"As we look forward to the next generation of Windows systems, which will come out next year, there's a whole lot more coming," he told the audience at the Microsoft Developer Forum in Tokyo, according to a transcript published on Microsoft's Website. "As we progress through the year, you ought to expect to hear a lot about Windows 8. Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors."
Despite the whole transcript-on-Microsoft's-Website thing, Microsoft seems intent on blunting the impact of its own chief's words. "It appears there was a misstatement," a Microsoft spokesperson wrote in a statement circulated to media. "To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows."
Why? Simple. Microsoft is likely concerned that premature news of the next version of Windows will curb momentum for Windows 7, released in October 2009. Windows 7 has sold very well, eating a big chunk of Windows XP's market share and helping shove the much-maligned Windows Vista into the dustbin of dead tech. But with Microsoft dependent on continuing Windows 7 sales to fuel a healthy portion of its revenue, it needs to stop anything that threatens to choke off a portion of those sales--including businesses not upgrading from XP to 7, because Microsoft's CEO suggested the next generation is hitting store shelves by 2012.
What do we know about the next-generation Windows? Windows and Windows Live Division President Steven Sinofsky announced during this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the next-generation platform will support SoC (system-on-a-chip) architecture, in particular ARM-based systems from partners such as Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments. That would give Microsoft the ability to port the next Windows--dubbed "Windows 8" by some in the media, although no official name has been announced--onto tablets and other mobile form factors powered by ARM offerings.
"Under the hood there are a ton of differences that need to be worked through," Sinofsky told the audience during his CES presentation. Nonetheless, he added, "Windows has proven remarkably flexible at this under-the-hood sort of stuff."
Beyond that, however, Microsoft has kept details of the next Windows firmly under wraps. In April, bloggers Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott dissected various features of what they called an early operating-system build on Rivera's Within Windows blog. According to those postings, the next version of Windows could incorporate an Office-style ribbon interface into Windows Explorer, complete with tools for viewing libraries and manipulating images. The bloggers also included a screenshot of an early device-unlock window, done in the "Metro" design style already present in Windows Phone.
In any case, Microsoft seems intent on keeping virtually all details of Windows 8 under wraps for the time being.
No comments:
Post a Comment