I have my fears about how Microsoft is going to handle Windows 8 for ARM devices; I think that if Windows 8 is used to describe both x86/x64 and ARM experiences even though they are different it is going to cause massive confusion for consumers. You can read about my idea for using the name Metro instead of Windows 8 for Windows 8 on ARM.

However, this recent news makes me wonder if I needed to be quite so concerned about Microsoft’s planned implementation for Windows 8 on ARM. We know that the traditional desktop experience on touch devices is not good and I expect that to be pretty much true for Windows 8 even though Microsoft is implementing some changes. Therefore, a full desktop on an ARM touchscreen device just doesn’t make sense.

And yet, if I was to have an ARM tablet there could well be times when I would want access to the Office suite for working, and not just some Metro version of it but the actual desktop experience. If I was to connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to the ARM tablet then I would have a fully function workstation. There aren’t really many applications I am going to want access to a the traditional desktop if I have a Windows 8 device with a touchscreen. But the majority of the applications I will want are Microsoft’s own software or from large tech companies (Adobe) that should be able to get the required certificates to run on the restricted desktop.

I am sure people will complain with whatever path Microsoft take with the desktop on ARM. No desktop at all will cause confusion and people would want to know how they could access “Windows” on their Windows 8 device, or if Microsoft put the traditional desktop on ARM devices then people would complain that they need a keyboard and mouse to really be able to use the experience well. Therefore, I can see how a restricted desktop might just do the trick.

Microsoft might require slight changes in apps for the restricted desktop, such as bigger buttons to make it easier to use the apps with a touchscreen. This seems like it could appease those who would complain if the desktop was removed or kept in Windows 8 for ARM devices. This could work well and I can see why Microsoft is keen to offer a desktop experience on all versions of Windows 8 even though it might not be the full experience

My only concern with this idea though is that a restricted desktop for the ARM version of Windows 8 sounds like a compromise in a “no-compromise” version of Windows.

Today I saw some new screenshots from Windows 8 that all come from the Metro part of Windows. Now I don’t know if these images are real screenshots or just a very good concept shot being passed off as screenshots, I do know though that there isn’t really anything in any of these images that makes me doubt their authenticity.

First up are the screenshots of the OS itself which will then be followed by screenshots of the Windows Live app.

The above image is similar to the file explorer on the Windows 8 Developer Preview however I think that the inclusion of SkyDrive as a Library is very important. I imagine that it won’t just be the Metro side of Windows 8 that features this Library but also the traditional desktop too. If SkyDrive is going to be integrated into Windows 8 then this will be extremely significant news. However, without knowing how this computer is set up it might be that a user needs to install the SkyDrive app, that we have briefly been shown off before, to allow the SkyDrive Library to appear.

The next image shows basically the same view but in a different colour, it looks just as good, but here we can see some of the control options that are available to users. It appears that the user has clicked on “home” to be shown these options. Now what interests me is that in this image the small arrow on the right of the “home share view” suggesting that the view of additional options can be collapsed. Also interesting to note is that there are more elements that just “home”. I think what we are seeing here is the Metro version of the Ribbon UI. This is another significant development and might just show how the Ribbon UI can actually look good.

The options available seem fairly simple ones, although I am interested to know what “history” offers and how that will look.

The next image is another very interesting one that I believe shows the Documents Library. It is good to see that the documents have a preview thumbnail of what is in them and I wonder if these animate. For example Word documents might scroll through the text and PowerPoint files could cycle through the slides. What i really like though is the coloured bar at the bottom of the preview image that shows what format each item is. I had wondered how people will be able to figure out what kind a file an item in the Metro file explorer would be but this shows it very easily. I do wonder how limited this feature might be though is only colours are used to distinguish between the different files.

I am not sure that there is anything new in the above image but it’s always good to see more Metro.

The first thing that struck me when I saw this was the the logo that is sitting in the top left of the of the app. That was first used by Windows Phone but now appears that it will be used by Windows too. I’m not sure what to make of it, not sure if it will help Windows Phone or hide it.

Anyway, on to the app itself. I believe this is the Windows Live app which will offer all functionality of Hotmail, Messenger and SkyDrive in one place. This because of the icons in the app bar at the bottom. The app looks good to me and seems to readily offer many of the features that users are going to want all within a lovely Metro design.

