Windows 8 Poised For Release: What Features Do You Want To See?

Microsoft is widely expected to unveil Windows 8, the follow-up to its Windows 7 operating system, on Tuesday afternoon at the BUILD Conference in Anaheim, California.

Though Microsoft has offered several sneak peeks at Windows 8, there are still many mysteries surrounding the new, radically re-designed, touch-driven operating system.

Here's what we do know about Windows 8: It will definitely be released some time in 2012, according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. It was first shown off in public at the All Things Digital D9 Conference in early June, and the design was radically different from its predecessor's (See a slideshow of screenshots below). Windows 8 looked much more like the Windows Phone OS, with the interface having been designed for what Microsoft is calling an "all new touch-centric user experience." That is, Windows 8 has apparently been optimized for touchscreen usage on tablets and touchscreen-PCs so that you can slide and zoom on your PC or slate like you would on your Samsung Focus or HTC Titan.

But aside from these glimpses at what may have been an early design, we know very little about Windows 8.

Who knows how much may have changed since June? A preview of its new, very busy toolbar drew heavy criticism for inaccessibility, while its ability to boot in 8 seconds drew praise.

We know that Windows Media Center is coming bundled, but what else?

It is probably going to come with an app store, notes ReadWriteWeb, and part of the BUILD conference will hopefully deal with the Java and HTML 5-powered apps that will be available in this new Windows App Store, and to what extent they will be integrated into the Windows 8 main interface.

There are still several questions about to what extent Windows 8 will look like the Windows Phone OS, and to what extent it will look like the more familiar, "classic" Start-Bar-and-Icons Windows 7/Vista/XP interface we all know. How radical will the changes be, following the PR disaster and customer uprising following Vista?

It's all a (Apple-like?) mystery! So, what are you looking for from the first real, full-frontal debut of Windows 8? What changes do you hope they make to Windows 7? What changes do you hope they DON'T make? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet to @HuffPostTech with your take on what features Windows 8 should (and shouldn't) have.

The conference begins at 12PM EST/9AM PST on Tuesday, September 13, so get yourself back to HuffPost Tech for the latest facts, screenshots, release date rumors and analysis on the newly-redesigned Windows 8.

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Comments

[PenguinLinux]

04:17 PM on 09/13/2011

I can see it now... Windows 8 My Hard Drive

[PenguinLinux]

04:01 PM on 09/13/2011

People still use Windows and expect THIS version t obe better than the LAST version? uh huh.. sippin' dat Kool-Aid they are.

[John Benjamin Fogarty]

07:21 AM on 09/22/2011

Problem is, there was nothing wrong with Windows 7....and they are upgrading to Windows 8 mostly to add new features.
There was nothing wrong with OSX Snow Leopard either....yet they up graded to OSX Lion.
Your argument is invalid.

[Cody England]

01:07 PM on 09/13/2011

I can't wait to miss it. All-in-all, Windows 8 will be just another craptastic consumer version of Microsoft's OS.

[Info08]

12:55 PM on 09/13/2011

Anyone who wants to watch the Windows 8 BUILD conference, you can live stream it here-

http://www.buildwindows.com/

All I can say is that so far what I've seen reveals that Windows 8 is not just a UI upgrade, It's so much more. It really looks like Microsoft has fundamentally changed their OS. I'm really intrigued with what the developers are showing right now.

[Eris23]

12:25 PM on 09/13/2011

I don't particularly care to see anything and doubt I'll snag it, as I've no need for a touchscreen interface, nor do I have a monitor that supports it.

[jgeurian21]

12:36 PM on 09/13/2011

And that is why it offers the same standard Windows desktop found in Windows 7. You don't need a touch screen monitor or even a touch interface to use Windows 8.

[Eris23]

01:08 PM on 09/13/2011

Sure. But, that simply doesn't give me any reason to upgrade from Windows 7.

[redmaple]

11:47 AM on 09/13/2011

For a "huge" annoncement, like the headline seems to imply, the tech press has been pretty discreet. There is more headlines when Steve Jobs sneeze.

