'Your desktop is dead': Rave reactions as Microsoft offers free trial of Windows 8 and revs up to battle Apple and Google

• Touchscreen operating system available free to test
• Will work on tablets as well as PCs
• Tablet users will enjoy Microsoft Office for free
• 'Make-or-break' opportunity for ageing tech company
• Demo is downloaded by users in 70 countries
• 'Your desktop is dead' - Wired magazine

By Rob Waugh
MydeaMedia

It is a make-or-break moment for Microsoft that will either propel it back to the forefront of personal computing or see it lag further behind its arch rival Apple.

The world's largest software company gave reviewers and the public their first taste of its revolutionary new operating system Windows 8 yesterday.

And, no doubt to chairman Bill Gates' enormous relief, the most radical reinvention of Windows since its 1985 launch has been met with glowing reviews.

One impressed tech writer gushed: 'This is the future of computing.'

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Windows 8 features blocks or 'tiles' that can be moved around the screen or tapped to go straight into an application. The tiles update in real time, so you can see if you have emails, voice messages or Facebook notifications at a glance

Windows' new lock screen, showing numbers of emails and messages: A free trial of the operating system will be available today after an official launch event. There is no official release date yet for the new tablet-friendly operating system

Windows 8 will run on tablets as well as desktops and laptops - and is a sea-change for Windows that is seen as a make-or-break opportunity for Microsoft.

Tablets and cloud computing have made Mr Gates' vision of ‘a computer on every desk and in every home’ seem quaint - Windows 8 aims to adapt the iconic operating system for life in the mobile world of tablets.

Windows 8 will come in two variations - one that works on desktops and laptops, and a new version for the ARM microprocessors in tablets, smartphones and other portable devices. 

  

There is no set release date, but it's widely expected to be available in autumn - offering Microsoft Office free on tablets, which could be a 'killer app' that puts Windows 8 machines ahead of Apple devices.

In both versions, Windows 8 features a completely new interface, borrowed from what Microsoft calls the ‘Metro’ style of the current Windows Phone software.

The free trial version is available to download here. As with other 'beta' tests, the software will cease to be available when the test period ends, and people will have to pay for the new Windows.

Early reactions have been highly positive.

Boy Genius Report said, ''We are now entering the post-post-PC era, and its focus is the PC. A new, smarter, more versatile PC. This is the future of computing.'

WINDOWS 8: ALL CHANGE FOR WORLD'S BIGGEST OS

Touchscreen compatible - the new operating system will work with tablets and portable devices. There will also be a version for PCs.
Fewer windows - instead of 'stacks' of windows, as in previous versions, the OS is built around clean 'tiles' that deliver information to the home screen.
Free versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint - Windows 8 will offer Office free to tablet users.
Business-friendly tablets - Windows 8 will work smoothly with Microsoft Exchange email systems, so could be highly popular with business.
Apps shared with phones - apps in Windows 8 will be built to work smoothly with phones (such as Nokia's) running Microsoft's Windows Phone OS.
Easier passwords - users will be able to unlock PCs with a PIN, or by circling details in a picture.
No Start button - instead, users will access a menu from a 'hot corner' in the bottom left of the screen.

'FUTURE OF COMPUTING': THE EXPERTS' REACTION

The version on test is a 'consumer preview' so will be tweaked and polished before release, so reviewers were cautious about making judgements.

Wired said, 'Your desktop is dead. The next few years of computing are going to be very interesting to watch unfold. But one thing's for sure: Microsoft is at least one step ahead of Apple in putting the desktop interface to rest.'

Tech site Mashable was impressed, but overwhelmed by the sheer number of ways to control the new software, 'In the end, Microsoft isn’t just asking you to get used to a different interface for Windows. It’s asking you to get used to multiple  within the same OS. I’m not sure how many people have the patience for that. Still, Metro is gorgeous enough to keep me looking forward to Windows 8′s final act.'

Boy Genius Report was more effusive, 'We are now entering the post-post-PC era, and its focus is the PC. A new, smarter, more versatile PC. This is the future of computing.

'That is not to say Windows 8 is an 'iPad killer' or that media tablets are going away.While their functionality may overlap in a number of areas, light-duty tablets and full-fledged PCs will continue to coexist for some time.'

It features blocks or 'tiles' that can be moved around the screen or tapped to go straight into an application.   

The tiles update in real time, so you can see if you have emails, voice messages or Facebook notifications at a glance.

If PC and laptop users do not like the new format, they can revert to the old style with a click of the mouse.  

The Windows 8 release has to be good, and soon, say industry experts.

More than 90 per cent of the world's PCs still run Windows, but while Microsoft remains profitable thanks to divisions such as Xbox, sales of Windows have slowed.

Rival Apple, with its command of the tablet market, has gained. Microsoft's market capitalisation is now $267 billion, less than half Apple's $535 billion.

‘Now that the tablet market is being defined by the iPad and the (Amazon) Kindle, if they come out with a buggy first version, they won't get a second chance,’ said Michael Cherry, a former Microsoft engineer who now works at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. ‘They can't afford to disappoint customers.’     

The new Windows 8 Consumer Preview is displayed during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain

President of Windows and Windows Live Division Steven Sinofsky demonstrates new features of Windows 8 in Barcelona

Microsoft has not put a timetable on the final release, but Windows unit head Steven Sinofsky has said new versions of Windows should be no more than three years apart, which would put a Windows 8 debut around October 2012.

Everybody will be able to download a test version of Windows 8 that will run on PCs and laptops based on Intel chips. But they won't get to try out Windows 8 on an ARM tablet until later this year.    

A Windows tablet that works seamlessly with Microsoft's Exchange email system and Office applications would be a godsend for corporate technology managers, who have been bending over backward to put their CEO's iPads - ‘executive jewelry,’ as one analyst puts it - onto their company's email and security systems.

Microsoft's killer punch is Office.

After months of silence, Sinofsky confirmed earlier this month that the world's most popular suite of work applications, including the newest versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, will come installed on tablets running the ARM version of Windows.

That would give Windows tablets a unique selling point over iPads and Android tablets.    

Microsoft will launch an online 'Windows Store' selling apps, in a similar vein to Apple's App Store

The 'tile' interface, where a set of panels bring up 'live' information - showing, for instance, whether there are emails to read, or bring up Facebook posts - is similar to the one found in Windows Phone, and apps will work smoothly across the two

Microsoft executives in Barcelona showed off how users can use their fingertips to swipe in and out of applications, and tilt upright computer screens to a flat position so they can be used as two-person gaming boards or big drawing tablets.

A slim laptop had a hinge allowing it to be turned inside out so it could be used as a tablet instead.

'It's beautiful, it's modern, it's fast, it's fluid, said Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows division. 'Windows 8 is a generational change in the windows operating system.'

Microsoft is also opening an Internet 'Windows Store' where users can download applications for the operating system.

Applications are free for those testing out the beta version, but would include both free and paid versions after the operating system is released.

The test version was downloaded by people from more than 70 countries as Microsoft gave its presentation about Windows 8, but the company didn't immediately disclose the number of downloads.

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