At a time when many companies are just beginning to move
from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7, Microsoft is planning to release a new
operating system this fall called Windows 8. Perhaps the biggest player in the
history of computing is making a big-time bet, rolling the dice on a return to
relevancy in the 21st century, before players like Apple and Google completely
take over the game.
Windows 8 is Microsoft’s bid to unify desktop and smartphone
operating systems and expand into the tablet market. While it may seem that Microsoft
is late to the game, neither Apple nor Android operating systems have bridged
the business world’s need for seamless connection to corporate systems. They
don’t offer a common access-rights system, integrated security, data encryption
or, most importantly, a common interface with desktop
systems, so there’s still room for a player at the table.
Microsoft is no stranger to tablet computing. But their previous
attempts failed because Windows was built with desktop computers in mind. The
Windows operating system has not worked well with smaller screens, the mobile
experience, lack of keyboard/mouse and the need
to connect to a corporate network.
Microsoft hopes to change all that with Windows 8.
The Metro Interface
Let’s start with the start screen. The single biggest change
since Windows 95 rolled out, Microsoft has replaced the start button (and
associated program menu tree) with a user interface called Metro, which
features a whole screen of tiles.
This new start screen is the same concept Microsoft uses in the
Windows Phone 7. The tiles allow users to easily select applications (such as
Microsoft Office), live data (weather services, stock tickers, flight information)
or resources (printers, cloud storage). The interface works well with both
cursor devices and touchscreens. And you can customize the menu with your
favourite applications and data sources by dragging tiles into new positions,
so your most frequently tiles are the ones you see first when you open the
Start screen.
If you’re still in love with the old Windows interface,
however, you can access it through a tile called Desktop in the start menu.
Fond users of Windows keyboard shortcuts will be pleased to
know that shortcuts are instrumental when navigating Metro. Though new
shortcuts have been added to the roster of common shortcuts, the Windows key,
which has played a significant role since Windows XP, has increased in
importance. In Windows 8, for instance, the Windows key allows you to access
search (Win-F), settings (Win-W) and special features called “charms” (Win-C),
a range of options within the start screen and individual apps.
The Metro interface, however, does not allow you to work on
more than one program on your screen at any given time, unless you’re in
desktop mode and have a keyboard attached. Yes, you can still multitask, but
you can’t resize various applications to work on at the same time.
Instead, you have to flick through all the applications you
have open to get from one application to another (which might make copying and
pasting a real chore) or use Snap multitasking, which allows you to view two
windows at the same time, like a split-screen movie. Sweeping your finger in
from the left of the screen opens a second window that shows another app.
Dragging the vertical bar that separates the two changes the size of each app.
Domain Join
Domain join is just a fancy name for connecting a device to
a network, but it plays an important role in business connectivity: it allows
companies to centrally manage access rights and user privileges on mobile
devices. Notwithstanding the critical absence of domain join in Windows RT (see
sidebar), Windows 8 allows for centralized user-access control and the
synchronization of data between devices.
If you don’t have a centralized access authentication
server, you can log-in via an account such as Windows Live or MSN, and synchronize
data via Microsoft’s cloud services.
Storage Pools
Most of us use a variety of storage devices (memory sticks,
external hard drives) to store and transfer computer files. But when one device
fills up (sometimes in the middle of transferring a file) you have to plug in
another.
Windows 8 allows users to group multiple devices into one “pool”
and assign it a drive letter. The various devices don’t have to be of the same size
or type. Windows 8 will just combine all the storage space so it appears as one
big hard drive. Need more space on that drive? Just plug in another device and
add it to the pool.
But what if one of these drives fails? What happens to the
data on it?
Windows 8 allows you to specify the data’s “resiliency,”
which means your data will be treated as mirrored drive, and you can store
copies of all your data to at least two different physical storage media. Why
is this important?
Because you’ll have a backup of your data in the event that
you lose or damage a memory device, and because configuring two or more drives
used to be an expensive protection measure, too prohibitive in cost for SMEs,
which can now benefit from the storage pool option.