You’ll notice that on this image a different icon in the app bar has been selected so now we see the Messenger part of the app. Again this looks good and it appears that this section of the app features pivots that we have come to know and love on Windows Phone with “threads people what’s new”.

I can guess what the Calendar section of this app looks like but I am very interested to know what the SkyDrive section looks like and also what the Office icon indicates. I can’t image that the Metro Office apps for Windows 8 are going to be part of the Windows Live app so it seems a bit confusing to have the Office icon in the app bar. There are of course several explanations for the Office icon but none seem to make complete sense to me. If it’s to show the Office documents stored in SkyDrive then why not have a special pivot in the SkyDrive section. Maybe then the icon offers up basic Office features, just like the Office Web Apps, but I would have thought having free Office apps for Windows 8 would make more sense.

Just a collection of images of Hotmail.

Apparently when users to navigate to Bing using Windows 8 they will see a homepage design that is not all that new but what is new is the fact that the rectangles at the bottom are now true Metro inspired boxes. Before, whenever this design was shown off it was very cluttered with lots of text and whilst being a Metro inspired design it didn’t conform to the Metro principles.

With the launch of Windows 8 it makes sense that Microsoft will update it’s website to fit in with the same Metro look. What we are seeing here is potentially that very design. I have to say that both are great and are far better than the current design on the homepage that is meant to be Metro. I am not sure whether these are just fan made designs or if Microsoft is trialling both of these.

What do you think about these new screenshots? I know I am getting more and more excited for Windows 8. I am looking forward to hopefully hearing more about Windows 8 from CES and I’m looking forward to getting the beta version at the end of February.

If names are not correct, language will not be in accordance with the truth of things.

I think that quote sums up my feelings towards Windows 8’s current name. To me Windows 8 is not just a progression of the Windows OS or indeed its brand but it is actually far more than that. When most people think of Windows they see the desktop, icons, a recycle bin, a start menu and a taskbar. That image has been ingrained into what we think of Windows for the past 16 years. It is something you have likely seen every day if you have attended an online school.

However, with Windows 8 that image of Windows will not be correct. Yes, the traditional desktop will still be there in Windows 8 but the initial view of Windows 8 that users will see is the Metro Start Screen. Equally, Windows’ namesake aren’t true windows in the Metro part of Windows 8.

To me there are many ways in which the name “Windows” is not correct for Windows 8. The Metro part of Windows 8 is nothing like what people know Windows to be; no desktop, no taskbar and no windows. Equally it’s not what many perceive Windows to be, it’s fast, it’s got a beautiful design and it “just works”.

The name, Windows 8, will in fact confuse consumers who expect the desktop and even keep some consumers away from being interested in the OS. If Microsoft was to consider changing the name of Windows 8 to something brand new there could have several dangers involved such as scaring people away, a lot of people trust the Windows name.

But to add more potential confusion to the mix it’s been widely rumoured that Microsoft effectively plans to offer two versions of Windows 8; one for ARM devices that only has the Metro part of Windows 8 on it and one for x86 computers that has both the traditional desktop and the Metro aspect. If both ARM and x86 devices are marketed as having the same OS that is going to cause major confusion amongst consumers. The name “Windows 8” would be in correct for both devices as either one would offer drastically different features, capabilities and experiences.

I have spent a bit of time wondering how Microsoft might overcome this potential issue and think the best thing for Microsoft to do would be to treat the Metro part of Windows 8 as a separate part. I know that Metro technically is just as much a part of Windows as the desktop is but when people think of Windows they think of the desktop, the two are synonymous and for the Metro designed Start Screen to appear alongside the desktop will just be confusing.

Therefore I hope Microsoft does something different when it brands Windows 8. What I think would be best is that the new Metro version of Windows 8 that will only feature on ARM devices will have a new name. Where as the more traditional version of Windows 8 that will work on x86 devices should still use the Windows name. Therefore people who want a new “Windows” PC won’t be confused when they get a Windows 8 desktop or notebook PC and equally people who don’t want a taskbar on a tablet won’t be scared off by the Windows name.

