News Analysis: A slide deck has turned up that reportedly shows several new features that could make their way to Windows 8 when Microsoft releases it in a couple years. But after evaluating the list, it's clear that few of those new offerings will come to the new version of OS.
Recently,
a
slide deck was reportedly leaked from internal Microsoft meetings revealing
several different features the company might be planning to offer in
Windows 8. The presentation suggests that Microsoft wants to emulate Apple by
making major improvements to the Windows user experience. It also mentions
tablet support, energy efficiency and much more.
That said, there is little chance that
many of the features mentioned in the slide deck will actually make their way
to Windows 8. With each new iteration of the operating system, several rumors
break out before Microsoft announces the new OS, and few of the supposed
additions make their way into the software.
Plus, some of the features included in the
slide deck seem a little too far-fetched for Microsoft. The company is about
productivity, not bells and whistles. And many of the features in the leaked
documents are little more than those bells and whistles. Here is why Windows 8
will lack many of the features included in the leaked slide deck.
1. It's the same old
story
Rumors suggesting Windows 8 will come with
a slew of new features is nothing new. When Windows Vista was first released,
Microsoft highlighted features that never appeared in the operating system. It
did the same with Windows 7. With each new version of its operating system,
Microsoft and the rumor mill make grand promises. With each release, customers
are left to wonder where all the cool features went. Microsoft starts out with
a blueprint and slowly pares it down to make an operating system. This is no
different.
2. An app store
makes little sense
One of the main
features highlighted in the slide deck is
the
addition of an app store to Windows. Although there is no guarantee that
the feature won't be coming to the operating system, it sounds a little
far-fetched. There's little debating that app stores have become far more
viable in the mobile market. But they don't seem to fit in the desktop-based
operating system space. After all, gadgets are already available for Windows, and
most of the apps that users can buy in Apple's App Store are already software
products or accessible via the Web. An app store won't be coming to Windows 8.
3. A faster startup
has been promised for years
Microsoft has said with
every new version of Windows that it will improve startup times for the
operating system. Over the past few iterations, it has succeeded somewhat to
make boot times faster than they were in the XP days. But they're still
brutally slow, and the chances of Microsoft finding a solution to the problem
in Windows 8 seem slim. Even Mac OS X, which is touted for its boot times,
can't get users to the desktop in seconds. Windows 8 might have faster boot
times, but don't expect anything groundbreaking.
4. Facial
recognition? No way
If the slide deck
really did come from Microsoft, expect that facial recognition will be one of
the ideas the software company scraps before Windows 8 hits store shelves. As a
premise, facial recognition sounds like a great idea. But it would require that
users have a Webcam in order to make it work. Plus, as earlier biometrics
efforts have shown, most users are content to simply input a password to access
Windows. And all that fails to mention the fact that few users actually
password-protect their Windows installations anyway. Sorry, but facial
recognition sounds like a bad idea.
5. Tablet support
will come
One
of the features mentioned in the slide deck was support for tablets.
Although many of the services mentioned won't make their way to Windows 8,
tablet support will undoubtedly find its way to the new operating system.
Thanks to the iPad, the tablet market will continue to heat up over the next
few years. Microsoft, which currently hopes to have Windows 7 running on
tablets, will need to improve Windows 8 to make it a real contender to the iPad
and iOS. Exactly what the company has planned is unknown, but look for tablet
support in Windows 8.
6. Support is a
challenge
One of Microsoft's
alleged goals in the new Windows 8 will be to improve product support for the
operating system. That could be a tall order. Although it needs to do a better
job of supporting the operating system, Microsoft has said time and again that
new versions of operating systems will be supported more effectively than
previous versions. And every time, the company has come to the realization that
with such a diverse set of customers and needs, it's practically impossible to
achieve that goal. It would certainly be nice if Windows 8 has better user
support, but chances seem slim.
7. Identity
management is a good idea-in concept
According to the slide
deck, Microsoft plans to allow customers to bring their Windows 8 user profile
with them wherever they go, by use of the cloud. The idea is that user files
and data should be kept with the person, rather than on the product they're
using. It's an interesting idea that could be key to any operating system in
the future. But exactly how Microsoft will implement that is a big question
mark. Azure might play a role, but it's unlikely that the company will have an
easy go at it. Identity management improvements could be more likely to come in
Windows 9, rather than Windows 8.
8. Microsoft likes
iterative updates
Microsoft
just isn't big on major updates that drastically change an operating system.
The company's last decision to update Windows more than normal, Windows Vista,
was a disaster that it's still trying to overcome today. Windows 8 will be a
nominal, functional upgrade for Microsoft. It might add a few new things here
and there, but the company's success has ensured that Windows must maintain its
identity in every version the company releases. Such drastic changes included
in the slide deck run directly against Microsoft's focus.
9. The future is in
simplicity
With Chrome OS
launching later this year and Mac OS X continuing to put pressure on Windows,
Microsoft is quickly realizing that simplicity reigns supreme in the operating
system market. Realizing that, the company might be hard-pressed to release
several new updates for the operating system as the rest of the competition
offers simpler alternatives. Windows 8 will undoubtedly be an improvement over
Windows 7, but it won't (and can't) forgo simplicity. Microsoft needs to
remember functionality. And throwing too many features at customers could hurt
that.
10. Legacy support
will come into play
As with any new Windows release, Microsoft
will need to determine how it will support legacy programs and peripherals that
users just won't give up as they move from one version of the operating system
to another. Based on how it plans to handle that, it could drastically change
whether or not several of the features included in the slide deck will make
their way to the operating system. Because of the limitations Microsoft must
build into each new version of the OS, it gives it less time to build new
features. Simply put, supporting Windows all these years is difficult. And that
won't be changing anytime soon.
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