Microsoft unveils Windows 8 and shows off Metro touch-screen interface

Michael Angiulo, Vice President of Windows Planning and Ecosystem with the Windows 8 Samsung tablet

This year’s Microsoft Build developer conference in Anaheim, California, is only really about one thing: Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system. A “reimagined” version of Windows 7, this new OS will, so Microsoft claim, ensure workability across different devices and ring in an era of new, more versatile and user-friendly, Windows tablets.

To this end, every developer attending the presentation got a Samsung 11.6 inch tablet specifically design to run on the preliminary Windows 8 version (a commercial version of this device isn’t expected to be released).

Users can switch between a tile-based, touch-screen start menu and the traditional desktop view, which hints at the versatility in terms of interaction with the new OS. The touch-screen compatible interface is called Metro and is based on the existing Windows Phone operating system. The onscreen keyboard is said to work surprisingly well, but the tablet can also be used with a mouse and keyboard.

In general, apps will play a much bigger role with Windows 8. They will be available from a Windows App Store and will “interact” with each other. One example is the way a user can access images not only from his hard drive, but from social networking sites and other applications as well – via the touch of a button.

There is no official release date for the new operating system, but rumour has it that it will come out early 2012.