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Michael Angiulo, corporate vice president of Windows Planning, Hardware and PC Ecosystem, showed several Windows 8 devices at the Microsoft's Build conference. Photo / Supplied
The stakes couldn't be higher for Microsoft. After copping a significant (and deserved) amount of flak over Windows Vista, the Redmond software behemoth bounced back with Windows 7 in 2009, only to miss the rapid growth in the tablet and smartphone arena.
Microsoft has taken this on board and has launched the dev version of the next Windows iteration called (surprise, surprise) Windows 8, which will span PCs and tablets.
The full version is due to launch next year. Opinions on Windows 8 have so far have been mixed, and it remains to be seen if it has the ability to re-ignite Microsoft's fortunes in the tablet space.
So what could be Windows 8's killer features and what are potential flops?
Look & feel
Taking note of the acclaim that Windows Phone 7's metro interface attracted, Microsoft has designed Windows 8's interface to incorporate a touch-friendly approach using the live tiles that'll be instantly familiar to any Windows Phone 7 users. Equally nice, Windows 8 will also play well with full-screen HTML 5 widgets and finger gestures such as a single swipe to switch applications.
As much as the interface of Windows 8 is elegant- in that it'll give the user an at-a-glance overview of running apps without having to open them - it isn't exactly pretty (and it could be argued that it looks to have been designed by a five-year-old with a box of crayons).
Moreover, it is also questionable just how useful this type of interface will be on non-touch devices such as notebook and desktop PCs. Microsoft has thankfully provided an optional traditional Windows 7 style interface should it be required.
In many instances, Windows 8 won't use the same windows that we take for granted.
With Windows 8, the upper right edge of a window won't have controls for closing or resizing, as most apps will run in a full screen mode. This in effect means programmes will be able to be "snapped" so that one running app can snap over to the left side of the desktop whilst the other is snapped to the right. According to the video demos, apps could also be resized via a finger (or mouse) draggable dividing line. How well this will work in practice, especially where there are many windows open, remains to be seen - but it is nonetheless an interesting