If Microsoft were to brand the ARM version of Windows 8 in the same way that they branded Windows then it should probably be called Tiles. However, if Microsoft was to make both tiles and windows I think people might think that it was actually an interior design company and not the world’s leading software company. What in fact makes more sense is for Microsoft to simply call it Metro.

This will allow new devices that only have the Metro UI part of Windows 8 to say that they run Metro and more traditional PCs can say that they run Windows 8 Metro, or Windows 8 with Metro. Metro will be something new, cool and something very different from Microsoft. “Windows” is not the correct name for many of the new features and aspects of Windows 8 and I hope that Microsoft realise that and will allow consumers to see the truth of how good the Metro side of Windows 8 without being put off by the stigma that Windows has. “Windows 8” is not the truthful name for “Windows 8”.

Following along with this idea I would hope that Windows Phone loses the Windows part and adopts Metro. Metro Phone sounds much better than Windows. It could also be used for the name of the next Xbox; how about Metro Xbox or Xbox Metro.

Do you think that Microsoft needs to be careful how it names Windows 8? Do you think that people will be confused if ARM devices apparently run the same OS as x86 PCs when actually they run a new, modern part of Windows 8? Let me know.

First up what we already know about Windows 8 and the Xbox 360.

Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Live will be integrated into Windows 8. Now currently it’s not entirely clear what this means; we do know that gamers will be able to play against other people across different platforms (Xbox 360 and Windows Phones), earn achievements, etc. However, there is still quite a bit unknown about this new feature of Windows; for example, it could mean that a user could buy and download a game on the Xbox 360 and then play it on a Windows 8, resuming where they left off from the console via the new Cloud Save feature. Even better it could offer of all the entertainment services that are coming to the Xbox over the next few months, effectively turning a Windows 8 PC into an Xbox 360. This must be a fascinating concept to people working on online video game design classes.

If this is the case then it might be possible that any media app on a Windows 8 PC could surface it’s content in the Xbox Live app/hub (whatever it will be called) and be the main place people are going to go to get entertainment on their PC. Windows 8 is likely to have many more media apps than the Xbox 360 ever will so if Windows 8 is able to replicate the entire Xbox 360 experience and have more apps who would buy an Xbox 360?

However, that might not be the entire picture as rumours have suggested that Microsoft is very close to offering a single ecosystem where developers can write an app once and have it run on the PC, Xbox or Windows Phone with hardly any changes to their code. We know that the new Xbox media apps are being built on a special version of Silverlight, we know that Windows Phone apps are built using Silverlight and we also know that Windows 8’s new runtime environment, WinRT, will offer many parallels to Silverlight. We have already seen Microsoft shown how easy it is to convert a Windows Phone app written in Silverlight to a Windows 8 app. Therefore, it might be possible that any media app written for the Xbox 360 or indeed Windows 8 will be able to run on the other platform too. That would bring the Xbox experience on the two platforms to the same level, then it would just be a case of whether or not people wanted to have all the extra features a Windows 8 PC will offer instead of the more constrained Xbox 360.

Of course there is another issue too, as Windows currently does not support playing of Xbox 360 games from physical discs, although there has been rumour and speculation that Windows 8 might just offer that functionality. This would mean that even users who had a collection of games on disc could just as easily use a Windows 8 PC as their Xbox as actually owning an Xbox 360.

Microsoft is also bringing Kinect to the PC in a big way next year with new hardware especially for PCs, therefore when Windows 8 arrives its likely that people be able to interact with their PC just as easily as they can with Xbox 360 using a Kinect.

As far as I can tell Windows 8 is going to offer an extremely similar Xbox experience to the current Xbox 360 with users able to play games against friends, access a vast collection of media, control the system via Kinect and possible even play older Xbox 360 games using a disc. That to me makes me think that Windows 8 will cannibalise sales of the Xbox 360.

That would seem a very odd strategy for Microsoft to pursue, unless of course they have a few tricks up their sleeve.

There are two rumours for Microsoft could be working on for the next version of the Xbox; a small device that receives all its content via the cloud and has no disc drive, the other device is a “future proof” device that is extremely powerful. I don’t see why both of these devices couldn’t go on sale and I can see how these would combat Windows 8’s potential cannibalisation.