[jgeurian21]

12:15 PM on 09/13/2011

It is all over Engadget, TechCrunch and a slew of others.

[Christmas Tree]

11:21 AM on 09/13/2011

Have they solved the Blue Screen of Death finally? And how about the random lockups? Maybe in Windows 47, brought to you by Apple!

[Eris23]

12:24 PM on 09/13/2011

"Have they solved the Blue Screen of Death finally?"

No. BTW, what is the date today where you live?

[jgeurian21]

12:37 PM on 09/13/2011

Why lie?

[Christmas Tree]

12:38 PM on 09/13/2011

As far as Windows is conceded, it is still 1980. September 13th... ;-)

[jgeurian21]

12:37 PM on 09/13/2011

Man, not a single one of those things has happened to me in the 2 years I have been running Windows 7. I am not sure you know what you are talking about.

[Eris23]

01:10 PM on 09/13/2011

They never happened to me on XP either. Go figure.

[Christmas Tree]

01:51 PM on 09/13/2011

See my replay to jsarets comment...

[MIKEinNYC]

11:11 AM on 09/13/2011

I don't care what they do under the hood to improve it just so long as you drive it the same way.

[brandon20678]

11:05 AM on 09/13/2011

Micrososft is taking a risky Move, A new interface will be a change for me. It seems like the same interface for the windows phone. But Microsoft Rocks so i'll be buying Windows 8 or upgrading free through my school.

[Wirehedd]

10:45 AM on 09/13/2011

the return of MS-BOB.

meh.

[iZombo]

10:01 AM on 09/13/2011

Ugh. I hope this isn't fail, like the era when Microsoft tried to make mobile software that resembled the familiar windows pc interface.

[Thomas River]

09:45 AM on 09/13/2011

I cannot fathom why Microsoft feels the perfect PC interface is the one that has under 1% market in tablets, and under 6% market in phones.

[hungrypilot]

09:47 AM on 09/13/2011

They are probably trying to bridge the widening gap between their new desktop OS and the Windows Mobile OS. No reason to upgrade anyways. Windows 7 will live on for quite a very long time.

[jgeurian21]

12:02 PM on 09/13/2011

And that is the reason why you are not in charge of anything for MS.

[Thomas River]

12:22 PM on 09/13/2011

ROFLMAO! You still have some brown stuff on your lips there skippy.

[hungrypilot]

09:24 AM on 09/13/2011

Think I'll stick with Windows 7, thanks. It's by far they best OS they've made.

[Qjersey]

08:50 AM on 09/13/2011

In other words, what features from Mac OS would you like to see in W8?

[jgeurian21]

09:34 AM on 09/13/2011

I didn't know OSX had tiles or had ARM versions?!?

[Thomas River]

10:02 AM on 09/13/2011

"So why is Microsoft getting deeper into the chip design business? Well, right now Microsoft isn't saying, but it looks like this might be a case of Apple-envy. Apple is believed to be an unannounced architectural licensee of ARM and to have used it to good effect in creating the A4 processor used in the iPad tablet computer."

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4204864/Microsoft-ARM-deal-game-changer

[grapost]

08:26 AM on 09/13/2011

Jeez, Windows 7 hasn't been around that long and Microsoft is already trying to gouge consumers with another version of Windows.

They are such a one dimensional company, heavily reliant on the revenue from Windows to sustain it's operations, that it forces them to shove a new version of Windows down our throats at regular intervals to stay in business.

This is another act of pure Coporate Greed!

[Sunzuki]

08:41 AM on 09/13/2011

Exactly. DOS is good. DOS works. DOS is enough.

In fact, if they are going to continue developing Windows and creating new features they should just not pay their employees and give what they create for free......

[ArkayMI]

09:07 AM on 09/13/2011

Sarcasm noted. Most of the DOS code is probably still there under Windows 8. What MS is doing is to repackage whatever they have and keep their revenue stream going. Note that Linux is freely available OS which comes in different flavor and used in most of the hand held devices (Android) to super computers.