05:09
htc
* Windows 8 is code name for new system
* No date for release, expected before Oct 2012
* Demo shows features optimized for tablets
* Qualcomm supports Windows 8
* PC firms grumble over Microsoft restrictions
TAIPEI/PALOS VERDES, Calif. - Microsoft Corp showed off a version of its next operating system at technology conferences in the United States and Taipei, as some PC makers grumbled over restrictions on their involvement in the development of the system.
The world's largest software company is expected to launch the new system, code-named Windows 8 and highlighting touchscreen features optimized for tablet computers, in the next 18 months, as it races to catch up with Apple Inc .
But Microsoft has told chipmakers who want to use the system for tablets to work with only one manufacturer to speed up the delivery, Bloomberg and Dow Jones news reported, sparking worries among some PC vendors that they will be left out.
In demonstrations at the D9 conference in Palos Verdes, California, and the Computex show in Taipei, Microsoft executives showed a starting page that resembles Microsoft's latest phone software, with live 'tiles' manipulated by pressing and swiping the screen.
The demonstration shows Microsoft is making progress toward the new operating system, which it promises will run on a range of hardware devices from traditional PCs to laptops and tablets, using both touchscreen and mouse and keyboard commands.
The company said in Palos Verdes that it was "not out of the game" in tablets, a view backed by some in the industry.
"The fact that it's a year or two years after the iPad doesn't really matter. There is already a lot of built-in infrastructure," Adrian Crisan, Sony's director of engineering for VAIO and Mobile of America, told reporters in Taipei on Thursday.
"Today Apple is first on one thing and Microsoft is first for another and, overall, it's going to be a race and whatever customers will like, they will buy."
Separately on Thursday, U.S. chip maker Qualcomm Inc said it would collaborate with Microsoft on the next version of Windows for its Snapdragon family of processors.
PC VENDORS UNHAPPY
Some Taiwanese vendors are concerned that the reported restrictions mean they would have to be chosen by chipmakers to make tablet PCs for the new Windows operating system. Previously PC vendors could choose their own partners.
"By missing those chances, is it good for the whole industry together? This industry doesn't belong to Microsoft or Google , it belongs to all the participants," Jim Wong, president of world No.2 PC vendor Acer Inc told a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday.
"So they can't make the decision for all of us. That's the problem," Wong said.
Sony's Crisan declined to comment on the reported restrictions, but said Windows 8 would probably eventually be opened to everyone.
On Wednesday, Steven Sinofsky, the head of Microsoft's Windows unit, said the new system did not yet have a name and did not say when it would be available. He promised more details at a developers' conference in September.
The release date is a "Defense Department secret", joked Sinofsky, adding that it would not be this autumn.
Microsoft typically aims for 24 to 36 months between major Windows versions, suggesting a launch date for the next Windows between October 2011 and October 2012.
Sinofsky said Microsoft is working to integrate Internet telephone service Skype into the new system, following its agreement to purchase the company last month. [ID:nN10298656]
He had shown a crude version of the new Windows system working on ARM Holdings chips -- which work better on mobile devices due to their low power requirements -- at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. [ID:nN05285026]
That signaled a change in emphasis for Microsoft toward mobile devices, although the new Windows will still run on chips made by traditional partner Intel Corp . (Reporting by Sarah McBride and Bill Rigby in Palos Verdes, and Lee Chyen Yee and Clare Jim in Taipei; editing by Jonathan Standing and Vinu Pilakkot)
Copyright 2010 by Reuters. All rights reserved.
Having learned its lesson the hard way with Windows Vista, Microsoft offered assurances Thursday that its upcoming Windows 8 operating system won't require users to buy a new PC.
"We've extended the trend we started with Windows 7, of keeping our system requirements either flat or reducing them over time. So Windows 8 will be able to run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same system requirements or lower" as Windows 7, said Michael Angiulo, the Microsoft executive who showed the new software at a press event in Taipei on Thursday.
"Another thing we did is build intelligence into Windows 8 to adapt the user interface based on what hardware you have. So whether you're upgrading or buying a new PC, Windows will adapt itself for your hardware," he said.
[Watch a video of the Windows 8 launch here.]
The new OS is designed to be touch-enabled, so people without touch screens obviously won't get all the benefits of the new OS. It will also work with a wider variety of sensors for detecting things like motion and proximity, and those sensors will not be present in existing PCs.
But Angiulo said the new interface, which has large colored icons and resembles Windows Phone 7, can still be navigated smoothly using a mouse and a keyboard. The page up and page down buttons can move through the application tiles on the screen, a mouse click will open applications, and the Windows shortcut key on a keyboard will take users back to the desktop.
To prove the point he showed Windows 8 running on a handful of existing PCs, including a Samsung Series 9 laptop and an L Series Sony Vaio.
"When you're reimagining a system that a billion people around the world use it's a big responsibility," Angiulo said. "Windows 8 is for hundreds of millions of computers with all different screen sizes, whether they're touch-enabled or not. Windows 8 is an upgrade for the entire ecosystem of PCs."
It's an important message for Microsoft to get across. If people believe they need to buy a new PC to run Windows 8 it would slow the transition to the new OS and hurt Microsoft's business.
Still, there are features in Windows 8 that won't work with existing hardware, and Microsoft is being more prescriptive than usual about how hardware makers should design their PCs for the new OS.
The optimal screen will have 16:9 aspect ratio and minimum resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, Angiulo said. A 1024x768 display will also be able to show the new interface, he said. But a netbook with a low-resolution screen will have to switch to the standard desktop mode, he said.
Microsoft learned its lesson about system requirements with Vista. Many PCs in use at the time wouldn't run the OS properly. People reported a lousy experience with the software and it became about the most unpopular OS in Microsoft's history. The company will be keen not to let that happen again.
