News Analysis: Windows 8 is scheduled to hit store shelves in 2012. When it does, Microsoft must deliver features that will ensure that Windows will remain the dominant desktop operating system.
Even though Windows 7 is performing extremely well around the
world as the fastest-selling version of Microsoft's operating system ever, the
company already is working on Windows 8.
For now, it has been relatively tight-lipped about the
features Windows 8 will bring to the table, but it expects to make it available
to customers in about two years. Between now and then, the company will be
doing everything it can to build upon the success of Windows 7.
Exactly how it will achieve that goal is unknown at this
point. The marketplace is changing rapidly, and some of the ideas that might
have worked in 2010 won't necessarily work in 2012, when new products and
software are available to customers. Realizing that, Microsoft needs to think
about bringing several features to Windows 8 that will help it stay atop the
highly competitive software market.
Read on to find out
what
kind of features the software giant must make available in Windows 8 when
the software finally launches in a couple years.
1. A Mac App Store-Like Offering
When Apple showed off the new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, it also
unveiled the Mac App Store. That marketplace will allow developers to create
programs in the same way they would on the iPad for Mac OS X. Consumers will be
able to download apps at a negligible fee and get the kind of functionality
they've come to enjoy on Apple's mobile products. If that store is successful,
Microsoft
will have no other choice but to follow suit. It will simply become a
necessity.
2. Far better security
Windows 7 is far more secure than Windows Vista was when that
operating system launched. But that doesn't mean that Microsoft doesn't have
more improving to do. Quite the contrary, the software company needs to ensure
that Windows 8 builds upon the security advances that Windows 7 brought to the
table. If it succeeds, Microsoft will go a long way in solidifying its position
as a leader in the OS market.
3. Faster boot times
With the release of the MacBook Air, Apple is making it much
quicker for consumers to boot up their machines. Granted, that is due in main
part to the device's solid-state drive, but it's one of the features most
consumers covet. Realizing that, Microsoft must make Windows 8 more efficient
at booting up. Today's technology customers penalize delays on the Web and in
software.
Microsoft
must keep that in mind.
4. Real tablet support
Although Microsoft is offering a version of Windows 7 on
tablets, there is little debating that that operating system leaves much to be
desired on the tablet platform. In fact, many that have used Windows on a
tablet have found that the OS provides a relatively unreliable experience
compared with iOS or Google's Android operating system. Windows 8 can't follow
its predecessor's lead.
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