Customers are starting to ask us about the upcoming release of Windows 8, but the reality is there is a lot more going on at Microsoft through year end. In the next few blogs we are going to touch briefly on some of the upcoming releases and changes that will affect many of our clients. Some of the major things to keep on the radar are the releases of Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Office 2013, and Exchange 2013. With these releases also comes some change in their product offerings and licensing models.
Windows 8 will bring some of the most radical changes we have seen and the redesign will require some painful adjustments to what we are used to today. It is being touted as the biggest change since the move from DOS to Windows. In an attempt to compete with Apple’s iOS, Microsoft has built Windows 8 for tablet’s, which means the traditional laptop users are going to need to adjust!
Visually Windows 8 is not Windows as we know it today. They have adopted the Microsoft Metro design which they released earlier this year on phones with Windows 7. There are no application icons, but instead large tiles, in primary colors that are used to launch the applications. There is no start menu and no file icons, in fact, the files are pretty much hidden behind the scenes, much like the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Overwhelmed yet? Don’t get too hung up on it, there is a second user interface, which is launched by clicking a tile called “Desktop” and launches an interface very similar to Windows 7 – but without a START MENU!
Windows 8 is a mixture of the new Metro feel and the old Windows 7 OS, but without a lot of the traditional functionality. It will definitely take some getting used to! This is just a brief touch on Windows 8 and was not meant to be a deep dive. Stay tuned for more blogs over the next few months on other changes at Microsoft!
