Windows 8: App Marketplace

Windows 8 will finally deliver what many enterprise users and consumers have desired: an application marketplace. With its launch, users will be able to download digital copies of programs, just as they can on Windows Phone 8.

Windows Phone 8 comes with a new home screen that spans the width of the device’s display. With the new home screen, users can resize individual tiles and choose different color themes, effectively making it easier to find and categorize important apps and features. A similar feature will be available in Windows 8.

For enterprise users, Windows To Go could be an important addition. The feature will let users take an entire copy of Windows with them and plug it into another PC. Talk about portable computing.

When examining the look and feel of both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, users will find a significant number of similarities. Aside from the aforementioned home screens, both operating systems will come with similar layouts along with a visual representation of files and applications that look alike. Simply put, a common design will carry through both operating systems.

Windows 8, at long last, supports a security feature known as the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). With help from UEFI, Windows 8 will ensure that the operating system is bootable and in proper order before actually starting up. In other words, Windows 8 will only start when it’s verified to be in proper working order and safe from any security flaws.

With its latest Windows Phone launch, Microsoft will allow users to update their operating system over the air, rather than hook up their device to a computer. Considering few users want to hook up their devices to computers just to update operating systems nowadays, that’s a welcome addition.

Although Windows 7 was running on a select few tablets, it wasn’t really optimized for that form factor. Windows 8, however, is. That will be made abundantly clear when Microsoft launches its Surface tablet and shows off Windows 8 Pro in all its glory.

It seems that most operating system makers agree that near-field communication is the future. With that technology, users can make payments wirelessly, as well as transfer content from one device to another. Google’s Android platform supports it, and once it launches, Windows Phone 8 will, as well.

In addition to secure booting in Windows 8, the operating system will come with faster boot times. In fact, Microsoft has promised that users will no longer need to sit in front of their monitors forever, waiting for their PCs to load. That’s nice to hear, isn’t it?

According to Microsoft, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 share the same core. Because of that, developers will have a much easier time porting their applications between the operating systems. That should mean many more applications users enjoy on one platform will make their way to the other.