This article was published on December 9, 2010

Will Windows 8 completely revolutionize the Microsoft user interface?


Will Windows 8 completely revolutionize the Microsoft user interface?

According to a rumor on the Windows8Italia blog, Windows 8 is going to be a whole new ball game in terms of user experience, with a fully new user interface that will require a very powerful computer to run, but may just be worth the hardware costs.

We want to be blunt: we are not sure how reliable this source is. Please do recall that Microsoft has called the next version of Windows their “riskiest product bet.”

What is in this new version of Windows that is so different? Called ‘Wind,’ the user experience sounds like nothing that we have ever seen or heard of from Microsoft. This is how the Italian blog described it, translated to English:

Windows 8 will have two interfaces : the principal, whose code name is Wind , will be the evolution of Peek of Windows 7. Wind will initially only supported by high-end notebook and desktop PCs with dedicated video card , as it will require about 170MB of video memory, but is working to try to reduce the consumption of resources. Wind will be used only on Windows 8 to 64-Bit and will be fully 3D , but still work with a normal monitor.

The other interface will not be in 3D and will focus on less powerful computers and will be the only interface available on Windows 8 to 32-Bit

Wind in their two versions will be completely dynamic , able to adapt to the user’s habits and operations in particular will have two types of dynamics: the first will create shortcuts when necessary and available in certain scenarios, speeding up certain tasks. The second adapts the interface of Windows 8 according to daily activities that we do with computers . Even the icons will be smart and automatically adapt to user needs.

Heady stuff we must admit. That the next version of Windows will require a dedicated GPU is not overly surprising. The cost of those units has dropped as their power has grown, putting them in the price reach of most consumers. It is not that that grabs us, but the idea that the interface is fully dynamic and reactive.

There is no operating system that we use or are familiar with that is pursuing those goals directly. How radical these adaptions will be, or if they are mostly ‘under the hood,’ is anyone’s guess (assuming that this rumor is true). We have reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this post if we hear anything new.

Update: Microsoft got back to us reaffirming their position of not commenting on speculation and rumor.

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