Microsoft unveils amazing new vision of the future video

Microsoft has created a follow-up to its “Office 2019″ video and the latest concept of the future provides some amazing insights into how technology will impact our lives in the future.

The latest video builds on Microsoft’s previous concepts of touch based computing anywhere and everywhere. The video opens with a business woman visiting Johannesburg and having the audio around her translated in real time thanks to some futuristic glasses. Other scenes in the video feature highly personalised experiences and touch computing on every surface. Microsoft previously created an “Office 2019” video which also features the same opaque smartphones and touch walls.

Microsoft’s future vision is designed to show what the world might look like in the next five to 10 years.GeekWire’s Todd Bishop managed to speak to the videos creators at Microsoft in a recent interview. “We see an expanded definition of productivity where it’s not just about getting things done,” said David Jones, Microsoft’s director of envisioning. “It’s also about doing the right things, and doing them well and enjoying the process with other people in a very natural way.”

Microsoft believes that most of the technology in the video exists in some form or another today. “All of the ideas in the video are based on real technology,” explains Microsoft’s Office chief, Kurt DelBene, in a blog post on Thursday. “Some of the capabilities, such as speech recognition, real time collaboration and data visualization already exist today. Others are not yet available in specific products, but represent active research and development happening at Microsoft and other companies.”

Check out the video below and let us know in the comments what you think the future of computing will be in the next five years.

Microsoft launches developer preview of Windows Server 8

Microsoft introduced its new Windows Server 8 operating system on Wednesday.

Windows Server 8

Server and Tools Business President Satya Nadella detailed Microsoft’s Windows Server 8 improvements in a keynote speech at the company’s BUILD developer conference on Wednesday. Windows Server 8 is designed with the cloud in mind. The company has taken its work of building and operating the Windows Azure service and optimised Windows Server 8 for high availability and high-performance virtualization. The new operating system includes over 300 new features and some heavy changes to the underlying architecture of Windows Server 8. One of the visual changes in Windows Server 8 is the inclusion of a Metro style server manager and Windows Phone-like tiles.

Under the hood, Microsoft is continuing its support of PowerShell throughout Windows Server. Version 3.0 of PowerShell is now included which ships with over 2,000 commands to allow system admins to easily script and manage all of their servers. Windows Server 8 also includes the ability to script workflows with Powershell to make it an easier to patch multiple servers while maintaining great uptime.

Hyper-V 3.0 is also included which includes VHDX support. The new VHDX format is capable of supporting disks much larger than the current 2TB restriction of VHD. Microsoft has created VHDX which is capable of supporting disks up to 16TB in size. The new format can only be used in Windows OS versions starting at Windows 8.

“With Windows Server 8 we are delivering high availability and disaster recovery at a much better price point,” said Microsoft’s server and cloud corporate VP Bill Laing in a blog post on Wednesday. “We are giving customers access to high-end storage capabilities that before required specialized hardware, such as device pooling, disk virtualization, and thin provisioning, in Windows Server 8.”

• A complete virtualization platform that delivers a fully isolated, multitenant environment with tools that can guarantee service-level agreements, enable chargebacks through usage-based billing, and support self-service delivery.
• Increased scalability and performance through a high-density, highly scalable environment that can be modified to perform at the optimum level based on your needs.
• Connectivity to cloud services using a common identity and management framework for secure and reliable cross-premises connectivity.
• Continuous availability: New and improved features offer cost-effective, high IT service uptime. They are designed to endure failures without disrupting services to users.
• Management efficiency: Windows Server 8 helps automate an even broader set of management task and simplifies deployment and virtualization of major workloads, which provides a path to full lights-out automation.
• Cost efficiency: Windows Server 8 leverages commodity storage, networking, and server infrastructure, as well as offering increased power efficiency for superior acquisition and operating economics.
• Flexibility to build on-premises and in the cloud: Developers can use the same languages and tools to build on-premises and cloud applications, allowing them to build applications that use distributed and temporally decoupled components.
• An open web platform: Windows Server 8 combined with Internet Information Services (IIS) offers a solid platform for both open-source web stacks and ASP.NET, opening up a wide range of choices for application development.
• A scalable and elastic web platform: Hosting providers can use new features in Windows Server 8 to increase density, simplify management, and achieve higher scalability in a shared web-hosting environment.
• Access anywhere on any device: Seamless, always-on access to virtualized work from anywhere, including branch locations and public connectivity services.
• A full Windows experience anywhere: By enabling a personalized and rich user experience from any device while adapting to different network conditions quickly and responsively.
• Enhanced data security and compliance: Central audit and access policies enable granular access to data and corporate resources based on strong identity, data classification, and simplified administration for remote access.

The Windows Server 8 developer preview is available to download at Microsoft’s MSDN developer center.

Windows 8 Developer Preview now available to download

Windows 8 Start Screen

Microsoft’s Windows 8 Developer Preview is now available to download.

