually become available, rather than the lack of information to this day about WMDs, Windows 8 details still remain sketchy. Here are Windows 8’s Known Knowns:

It will be called Windows 8 and there’s even a Windows 9 in the pipeline
It will be released no earlier than 2012 – it is unlikely it will be released in 2011
It will have new networking features
It will include 128 bit support and will see the end of 32 bit Operating Systems
It won’t be Microsoft’s last client based OS - Steve Ballmer says that won’t happen for 10-20 years.

Hopefully soon we will unravel Windows 8’s known unknowns and unknown unknowns!

Windows 8 to support 32, 64 or 128-bit?

Mike Halsey — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:45:17 +0000

Recently there have been rumours that the next version of Windows will move the whole platform completely over to 128-bit architecture, dumping 32 and 64-bit compatibility completely.

This first came about because of a news story broken by Microsoft Kitchen a few days ago in which Robert Morgan, a senior research and development officer at Microsoft posted the following on his LinkedIn profile.

Experience
Senior Research & Development
Microsoft
Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry
January 2002 – Present (7 years 10 months)
Working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and long-term projects. Research & Development projects including 128bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan. Forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP and IBM.

Since then the sweaty masses have, frankly let their imaginations run away with themselves so I thought we needed to look at the situation more objectively, fact by fact.

It’s true that AMD and Intel are working on 128-bit chips, this is something that’s been out there for a while now. But Windows 8 can’t possibly be 128-bit only. The reasons for this are as follows.

Windows 7 is still, sadly, saddled with 32-bit compatibility. This is despite the fact that almost every modern processor supports true 64-bit computing. This is purely to maintain compatibility with older software (primarily in Microsoft’s most important market, business). XP Mode, the virtualisation plug-in that allows you to run older software in a licensed copy of XP, goes some way towards addressing this and many people are hoping that 32-bit support will be dropped from Windows 8 completely. Sadly though, it can’t happen.

This is because in order for XP Mode to work you need hardware virtualisation support on the motherboard and nowhere near enough motherboards yet support this. By the time Windows 8 comes out it’s possible that all motherboards will, but Microsoft have to get started on Windows 8 code now, and they can’t guarantee this will happen.

It is for exactly the same reasons why Windows 8 can never be 128-bit only. By the time the technology is mature enough Windows 8 will be ready to launch but the cost of the chips will still be extremely expensive. They will, I predict, only be used in server farms for hard-core virtualisation tasks on servers.

It’s much more likely that Windows 8 Server will offer full support for 128-bit architecture and that the feature will then be ported to the business and consumer editions of Windows for Windows 9.

The move to 128-bit in itself isn’t such a big job, but it becomes a nightmare when you consider that you also have to maintain compatibility with 32-bit applications. I can’t foresee a situation where we can have an operating system that supports 32, 64 and 128-bit code simultaneously while still remaining stable. The only reason that Windows 8 Server could support it is because the 32-bit legacy support has already been dropped from Windows 7 Server.

For all the people who want to see 128-bit support in Windows 8, forget it. Frankly you wouldn’t get any benefit from it at all anyway. No software will be written to support it for years to come, full 64-bit support in software is only beginning to appear now, and it will offer the average user or gamer no additional benefits over the 64-bit architecture you already have.

Unless and until the whole computing experience we use in our daily lives demands a move to such technology, it will remain in the server farms of the future.

How Long Until We Get Our First Windows 8 Leak?

Everton — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:11:36 +0000

There have been a number of fake Windows 8 leaks over the last couple of weeks, most of them probably packed with viruses and spyware which I’d advise readers to steer well clear off. As soon as a verified leak appears, you will hear about it first on this site.

My money is on a Windows 8 leak appearing in November after Windows 7 has been launched.

Windows 8 To Launch In 2012?

Everton — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:34:25 +0000

Windows 7 isn’t out the door yet, but Microsoft seem to be making good progress with Windows 8. A roadmap slide from Microsoft’s Italian subsidiary has Windows 8 penciled in for a 2012 release:

Note though that Windows 8 is down as approximately 2012. Even still, it looks like Microsoft are sticking to their 2.5-3 year release cycle, with Windows Vista launching Jan 2007 (it was late), Windows 7 in October 2009 and Windows 8 in 2012.

Windows 8 is also denoted as ‘codemane Windows 8′ – does this mean that ‘Windows 8‘ will not be called Windows 8?

I’m expecting big things from Windows 8. Although Windows 7 is a great release and adds several much needed improvements to Windows Vista, it’s still too familiar for me and doesn’t feel ‘new’ enough and I’m looking forward to getting a new OS to get my teeth into!

Why Windows 8?

Everton — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:51:16 +0000

Windows 8’s name was chosen because it will be the 8th version of Windows. Double-checking this isn’t as easy as you may think and trips up many people. Here are the Windows versions that preceded Windows 8:

Windows 1.0
Windows 2.0
Windows 3.0
Windows 95 (Windows 4.0)
Windows 2000 (Windows 5.0)
Windows Vista (Windows 6.0)
Windows 7 – Launching October 22nd 2009
Windows 8!

Now, some of you who are paying attention will notice that Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows Millennium. This is because:

Windows NT was actually treated asw Windows 3.1
Windows 98, 98SE and Windows Millennium shipped as 4.0.1998, 4.10.2222, and 4.90.3000

Now, to make matters even more confusing Microsoft have versioned Windows 7 as Windows 6.1. However, they are still treating it as ‘Windows 7′ because of the significance of the release.

There you go – hope that makes sense now!

Windows 8 Feature Wishlist

Everton — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:11:53 +0000

Although Microsoft don’t intend to make a big splash when launching Windows 7, it will probably be Microsoft’s finest release yet if the feedback from testers and readers on our sister site Windows 7 News is anything to go by.

There’s still plenty of room for improvement in Windows 8. Mike from the Windows 7 News editorial team has published a series of posts detailing what he’d like to see in Windows 8:

Features Mike would like to see improved in Windows 8 include a better explorer, improved libraries and game support. Personally I would like to see more options for organising multiple windows. Aero Peek helps, but I don’t want to go over to the sidebar everytime I want to locate one of the many windows I have open. There has to be a better solution that ALT+TAB and Aero Peek.

What features would you like to see in Windows 8?

Microsoft Hiring For Windows 8

Everton — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:39:19 +0000

Windows 7 is almost complete and due to be launched on October 22nd, and Microsoft are already turning their attention to creating Windows 8. To some this may seem premature, but putting together a new OS takes a considerable amount of work and much longer than the 3 years gap between Windows releases.

A recent job posting on the Microsoft job site gives some hints as to what we can expect in Windows 8:

For the upcoming version of Windows, new critical features are being worked on including cluster support and support for one way replication. The core engine is also being reworked to provide dramatic performance improvements. We will also soon be starting major improvements for Windows 8 where we will be including innovative features which will revolutionize file access in branch offices
We are looking for a strong lead who has the right blend of technical passion, leadership skills and testing experience. From a technical standpoint, we are looking for a candidate having an understanding of and a passion for large scale distributed systems. From a leadership point of view, you will need to be able to build the vision for the team, work with your development and PM counterparts on engineering excellence and effectively drive the quality of the component. In terms of testing experience, the ability to define and deliver test solutions affecting all release criteria (functionality, scalability, performance, stress, longhaul, security, etc.) is a must.

As more details of Windows 8 features become available, you’ll find them first on this site.

Welcome To Windows 8 News!

Everton — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:55:18 +0000

Dedicated to bringing you all the news & rumours about Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 8, which will replace Windows 7 in 2012/13. New to the site? Check out the Windows 8 FAQ. We also recommend:

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