A small, streaming only Xbox would under cut the price of most PCs whilst still offering a great entertainment experience. It could also be Microsoft’s response to OnLive which allows user to play games via an internet connection where their servers are used to play and render the games. This allows the hardware the user owns to be relative lightweight and cheap as all the hard work is done by the servers. If there is one thing Microsoft is not short of its servers, what better use for Windows Azure would there be than powering games? This little console would obviously also make use of Kinect.

Equally I think a very powerful Xbox could also be in the works, something that will offer amazing, “next gen” graphics, probably in 3D, that could only be matched by the very top end of the PC market. The price of this would be competitive with most PCs, only a few hundred pounds.

I also wonder is Kinect 2 will be debuting with the new Xboxes and might remain exclusive to the Xboxes for a few years.

The current rumours for Microsoft to announce or unveil its next generation of Xbox state that the company could do it as early as CES 2012, that’s less than a month away. But it’s more likely that Microsoft will announce it at E3 2012. That suggest that the new Xbox is only 1 to 2 years away which fits in very nicely with when Windows 8 is expected to arrive too. If Windows 8 is released towards the end of next year then it would be on sale along side the Xbox 360 which is probably alright to start with as there might not be a huge selection of different types of Windows 8 PCs. However a year later I would expect companies to be offering PCs that are designed to plug into a TV which would be a direct competitor to the Xbox 360. It would be the right time for a new kind of Xbox to be available for consumers.

What are your thoughts on whether Windows 8 will cannibalise the Xbox 360?

Windows will be giving away PCs to the most deserving cases via Facebook and Twitter and will embark on a tour of the UK. Rufus and the Windows team will be matching unsuspecting owners of out-of-date, old computers with shiny, new laptops from The Collection complete with Windows 7 and Office 2010.

The tour will take Rufus and Windows UK across the country starting today in London and they can be found at various locations within the cities from streets to university campuses. The cities that are going to be visited:

- London – 1 November

- Bristol – 8 November

- Manchester – 10 November

- Birmingham – 22 November

- Southampton – 29 November

This campaign is aimed very much at those people who are too ashamed to upgrade their PC or don’t realise that they should upgrade their PC, much like the idea behind the Windows ads of building a PC shop in someone’s living room. This idea is backed up with the statistic that “72 per cent of us found it difficult to purchase a PC because of the overwhelming choice”.

It sounds like Rufus is looking forward to handing out free PCs to people as he had this to say:

When Windows offered me the chance to follow in the footsteps of F9 and a paperclip I jumped at the chance. Half of the people I know have got PCs so rubbish they make Noddy’s Plod look like Inspector Morse. The fact that they want me to hand out a bunch of free super whizzy machines to the great unwashed is the cherry on the cake. But people have got to sign up on the Facebook page otherwise I have no way of knowing they need a shiny new PC. I’m not Santa Claus although, granted, we share a very similar silhouette.

If you know anyone or indeed you yourself needs a new PC then you can use Facebook or Twitter to get in touch with Windows UK and see if you are one of the lucky people to get a new PC. On Twitter you will need to use the hashtag #YourPCMate where as on Facebook you can use an app. If you want to find out exactly where Rufus is then you can follow him on a Bing powered map. There’s also a video you can watch of Rufus talking about this new campaign.

You can read more about what Microsoft had to say about XP’s 10th anniversary on the Windows Team Blog.

The only One negative I found when using Windows 8 was that I had to make 1 more click to use Windows 8 on a desktop in the same way I use Windows 7; that 1 click is to press the desktop Live Tile once the PC has started up. The other, perhaps more significant negative I found with using a mouse and keyboard on a desktop PC was how fiddly it now is to shut down or put to the sleep the PC. Rather than just pressing the Windows button (or indeed the Start orb) and then clicking “shut down” the user has to move the mouse to the very bottom left corner of the screen and then click the settings charm, then click the power button and then select “shut down”. I guess on ARM devices users wont have to shut down or put to sleep their device as often as a desktop users so no need to make it so accessible, however for desktop users its not an easy task. I can’t imagine this would require much a tweak to make it easier for desktop users to shut down their PC quicker.

