here and here. Well I had to sift through about 450 emails and comments and have quite a few. Keep the questions coming though.. I got some really good ones. Here’s what I have so far…
- Is the Windows Defrag still dumbed down? I would like to see a progress report or a thermometer scale.
- What are exactly the new features and the improvements of the U.I for desktops and laptops ?
- Will some features and capabilities of the UI be sensitive to the hardware power ? In others words will some new capabilities and some eye candy be activated if the GPU hardware is powerful enough ?
- Will the O.S be optimized enough to be fast and reactive on low specs hardware ? In other words will it be fast,reactive and fluid enough on ARM hardware and low specs X86 devices ?
- What will be the licensing for Windows 8 ?
- How easy will you be able to arrange apps into categories? I would like something like iOS homescreen folders.
- Will Microsoft ever make windows support multi-touch gestures from a multitouch mouse or trackpad Like macs do with the magic mouse/trackpad?
- Will Microsoft ever bring the system requirements of windows back down to as little as what Ubuntu requires? As 1gb ram minimum is still very greedy, what about those with less than 1gb ram?
- Will Windows 8 would be able to run some of xbox 360 apps and games ?
- Will Windows 8 have a 3D interface, Something that gives the user a more 3D effect?
- Will IE still support HTA files (HTML – Application) ?
- Will IE still be able to access ActiveX components (like the file system object) or will there be something similar ?
- Will it be possible to manipulate (read/edit/save) Office documents via IE-Javascript?
- Will Windows 8 have the option of having multiple network profiles for different wireless network with easy way to switch from one to another…currently this is cumbersome when you move around a lot, and there are different network settings from location to location.
- Is it possible Windows 8 will provide native” sky-drive” backup and synchronization functionality for all or selected files on the local hard disk?
- Is it possible for all versions of Windows 8 to have virtual-server/PC functionality, with the ability to purchase preloaded virtual images geared toward the consumer market?
- They say that Windows 8 will be a 2 in1 OS (desktop + The surface start screen UI). Will the same version be released to all devices or will it be device dependent, eg. the desktop machines only get the desktop version of Windows?
- I do remember some listed features as History Vault and Restore Machines Back to Factory State. This is similar to Apple’s Time Machine. Therefore, will it require another partition on its own to do this or will Windows manage all of them within the Windows partition?
- What is the Upgrade Path? XP to 8? Vista to 8?
- Apple has moved on to eliminate the CD-Drive. Their latest operating system can only be downloaded via the Mac App Store and the only other “recovery media” they provide is the USB recovery drive. What is the response from Microsoft? Will Windows 8 be sold on USBs or any other media as well?
- I mainly compare Apple and Microsoft because they are the only two major OS competitors in the market, so don’t get me wrong. Apple has re-defined their entire licensing system. Now, all you need to do is buy the OS once and you can install it on all you personally authorized Macs. Is Windows going to change its licensing system as well or would it be the same?
- How is this Os going to be for gaming?
- Since Windows 8 is supposed to work on desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets, smart phones, et al… how will critical and important security patches, hotfixes, service packs, etc be deployed? Especially in light of caps imposed by ISPs.
- Is Microsoft really serious about this whole html5/js stuff. Because i don’t see myself becoming a html5/js developper anytime soon.
- How exactly will Kinect 2 be used with the U.I?
- What about the rumored Wind U.I which was supposed to take advantage of GPU to offer a full 3D U.I.?
- A sense of how well/much MS is porting their services and programs (Office, Windows Live, Bing etc) to Windows 8 touch first UI apps and ARM.
- Xbox Live. Just how deep does the integration go. Will we get Xbox 360 game (Live Arcade, Indie Game, Games on Demand) fully compatible with Windows 8?
- Whats going on with “Ventura”? I know MS is waiting to fully unveil this new entertainment service with either Windows 8 or Xbox…I just dont know which one.
- will Windows Phone’s apps and games instantly work on Windows 8?
- Will Microsoft commit to support of applications written in VB6?
- When we’ll actually be able to get our collective hands on it? Will there be a public beta? Will TechNet subscribers be able to get an early beta for testing. Etc., Etc.
- How optimized is Windows 8 especially if it has to run on ARM hardware?
- How exactly is Hyper V3 used in this new O.S ? Is it just used to handle backward compatibility and if is so how exactly is handled backward compatibility ?
- How easy will it be to port x86 apps to Windows 8 for ARM ?
- What changes are there “under the hood” that may affect deployment? –Â Let me give you a really good example. The RPC ports for dynamic RPC moved up to the higher range when we began deployment of Windows Server 2008 R2. It would have been nice if that had been more widely described because it hit some of our sites that like to deploy firewalls.
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will there be an app store for windows and will there be media center?How much will cost? will windows ever be $100? cuz today when someone buys a laptop (etc.) people look at the price.What are your plans for intergrating other things with windows 8?
HOW WILL YOU MOVE PEOPLE FORM WINDOWS 7 Â TO WINDOWS 8 CUZ ALOT OF PEOPLE ARE ON WINDOWS 7 (CUZ MICROSOFT ALREDY SOLD OVER 400 MILLION COMPIES)
what is going to happen if people dont move form windows xp,vista, 7 to windows 8?
do u (microsoft) think that u can get 3rd plane on tablet market and do u think u got it right this time with the tablet market?
Just 3 new questions:
1. Will Windows 8 have a clipboard which can handle several items (a bit like the Office one) ?
I have always found painful that the Windows clipboard can’t handle several items.
Sometimes while editing documents or doing some other tasks it can be very useful to have several items in the clipboard and choose between them the one you want to paste.
Of course this behavior should be customisable.
2. Will the Windows 8 U.I not freeze when the O.SÂ has I/O troubles (networks anyone?) or troubles with an application monopolizing some resources ?
It is very annoying that even on Windows 7, when U.I freeze because an application is monopolizing the hard drive or that a process is doing something I/O related.
Thus it would be a great achievement if the system just not freeze in such situation, especially when the system has plenty of RAM and processing power available.
3. Will Windows 8 handle virtual desktops in an easy,intuitive way ?
I have always found amazing that Microsoft has never given the option to the user to have virtual desktops. It could be optional but it should be available for those who need it.
This is one of my favorite feature on Linux.
I would like to see Windows 8 be made in a 64 Bit version only.  it is time for the 32 bit o.s. to go the way of the dinosaur and the dodo bird. the computers made today have the ability to run a true stand alone 64 bit o.s. and have been able to do so for years . and it is time for microsoft to get with the program and this in turn would require program and software makers to write more programs for a true stand alone 64 Bit Operating system.
The end of the 32 bit operating system is long overdue.
For X86 perhaps, but not for ARM. ARM are 32 bits only and will stay that way for at least the 2 to 3 years to come.
Though it would really be interesting to learn if the 32 bits version of Windows 8 will be for ARM based devices only.
I got a perfect question: Will Guest mode/steady state be reintroduced in Windows 8?
It would be good to know what are the real diferencies between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8?