Windows 8
At RunRev we keep a keen eye on upcoming OS developments. What will will Windows 8 be delivering?

by Mark Taoilinn

As every serious developer knows, it's vital to stay abreast of what’s happening in the industry. To be forewarned is to be forearmed! So whenever we see changes to operating systems (Windows, Linux, or the new iOS 5), to companies (eg. Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility) or new hardware (the new iPhone 5 for example) we want to be sure that you have all the information you need to stay ahead.

With that in mind, here’s some information about Windows 8, expected to be released in 2012.

At the BUILD conference last week Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft Server and Tool Business, showcased the new Windows Server 8 and discussed how the next generation of this popular platform will deliver elastic infrastructures to developers. He discussed new application patterns across connected devices and across continuous services, highlighting how the new cloud structure will offer enhanced opportunities for developers.

At the conference Nadella announced advances in several Microsoft technologies, including developer previews of Visual Studio 11, Team Foundation Service and of course advances in the operating system itself. Windows Server 8 will provide multitenant infrastructure for cloud services with an emphasis on cost reduction and service management automation.

According to Microsoft “Windows 8 represents a reimagining of Windows from the chipset to the experience.” (Source: Building Windows 8 Blog)

Multiplatform

The biggest difference between Windows 8 and earlier Windows Operating Systems is that Windows 8 is designed to work on tablet and mobile devices as well as desktop and laptop computers - just like LiveCode. To give a genuine tablet experience, Windows 8 has been designed for touchscreens. It has also been designed to work on ARM Processors. ARM processors, which are smaller and more energy efficient, run the majority of the world’s smartphones and tablet devices. The Apple A5 chip in the iPad 2 (and expected in the iPhone 5) is an example of dual core ARM technology.

Faster than ever before

Windows 8 promises to be faster than any of its predecessors. The boot up time has been vastly reduced to only 8 seconds - here’s how Microsoft explain it:

Here’s the key difference for Windows 8: as in Windows 7, we close the user sessions, but instead of closing the kernel session, we hibernate it. Compared to a full hibernate, which includes a lot of memory pages in use by apps, session 0 hibernation data is much smaller, which takes substantially less time to write to disk. If you’re not familiar with hibernation, we’re effectively saving the system state and memory contents to a file on disk (hiberfil.sys) and then reading that back in on resume and restoring contents back to memory. Using this technique with boot gives us a significant advantage for boot times, since reading the hiberfile in and reinitializing drivers is much faster on most systems (30-70% faster on most systems we’ve tested).

Boot up time of Windows 8 Vs. Cold Boot of Windows 7

Source Building Windows 8 Blog

The company also state that Windows 8 will now match Mac OS X for speed and performance.

Integrated with the Cloud

The company have announced that they will also be building and operating a Windows Azure Public Cloud to help facilitate a cloud-optimized operating system. “In today’s world of connected devices and continuous services, we are focused on helping developers build the next generation of client applications that are tethered to a back-end cloud,” Nadella said.

It is clear though, that the Azure Cloud of Windows 8 is not a direct response to Apple iCloud announced by Steve Jobs earlier this year. With the increased server integration in Windows 8 Microsoft is concentrating on their core enterprise market, and making it easier for developers to deliver Software as a Service solutions to their enterprise clients.

Windows 8 is expected to be released in 2012. Anyone, like us, who is interested in following the development of Windows 8 should check out the Building Windows 8 Blog which gives more information and access to a developers preview. We have of course bookmarked this page ourselves and will keep you informed as the platform progresses.

About the Author Mark Taoilinn is Sales and Marketing Manager for RunRev Ltd.