Hands On with Windows 8 Developer Preview

Windows 8 is a coin with two very different sides: On one side is a tablet operating system, with the tile-heavy Metro user interface inspired by Windows Phone 7. On the other is an improved version of the full Windows 7-like desktop operating system. The first is very simple and consumer-oriented, and competes with tablets like Apple’s iPad and Google Android tablets. The other is the operating system favored by power users of complex and professional Windows programs.

The tightrope between these two usage cases

Microsoft not only thinks it can successfully walk the tightrope between these two usage cases, nevertheless that the result will be better and less limiting than any of the alternatives. I took an early version of the OS for a spin. The Windows 8 Developer Preview I tested on an Intel-based Windows 8 developer preview PC. This is the first version of Windows 8 to be officially let outside of Microsoft employees’ hands, and as its name suggests, it’s far from fully baked. Yet it demonstrates a lot of improvements and new capabilities we can expect to see in Microsoft’s then and there big OS.

The company is not saying anything official about when Windows 8 will ship, its price, or different editions it may be available in. The general consensus, after all, is that the OS will be launched in Fall 2012, based on off-the-cuff executive statements and leaked schedules. And Windows 7 launched about a year afterwards its 2008 PDC debut, so a fall 2012 timetable isn’t unreasonable. Till at that time, here’s a look at how the OS is shaping up for the time being. Note: this hands-on looks exclusively at the OS running on a tablet, as that's all I can get my hands on for the moment. Rest assured that I'll be installing and testing it on a regular PC as shortly as I've got installer code from Microsoft. I've been briefed about the desktop code, so this hands on does refer occasionally to the desktop UI, nevertheless I haven't to tell the truth tested it but.

Starting Up The first thing you’ll probably notice is that Windows 8 starts up in a fraction of the time it takes any previous version of Windows. And that’s not just on tablets: at the BUILD show, Microsoft’s Gabe Aul demonstrated a high-end gaming PC starting up in a handful of seconds. The startup is so fast that the monitor couldn’t keep up to display the POST screen.

On the first startup of the Samsung Windows 8 PC provided for testing I had to give the computer a name, choose a Wi-Fi router, and configure settings. Defaults for this last step included suggested update and security options. It as well defaulted to allowing programs to use my location, name, and user photo.

Next came a step very similar to one you get when setting up a Google Chrome notebook: You have to sign into or create a Windows Live account. This way your apps can tie in with Microsoft cloud services like SkyDrive storage, Hotmail, and any other connected services you’ve connected—Facebook and LinkedIn, for instance. Afterwards logging in, the new Windows 8 tablet took a couple minutes to "prepare my PC."

The then and there time I started up, I saw the lock screen image, and swiping up brought me to my login screen. Alternatively, an innovative new option in Windows 8 is to create a "picture password" in which you touch and swipe parts of an image to log in.

Metro-Style Apps Microsoft insists that all Windows 7 apps will run in Windows 8, and that any machine that can run Windows 7 can run Windows 8. That said, the company seems most excited about the new species of app it calls Metro-style apps--referring to the Window Phone 7 Metro UI. These are touch-optimized, full-screen affairs that only show their menus and settings if you swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Swiping from the right side of the screen towards the middle brings up what the company calls "Charms"—icons for Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings.

You start Metro-style and non-Metro-style old-school desktop apps in the Start screen, itself part of the Windows Phone Metro UI. This shows tiles for each app on your system, and you can swipe through as many pages of apps as you want. This screen appears any time you hit the Windows button or choose Start from the Charms. Each tile not only shows the app name, nevertheless can show data relevant to that app, just as a recent photo, the weather, or a stock quote.