What people who use Windows 7 need to think about is how they use Windows now. For me I have most commonly used applications and websites pinned to the taskbar and then I have some lesser used applications pinned to the Start Menu. In Windows 8, once users are in the traditional desktop UI, users can pin applications and websites to the taskbar in exactly the same way as in Windows 7, so for most scenarios Windows 8 will act just like Windows 7. However, if I did need to access Paint (one of the applications pinned to the Start Menu) I can just press the physical Windows button and then click the Paint tile which I have pinned to the left of the Start Screen and voila Paint opens in the desktop UI.

When using Windows I hardly ever needed to ever go into the Metro UI. I don’t see how using Windows 8 on a desktop is any different from using Windows 7 on a desktop.

But for arguments sake lets explore another scenario; if I hadn’t pinned an application to the Start screen or at least not on the very left then I would have to search for that application. In Windows 7 searching the computer is done by hitting the Windows button and then typing the name of the application you want to find, users are then shown a list of all applications matching that name. In Windows 8 it works in exactly the same way, the only difference is that the search results take up all of your screen rather than a small box in the bottom left.

What’s the point in a big screen if you don’t use it all?

I find the search to be much more useful in Windows 8 than in Windows 7 as I can quickly and easily select what kind of results I want to see, the options being apps, settings and files. It’s even possible to use apps to search rather than the OS, this could be within apps or online. Again the results take up the whole screen and therefore show me many more results than the Start Menu ever could.

Who wouldn’t want more results shown when searching for something?

But of course Windows 8 does more than just bring a Metro version of the Start Menu such as offering drastically faster boot times and some of its new features even benefit the mouse and keyboard, desktop PC user. I really like the new copy experience, its much more intuitive and useful than the previous incarnations. Equally if you use a multi-monitor setup then Windows 8 brings new features to enable you to make the most of both the monitors you have. There’s even some gimmicky things like the auto-colourisation of Aero depending on the desktop wallpaper a user has which I think is a very nice effect.

So all in all Windows 8 acts just like Windows 7 for desktop use where only a mouse and keyboard however it just requires 1 click before a user can actually get to the Windows 7-like desktop. I had no problems using Windows 8 on a desktop PC with mouse and keyboard only, I now want to try Windows 8 on a touch screen device where I don’t use a mouse or a keyboard, from what I can tell the Windows 8 experience will be just as good on a tablet device as it is on a mouse/keyboard only device.

Can someone remind me why businesses wont like Windows 8?

Thanks to @robertmclaws for the split screen multi-monitor screenshot.

Updated to include info about shutting down the PC.

I know most people aren’t interested in Windows 8 for its tweaked Aero UI but some people out there might like it.

First up is an idea I have already shared once before, long before I even got to use Windows 8 and that is to provide a better multitasking UI for the Metro UI. Currently its very much a “hit and hope” exercise when swiping from the left to navigate through the currently open apps as it becomes difficult to remember the order that the apps are open. I’ve created a mock up of what I think would be a better UI for multitasking that brings a bar on the screen when swiping from the left that shows a preview and name of all the running apps.

My next hope for Windows 8 is that the term “charms” is changed. It’s a very silly name. I’ve been trying to think of a better name for the bar but only really came up with “OS bar” or “Windows bar”, mainly because the bottom bar is called the “App bar”. The buttons within the bar can then simply be called buttons. There’s easily be the “Windows button”, “Share button”, “Settings button”, etc.

Does anyone have any better names for “charms”?

Another thing I’d like to see is the ability to have some more options for the lock screen.

The lock screen looks great, mainly because it just a photo with only a few essential pieces of information displayed. What I’d like to see added though is the ability to have a slideshow and not just a static photo. It would be nice if this idea could be built upon so that we could have Bing images as the lock screen background. It would also be good if, like in Windows Phone 7.5 we could set the lock screen to the “now playing” artist where the images are pulled down from Zune.

The lock screen already makes use of “contracts” for apps that allows them to place icons on the lock screen to show notifications. I think it would be good if apps could have “contracts” for the background too. There could then be some very interesting uses of photos as the background from many different online locations.

I know Windows 8 is far fro finished and it’s entirely likely things will change and that Microsoft may already be planning some of these idea anyway but I thought I’d share them with you anyway. Do you have any minor changes you’d like to see in Windows 8?