Windows 8

Microsoft have released a developer version of the upcoming windows 8 operating system.

Microsoft appears to have taken windows 7 added usability features and optimised the shell for a tablet environment.

The stability of ther operating system was not flawed with my brief test of it. This was in itself an achievement considering that microsft's beta releases usually crash, however while installed and running in a virtual machine it returned a solid result of stable.

First feature that made a big impact was the ability to login with a msn username and password, the possibilities flood in with the cloud abilities to synchronise user information accross many devices, my first thought was that this was a sure way to compete with google. Microsoft's move into cloud with the live 365  solutions cannot be dismissed, with a clear positive by integrating internet and hardware devices together.

The interface has clearly undergone thorough usability testing making this the most intuitive windows operating system ever. The contols have been made in a way to facilitate a touch screen even during the installation process. The start menu is the next noticbly big difference with the introduction of the panels screen which hosts an array of apps displaying live data. the windows explorer has implemented the ribbon permanantly which is a matured concept of the orginal idea concieved before the original implementation in the office 2007 release. It takes away the toolbars and creates a nice way to manage a file system.

The technical information was not disapointing one concern i was beginning to have is that technical and advanced features have been removed or hidden like Apple has, however they exist where they always have for the people who know already, and pleasently changed to provide more information and suprisingly even these remote ares of an operating system have been considered during the usability test.

This as an overall package is a force to be reckoned by the use of design and usability; and its just around the corner, while the changes in work flow will not be changed greatly, the adoption of windows 8 by new users and less interested computer users will be recieved well and puts the competitiveness back into the fight for market share against Google and Apple.

Keep in mind there is plenty more features embedded within the OS, these are the main differences i found that will impact on the future of computer usage.

Notes from week 6 lecture relating to assignment:

Datas law
not to predict
emerging trends are not common sence

Futures cone

S-curve

trend spotters / radicals / the ripples

Trend analysis

Question, Get data, model, test, analysis, validity?, results -> ?

Desciption of the audience of your trend report and its organistational stratedic relevence.

Mind MAp

Cross impact analysis CIM

Exploration phase & probabilistic phase = CIM or link to scenarios

Week 6 lecture

Turkey dinner?

Is the growth sustainable? or is it about to be harvested?