* No date for release, expected before Oct 2012
* Demo shows features optimized for tablets
* Qualcomm supports Windows 8
* PC firms grumble over Microsoft restrictions
TAIPEI/PALOS VERDES, Calif. - Microsoft Corp showed off a version of its next operating system at technology conferences in the United States and Taipei, as some PC makers grumbled over restrictions on their involvement in the development of the system.
The world's largest software company is expected to launch the new system, code-named Windows 8 and highlighting touchscreen features optimized for tablet computers, in the next 18 months, as it races to catch up with Apple Inc .
But Microsoft has told chipmakers who want to use the system for tablets to work with only one manufacturer to speed up the delivery, Bloomberg and Dow Jones news reported, sparking worries among some PC vendors that they will be left out.
In demonstrations at the D9 conference in Palos Verdes, California, and the Computex show in Taipei, Microsoft executives showed a starting page that resembles Microsoft's latest phone software, with live 'tiles' manipulated by pressing and swiping the screen.
The demonstration shows Microsoft is making progress toward the new operating system, which it promises will run on a range of hardware devices from traditional PCs to laptops and tablets, using both touchscreen and mouse and keyboard commands.
The company said in Palos Verdes that it was "not out of the game" in tablets, a view backed by some in the industry.
"The fact that it's a year or two years after the iPad doesn't really matter. There is already a lot of built-in infrastructure," Adrian Crisan, Sony's director of engineering for VAIO and Mobile of America, told reporters in Taipei on Thursday.
"Today Apple is first on one thing and Microsoft is first for another and, overall, it's going to be a race and whatever customers will like, they will buy."
Separately on Thursday, U.S. chip maker Qualcomm Inc said it would collaborate with Microsoft on the next version of Windows for its Snapdragon family of processors.
PC VENDORS UNHAPPY
Some Taiwanese vendors are concerned that the reported restrictions mean they would have to be chosen by chipmakers to make tablet PCs for the new Windows operating system. Previously PC vendors could choose their own partners.
"By missing those chances, is it good for the whole industry together? This industry doesn't belong to Microsoft or Google , it belongs to all the participants," Jim Wong, president of world No.2 PC vendor Acer Inc told a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday.
"So they can't make the decision for all of us. That's the problem," Wong said.
Sony's Crisan declined to comment on the reported restrictions, but said Windows 8 would probably eventually be opened to everyone.
On Wednesday, Steven Sinofsky, the head of Microsoft's Windows unit, said the new system did not yet have a name and did not say when it would be available. He promised more details at a developers' conference in September.
The release date is a "Defense Department secret", joked Sinofsky, adding that it would not be this autumn.
Microsoft typically aims for 24 to 36 months between major Windows versions, suggesting a launch date for the next Windows between October 2011 and October 2012.
Sinofsky said Microsoft is working to integrate Internet telephone service Skype into the new system, following its agreement to purchase the company last month. [ID:nN10298656]
He had shown a crude version of the new Windows system working on ARM Holdings chips -- which work better on mobile devices due to their low power requirements -- at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. [ID:nN05285026]
That signaled a change in emphasis for Microsoft toward mobile devices, although the new Windows will still run on chips made by traditional partner Intel Corp . (Reporting by Sarah McBride and Bill Rigby in Palos Verdes, and Lee Chyen Yee and Clare Jim in Taipei; editing by Jonathan Standing and Vinu Pilakkot)
Copyright 2010 by Reuters. All rights reserved.
Having learned its lesson the hard way with Windows Vista, Microsoft offered assurances Thursday that its upcoming Windows 8 operating system won't require users to buy a new PC.
"We've extended the trend we started with Windows 7, of keeping our system requirements either flat or reducing them over time. So Windows 8 will be able to run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same system requirements or lower" as Windows 7, said Michael Angiulo, the Microsoft executive who showed the new software at a press event in Taipei on Thursday.
"Another thing we did is build intelligence into Windows 8 to adapt the user interface based on what hardware you have. So whether you're upgrading or buying a new PC, Windows will adapt itself for your hardware," he said.
[Watch a video of the Windows 8 launch here.]
The new OS is designed to be touch-enabled, so people without touch screens obviously won't get all the benefits of the new OS. It will also work with a wider variety of sensors for detecting things like motion and proximity, and those sensors will not be present in existing PCs.
But Angiulo said the new interface, which has large colored icons and resembles Windows Phone 7, can still be navigated smoothly using a mouse and a keyboard. The page up and page down buttons can move through the application tiles on the screen, a mouse click will open applications, and the Windows shortcut key on a keyboard will take users back to the desktop.
To prove the point he showed Windows 8 running on a handful of existing PCs, including a Samsung Series 9 laptop and an L Series Sony Vaio.
"When you're reimagining a system that a billion people around the world use it's a big responsibility," Angiulo said. "Windows 8 is for hundreds of millions of computers with all different screen sizes, whether they're touch-enabled or not. Windows 8 is an upgrade for the entire ecosystem of PCs."
It's an important message for Microsoft to get across. If people believe they need to buy a new PC to run Windows 8 it would slow the transition to the new OS and hurt Microsoft's business.
Still, there are features in Windows 8 that won't work with existing hardware, and Microsoft is being more prescriptive than usual about how hardware makers should design their PCs for the new OS.
The optimal screen will have 16:9 aspect ratio and minimum resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, Angiulo said. A 1024x768 display will also be able to show the new interface, he said. But a netbook with a low-resolution screen will have to switch to the standard desktop mode, he said.
Microsoft learned its lesson about system requirements with Vista. Many PCs in use at the time wouldn't run the OS properly. People reported a lousy experience with the software and it became about the most unpopular OS in Microsoft's history. The company will be keen not to let that happen again.
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