The Windows developer center is now live and Windows 8 available to download in the following flavours:

Windows Developer Preview English, 64-bit (x64)

DOWNLOAD (3.6 GB)

Sha 1 hash – 79DBF235FD49F5C1C8F8C04E24BDE6E1D04DA1E9

Windows Developer Preview English, 32-bit (x86)

DOWNLOAD (2.8 GB)

Sha 1 hash – 4E0698BBABE01ED27582C9FC16AD21C4422913CC

Microsoft also supplied some system requirements for the Windows 8 Developer preview:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
• Taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch

Windows Thin PC goes RTM, will be available for download.

Windows Thin PC

Microsoft announced that Windows Thin PC has now released to manufacturing (RTM).

Windows Thin PC (WinTPC) is a new version of Windows 7 designed specifically for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) customers. Windows Thin PC is a smaller footprint, locked down version of Windows 7 designed for virtualised environments to rebuild their existing PCs as thin clients. PCs with WinTPC will not require the VDA license that regular thin clients will need to access VDI desktops according to Microsoft.

The final version of Windows Thin PC will be available to SA customers to download on July 1. Microsoft is ending its CTP program, effective June 6. The release candidate (RC) build of Windows Thin PC will still be available to download at the CTP site with associated documentation until July 1. In an email to testers, Microsoft thanked its early tester community. “We thank you for all the feedback and evaluation provided in helping make the Windows Thin PC a success in the Windows community.”

Microsoft is not planning to charge customers for Windows Thin PC. Instead, the company will offer it as part of Microsoft’s Software Assurance offerings for customers. Microsoft’s software assurance Licensing allows businesses large and small to spread licence costs over multiple years and receive “free” upgrades to newer versions during the licence period.

Windows Thin PC

Microsoft planning built-in “Chatter” video service for Windows 8?

Microsoft might be preparing its own “Chatter” video service inside Windows 8.

References to “Chatter” have been discovered in early leaked builds of Windows 8. Forum users at MDL spotted a DLL named ConsentUX.dll which includes the following:

100,Do you want to allow %1 to use your %2 ?
101,CapabilityName
102,DisplayName

1600,Block
1601,Do you want to you allow Chatter to use your video ?
1602,Allow
1603,Always Allow

The current speculation is that the references point to a feature that Microsoft may have inadvertently revealed during its Windows 8 preview earlier this week. Manan Kakkar points out that the lock screen of Windows 8 includes video, messaging and group icons. Kakkar speculates that the icon could be the signs of Microsoft’s Skype and Windows Live Messenger integration. The icon for the group of people appears to be the same that’s used in Windows Live Messenger. Chatter even appears to have its own icon:

Chatter?

If Microsoft is building its own video calling service then it’s likely in response to Apple’s FaceTime product. Chatter could be used to unify several video calling services already available from Microsoft’s products and provide one easy route for Windows users to communicate over several Microsoft owned platforms. Microsoft purchased Skype in early May for $8.5 billion. The company says Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Chatter could be the unification of said services. It’s also possible that the references are to an experimental feature, created before Microsoft’s Skype deal.

Windows 8 lockscreen

Microsoft details Windows 8 hardware recommendations.

Microsoft revealed some hardware “considerations” for its Windows 8 operating system on Thursday.

The software giant unveiled a number of Windows 8 ARM-based tablet prototype devices during a technical demonstration at Computex on Thursday. Mike Angiulo, corporate vice president of Windows Planning, Hardware and PC Ecosystem at Microsoft, also revealed some hardware details for Windows 8 partner.

Windows 8 touch considerations

Microsoft has some recommendations on bezel sizes for Windows 8 slate and tablet devices. The company showed a slide, named Windows 8 Touch considerations, during its partner preview event, detailing edge to edge glass and first pixel sensitivity. Microsoft wasn't clear on whether these are requirements for ARM tablets, Acer complained earlier this week that the company wanted to “control” the whole process.

Windows 8 display considerations

Microsoft also detailed minimum resolutions for its new user interface. 1024×768 will be the absolute minimum for the new user interface, anything lower will run in the classic desktop mode. The company says that 1366×768 is the optimum resolution for devices.

Finally, Microsoft also detailed support for OEM activation 3.0 and new sensor support. The new technology will further protect devices against activation hackers.Illegal copies of Windows have been widely circulated thanks to mechanisms created to bypass Microsoft’s OEM activation certificates. Windows Vista and Windows 7, which both rely on OA version 2.0, have fallen victim to activation cracks and bypass methods.

Windows 8 hardware

Windows 8 includes a sensor control panel that is believed to provide greater use of existing hardware to act as a sensor for the operating system, including support for new hardware sensors that OEMs can incorporate into future products.

Microsoft confirms its Windows developer conference is named BUILD.

Microsoft will hold a special Windows developer event later this year.

