The new Windows 8 software includes an interface primarily for tablet computers, which Microsoft calls Metro, as well as an enhanced version of the existing Windows 7. Microsoft has described the update as its most radical, and is even producing its own range of computers, called Surface, to showcase it. It hopes to challenge Google and Apple for the dominance of the tablet category.
The Metro interface borrows heavily from Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform,
while Microsoft has also redesigned the traditional ‘Start’ button, replacing it
with a much more angular design that changes colour depending on which theme a
user chooses. The Start menu has become an entire, customisable homesecreen, and
in desktop mode the Start button is no longer a permanent fixture.
The latest trial version of the software, release Preview, expands on the
Consumer Preview that Microsoft released in Barcelona earlier in the year, and
is available free for users to download and test. Users are warned, however,
that the free test expires and will entirely replace the existing Windows
operating system.
The new software is designed to work as well on tablets as on traditional
computers, and will replace Microsoft Windows 7, which has sold 525 million
copies since it was released three years ago. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has
already talked of 500million machines running Windows 8 within a year.
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