Yesterday Robert wrote about what many of use
were expecting, that Metro apps in Windows 8 would only be available through the new
Windows Store.  Windows 8 will support, as we know, both the new style Metro
apps and also the traditional desktop
software too.  But will this dual-software approach cause confusion and division
with Windows users?


It can safely be said that the new Metro apps will be predominantly used by
users of Tablets and smaller form-factor computer
users with touch screens.  There will be some other useful applications for
Metro apps however, especially with young children, the elderly, people with
learning or physical difficulties and disabilities and whole sections of society
classed as computer novices.  Metro therefore can have an extremely wide reach
straight out of the launch door.


It can safely be said however that all PC users, no matter of what ability,
will occasionally need software of
greater power and flexibility than Metro can currently offer; especially with
the Ribbon interface being an odd omission from the Metro developer tools.  This
software can include photo and video editing and production, disc burning and
office applications, primarily a word processor and spreadsheet.

Windows users could then end up split distinctly into one of two camps and
Windows 8 itself will essentially become two different products, each with its
own identity; something that many people have said should have happened from the
beginning.  For Windows 8 to flourish and survive in the consumer space then we
will probably need to see much greater interface flexibility, I would imagine
via the Ribbon UI, added to Metro.  If not, the future and popularity of Windows
as a consumer platform, where people enjoy having the power to run full desktop
apps, could falter.

    Microsoft has made Windows 8 for one reason: to compete in the tablet industry (mostly Apple's successful iPad).  Many ask how to two are compared next to each other.  Today, at Windows 8 Daily, we present you a video that shows the two side by side.  (Credit: Winrumors)
    Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSdfGzF60M&feature=channel_video_title

    In the past, Windows has been known to occasionally crash.  An unfriendly crash screen is shown on your screen.  Most people call it the "Blue Screen of Death."  Microsoft has posted in their blog that they have made the screen more friendly with an unhappy face showing that your computer feels the same way you do.

It’s certainly a much better error message to be greated with than the
usual BSoD which just caused many users to panic. At least this time you can
understand what’s happening and take some steps to try and rectify the problem.
Hopefully we’ll never have to look at the BSoD with Windows 8, as no matter
how friendly it may appear, it’s never good news.

Microsoft promised us major performance improvements with Windows 8
and while the new OS may still be in its infancy, it appears to be living up to
these claims. Over at Lifehacker they decided to put Microsoft’s claims to the
test and ran a few speed tests to compare the Windows8 developer preview with
Windows 7.  However they didn’t conduct those usual tests which are just a bunch of
synthetic benchmarks which simply churn out numbers and don’t really make sense
to the average user. Instead they performed an array of everyday tests where you
could visually see the difference for yourself. All the tests were performed on
a clean installation of each OS with the same programs installed.
    The system used to test them on was a 3.8GHz Intel Core
i7 with 6GB of RAM, a 2TB Harddrive and an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT.
    So the results? Well hands down Windows 8 won overall, and beat Windows
7 in nearly every single test that was carried out. However there was one test
where it absolutely blew Windows 7 away, and that was the boot time. When
Windows 7 was released it did boot surprisingly quick, but Microsoft have put a
lot more work into Windows 8′s boot time, as a result it thrashed Windows 7 in
this test, booting in just 10 seconds compared to Windows 7′s 35 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6It3HNXxEZE&feature=player_embedded
As I’m sure you can probably see some of the differences were very very
slight and you probably wouldn’t notice. But bear in mind all these tests were
run on a pretty powerful machine so you would probably see more improvement on
an older lower spec machine.
Lifehacker also noted that sometimes Windows 8 didn’t boot in this magical 10
seconds, sometimes it would take nearly as long as Windows 7. I think we can
just put that down to the fact that it’s still only a developer preview and
we’ve still nearly got a year to go until Microsoft release Windows 8 to the
public, and chances are these little quirks will be gone by then.
Source:

Lifehacker

In the Windows 8 blog, Microsoft said that they will be supporting ISO so no third party programs will be needed.  The only problem is that users will not be able to create ISO images.  Microsoft added ISO reading support to their new operating system because Windows 8 will be on tablets with no dvd readers.