The software gaint unveiled the final naming for the event on Wednesday during a Windows 8 demo. BUILD is a new event that Microsoft describes as showing “modem hardware and software” taking advantage of the future of Windows:

Learn how to work with the all new touch-centric user experience to create fast, fluid, and dynamic applications that leverage the power and flexibility of the core of Windows, used by more than a billion people around the world.

Hear how the UI was designed to work seamlessly with a diversity of devices and form factors. Go behind the scenes and learn all about the new app model that allows you to create powerful new apps. All while retaining the ability to use your existing apps. Web-connected and web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript have access to the power of the PC. Touch-optimized browsing, with the full power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10 transforms your experiences with the web. BUILD is the first place to dive deep into the future of Windows.

The BUILD conference replaces Microsoft’s professional developer conference, typically held every year. The company is expected to deliver an early beta copy of Windows 8 at the conference and fully detail its plans for the next-generation of Windows. More information can be found at buildwindows.com

BUILD developer conference

Watch the new Windows 8 user interface demonstration [video].

Windows 8 Tile UI

Microsoft unveiled a new Windows 8 user interface on Wednesday.

The software gaint also posted a full demo video of the new interface, see it below. For more information on the new Windows 8 user interface please see a full overview article here.

Microsoft reveals new Windows 8 user interface.

Windows 8 start UI

Microsoft’s Windows chief, Steven Sinofsky, took to the stage at All Things Digital’s D9 conference on Wednesday.

Sinofsky unveiled a taste of Windows 8 to the world, devices running Windows 8′s new user interface. Microsoft revealed a number of details of its new interface for Windows 8 to All Things Digital. Windows 8 supports two types of applications, classic desktop Windows apps and HTML5 web apps. Windows 8′s new interface uses Internet Explorer 10 as the heart to power several widget style applications for checking the weather, stocks etc. Microsoft’s new start screen includes easy touch icons to allow users of touch based devices to easily navigate Windows.

“We really did take a step back after Windows 7,” Sinofsky said to All Things Digital. “We were clearly influenced ourselves by phones.” Microsoft has also improved its classic Windows desktop look and feel to enable users to touch it more easily. The company wants classic applications, designed for mice and keyboard input, to work well with touch.

Windows 8 weather widget

The UI (see screen shots) will be driven by Microsoft’s Metro based design language. Microsoft will include a new application model codenamed “Jupiter” that will allow developers to create web based applications, deployed as AppX packages (.appx). The packages will be part of a new Windows application store, pre-installed with Windows 8.

Sinfosky also revealed that Windows 8 will not require any additional hardware requirements above and beyond Windows 7. The operating system will run on both Intel and ARM chips. The company is calling it Windows 8 for now but considered a number of codenames, including Firestorm. Microsoft is also implementing live tiles inside Windows 8, similar to the company’s Windows Phone 7 operating system. Judging by the demonstration video (embedded below) the interface appears to seamlessly interact with legacy applications. One audience member at D9 asked if the new user interface was simply just “another layer” on top of Windows. Sinofsky explained that it’s always there in the background, “it’s just part of the way that it works,” he said. Sinofsky refused to say when Windows 8 would be available but said “I can tell you it won’t be this fall.”

Microsoft summarized the main elements of its new user interface:

• Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps. 
• Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps. 
• Fluid, natural switching between running apps. 
• Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows. 
• Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC. 
• Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10. 

Microsoft also announced its new BUILD developer conference, kicking off in September. WinRumors will be live from BUILD to bring you all the latest on Windows 8. It’s an exciting six months ago so stay tuned.

Public testing Windows Thin PC Release Candidate Version.

Microsoft has released an updated community technology preview (CTP) of its Windows Thin PC product.

Windows Thin PC (WinTPC) is a new version of Windows 7 designed specifically for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) customers. Windows Thin PC is a smaller footprint, locked down version of Windows 7 designed for virtualised environments to rebuild their existing PCs as thin clients. PCs with WinTPC will not require the VDA license that regular thin clients will need to access VDI desktops according to Microsoft.

The  release candidate (RC) of Windows Thin PC is now available at the company’s Connect testing site. The RC build is 7601.17514 (win7sp1_rtm_embedded_pos.110420-1302). Microsoft also revealed on 2May, 2011 that it plans to RTM Windows Thin PC within this quarter (Q2 CY2011). “We have seen tremendous interest in the product with thousands of downloads of the software,” said Microsoft’s Karri Alexion-Tiernan. “So, we would like to take this opportunity to recognize our enthusiastic community of well over 12,000 customers and partners who have signed up for the Technology Preview program.”

Microsoft is not planning to charge customers for Windows Thin PC. Instead, the company will offer it as part of Microsoft’s Software Assurance offerings for customers. Microsoft’s Software assurance Licensing allows businesses large and small to spread licence costs over multiple years and receive “free” upgrades to newer versions during the licence period.

Windows Thin PC.