BranchCache
Microsoft is betting that its credibility with business
users will help Windows 8 compete with Android and Apple, but in order to do so
it must enable road warriors to access their corporate networks and file
libraries. The industry practice is to invoke a virtual private network
connection (VPN) that extends a “bubble” of the corporate network outwards to
the end-user.
But Windows 8 aims to enable access without the need for a
VPN, most likely by synchronizing folders on your hard drive with folders on
your corporate network once network connections are established, a system of
syncing akin to popular cloud storage sites like Dropbox.
Windows-to-Go
How’d you like to carry a bootable version of Windows on a
USB key that you could install in any computer anywhere? Well, that’s the
concept behind a Windows 8 Enterprise feature called Windows-to-Go, which
allows companies to give offsite or temporary workers all the software, data
and settings they need to work, as long as they can find a device with the
proper hardware. It provides users with a Windows version that can mirror the
corporate desktop and launch without compromising file systems.
XP Mode
XP Mode was a very popular and handy virtual machine,
available in some versions of Windows 7, that allowed users to run a
considerable portion of their older Windows software. Windows 8 does not offer
XP Mode but it does provide a more powerful virtualization system called Hyper-V.
Previously available only in server-based editions of Windows, Hyper-V is an
especially handy tool for those who wish to run multiple operating systems on a
single computer, typically for testing and development purposes. Users will
have to purchase previous versions of Windows to install if they wish to use
the visualization feature.
Time to Show Your
Hand
Let’s put our cards on the table.
Microsoft is making a big gamble. It still wants to be the
biggest player in operating systems, dominating and crushing the competition
just like it used to, back in the day. But here we are in the 21st Century.
Apple and Android own the smartphone and tablet market, and people keep saying
that the desktop is done like dinner.
So Microsoft had a choice. It could develop two new
operating systems — one for desktops and one for mobile
devices — or it could develop a new system with a common interface. Some
say Windows 8 will return Microsoft to relevancy. Others say it may work on
mobiles but will fail on desktops. And that may cost some high-profile people
their jobs.
High stakes indeed.
Microsoft has chosen to show its hand, rather than fold and
go home.
SIDEBAR
Windows 8: Less is
More?
For decades, customers have complained that “there are too
many versions of the OS,” and finally Microsoft has listened: it has streamlined the product line
considerably. As far as users in North America are concerned,
only four versions will be released of Windows 8:
Windows 8
Like the old “home edition,” plain and simple Windows 8 is
aimed for the home market and can be purchased from retail outlets. Rather than
describe what’s in basic version, it’s easier to look at Windows 8 Pro and
conclude what is not included in Windows 8.
Windows 8 Pro
Like the old
“Professional/Ultimate” versions, Pro is targeted to the computer enthusiast
and to business organizations. It includes the capability of acting as a remote
desktop server, file encryption at a system level, Hyper-V virtual machine
engine, BitLocker encryption, and the ability to attach to a Windows Server
Domain and group policy configuration. Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro are the only
versions that can be purchased at a retail level.
Windows 8 Enterprise
Not available in stores, Enterprise can only be acquired if
you have a Software Assurance licence purchased directly from Microsoft.
Intended for the commercial group licence customer, Enterprise has all the Pro
features plus tools to assist IT managers with deploying and managing machines.
Windows RT
A special version of Windows 8 for devices powered by ARM microprocessors,
the chips that power iPads and some Android tablets, popular because they can
run heavy applications but don’t suck up batteries. Windows RT will share the
interface capabilities of Windows 8 and will come bundled with touch-optimized versions
of Microsoft Office applications, but when it comes to the practice of “domain
join,” Windows RT rolls snake eyes.
Neither Apple nor Android devices feature domain join.
Windows does but Windows RT won’t carry it. Microsoft had a real opportunity to
call Apple’s bluff. They blew it.
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