Windows 8 - From a Consumer And a Developer Perspective

Microsoft Surface an unexpected surprise to the computing world, a menacing competitor for those who thought they had touchstone devices in the digital realm, and an adjunct to the joy of consumers and developers, Microsoft Surface running Windows 8 has formally made its pitch to bring-in  wave of change to the way we interact with computers superseding traditional flashy, jazzy, banal user interface.

That is not all, the release of Surface has now personally given me a strong reason to start posting articles on windows 8  which I was postponing for last few months, and this article being harbinger to the series of windows 8 articles, presents a brief introduction to windows 8 from a consumer and a developer perspective.

Windows 8 Home Page

Consumer Perspective
Perceiving windows 8 from a consumer perspective gives raise to innumerable questions which are very common, and to list a few.

What is Metro UI ?

What was the need of Metro UI ?

What learning efforts it takes to start working with Windows 8 ?

Can I run all those applications on Windows 8 which I used to run on Windows 7 ?

Now, let me try to answer these.

Windows 8 isn't just, an another operating system, because by considering it so, we would be reflecting our own ignorance. Yes for the sake of definition Windows 8 is yet another operating system, but beyond everything at the crux of it Windows 8 is a new design concept distinctly unique and discrete from the rest of converging design concepts.

Windows 8 Metro UI is a new way of perceiving things to build a sense of familiarity which gets imbibed in our conscious without even we could realize it. To exemplify this consider a scenario. Say, for the first time you are about to drive from a source to destination location, and as you hit the road your eyes start searching for sign boards, and you will be unknowingly trembling in a state of ambivalence until you find a signboard, with an arrow mark directing you to the destination location.

Once you are assured of the way to the destination location as indicated by sign boards, your conscious will feel back at home. This is because our brain is already being tuned to be familiar with such sign boards since the day our brain started learning and perceiving things around us. Windows 8 metro UI is all about this, making our conscious feel comfortable, feel always be at home, encounter with less surprises, a minimal computing work for brain and ultimately bridging the gap between humans and machines.

Windows 8 isn't Metro UI or Metro UI isn't Windows 8 either, in its original and in the most Ingenuous form Metro itself is a insular design concept with unquestioned approbation, since Metro design can be easily interpreted and perceived by human beings.

And lastly the key point, "Backward Compatibility" which is the main requirement of any newly built software product, and this isn't different for Windows 8. Having said that users can be assured that all of the  applications running on windows 7 should flawlessly run on windows 8 with or without minor modifications.

Developer Perspective
From a developer perspective, Windows 8 has opened a new and also a huge window of opportunities to developers to showcase their skills, expertise, design erudite,  and ability to make a difference. Now it is the responsibility of the developers across the world to build windows app store from the scratch since Windows 8 has brought in the concept of  Metro UI and a more strict and restrained life cycle of applications. Below are the few common concerns of the developers who are novice to windows 8.

Snap Shot of  Windows 8 Metro UI - Twitter app

Metro UI or Desktop Application.
Developers are not fettered to be developing only Metro applications for Windows 8, because some applications are more appealing and friendly to be used in windowed mode than as a Metro application. To support windowed applications, Windows 8 runs "Windows Desktop Environment" as an application inside Windows 8, enabling it to run native windowed applications.

Tablet PC or Desktop Computer.
Developers can develop Metro applications without bothering anything about target devices. This is because Metro applications are inherently device agnostic. it just needs WinRT framework to run. However desktop applications, aka windowed applications built for windows 8 will only run on Windows 8 Desktop edition and these windowed applications can't be run on tablet PCs since tablets running Windows 8 lacks desktop environment.

Programming Languages.
Windows 8 makes every developer feel at home, since there isn't any new language to be learnt to code for windows 8. Developers can build both Metro and Desktop applications using the same languages C, C++, C#, VB, JavaScript, HTML which they have been using ever since.

Start Coding.
Download Windows 8 release preview
Download tools and SDK for development of Metro apps.
Self help Documentation

That is all for now. I will be writing posts, mainly developer centric on building metro applications. I hope this article could help you understand the essence and need of Metro UI and hence Windows 8.
Kindly write to me if you have any comments or suggestions

An Early bird's view of Windows 8 "Metro UI"

Microsoft is formally making it's pitch to sustain and continue to hold the commendable position in the world of operating systems. In this efforts MS has recently announced it's revolutionized, most discussed, and would be most debatable Metro UI for windows 8 operating system.
 Just a day or two before this article was published, Microsoft has been granted patent for it's "Metro UI" from US patent and trademark office, and this patent was filed under the name 'Visual motion for user interface feedback'. 

What made Microsoft to invent "Metro UI" ?

Windows 8 derived this idea of  Metro UI from it's most popular "Windows phone 7" UI. As Microsoft burnt its figures with windows CE phones, since these phones failed to cater to user expectations in many areas, Microsoft really had to bring in radical changes and innovative features into its next generation of phones to stay in the competition and live up it's reputation. "Metro UI " is one of the biggest change that the designers at Microsoft stressed for.

Why is it even called "Metro UI" ?

There is an interesting story behind this. The designers at Microsoft were working hard to find out what makes humans to perceive  things quickly and easily. and  as research went on they found  that people showed capabilities to perceive Sign board, Warning boards, Information board displayed at Metro stations and many other public place.

Microsoft decided to milk out this idea, and redesigned windows phone UI as sign boards displayed at metro stations and named it as "Metro UI"

A sneak peek of Windows 8 Metro UI ...

Microsoft has re-engineered it's conventional desktop UI to bring in home screen concept in windows-8. This is a significant change when compared to all old versions of windows UI, however this Metro UI may doesn't seem to be a big change for windows phone 7 users as windows 8 UI is inline with windows phone 7 UI. Now Microsoft has decided to introduce this unique UI across all gadgets like Phones, Tabs, Desktops, Laptops etc..

As most of you all might be knowing Microsoft is expected to release windows 8 during Fall 2012, though beta releases are made available for selected OEMs there has been no official beta builds available for public . But few companies and geeks (rainmeter and omnino) are successful in emulating windows 8 metro UI on windows 7  and below are the few glimpses.

Home Screen :

• Home screen is a unified central location providing quick access to apps, file system, multimedia utilities, E-mail clients, browser, HTML 5 and Java script based web apps and many more.
• Home screen is all set to replace decades old  windows start menu.

 

Live Tiles :

•  Home screen is customizable by adding live tiles which will be replacing static icons.

• A live tile can be created for each of the application that you would like to have a quick access to
• Live tiles are highly customizable like gadgets on windows 7.
• These live tiles just not being acting as access points for applications but they also provide a summarised view of application content.
• Live tiles are dynamic and they get updated with most recent application content.

Other Significant Changes :

• Smooth switching between running apps .
• Anchor and re-size apps to the sides of the screen to leverage true multitasking.
• Touch optimised IE 10 with improved browser  engine.
• Thousands of HTML5 and Java based web apps.
• And many more undisclosed feature.

Most of us are hooked to a fact that "Seeing is believing" ,and from all the specs that Microsoft has made available for public, I'm sure that MS will emerge as a winner with this innovative UI. As Bill Gates always said "Passion and Innovation" are the key factor driving their business, and it looks this apatite for innovation has paid off.

After all we need "Change".. So looking forward to you Windows 8 :-)