Microsoft previews Windows 8 at the All Things D Conference

       Well it's been another important week in the mobile device world this week as Microsoft gave the world it’s long awaited preview of Windows 8 at the All Things D conference in California and simultaneously at the Computex trade show in Taiwan.

       Microsoft showed the upcoming OS, codenamed Windows 8, running on a variety of platforms including AMD and Intel notebooks and ARM-based tablets from TI, Qualcomm and NVIDIA.


          All of this demonstrated the significant progress since the original CES announcement of Microsoft's intention to port the next generation of Windows to both X86 and ARM platforms as the software giant tries to finally crack the code on tablets in an effort to better compete with Google and Apple.

         
          The new, touch-friendly operating system highlighted a number of rather innovative features including enhanced application multitasking, intuitive toggling between apps and functions, as well as a more social media-friendly layout.
          The demos looked visually slick and were all running on real development code according to Microsoft.
But the hardware star of the show was NVIDIA, who demonstrated its upcoming high-performance Kel-El Tegra 3 platform with notebook-class performance. Microsoft also assured the audience that additional hardware performance is not needed and that the specs of Windows 8 will be largely identical to its predecessor, Windows 7.Microsoft also used the Windows 8 preview as a chance to launch its upcoming BUILD developers conference in Seattle this coming September. The company touted the need for a new approach to enable a much closer and expanded collaboration with partners but offered little in specifics in an effort to drum up interest in the event.
And while all the hype surrounding Microsoft’s resurgence was in full force at the Conference, many critical questions still remain unanswered around the development program that had Taiwanese ODM/OEM’s talking all week long at Computex about being excluded.
          Additionally, Microsoft did little to clarify any further details around a release date or a legacy application compatibility, instead telling people that all of their questions would be answered in September.
But one thing is clear-- the world’s largest software provider is moving away from its traditional Wintel powerbase and fully embracing the ARM eco-system as it takes it’s boldest and probably last kick at the can in delivering a competitive tablet operating system to take on Android and Apple's iOS.