MICROSOFT WINDOWS 8 LAUNCHING TO DEVELOPERS THIS WEEK

Microsoft announced that it is releasing a developer preview of its upcoming next-generation operating system, currently named “Windows 8,” during its BUILD conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. President of Windows and Windows Live Division Steve Sinofsky took the stage during BUILD’s opening keynote and discussed several of the operating system’s new features. “We reimagined Windows,” he said. “From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise.” As Microsoft has already revealed, Windows 8 will offer a new “Metro style” user interface that is built to take advantage of touch input but works just as well with a keyboard and mouse. Internet Explorer 10 will also offer full support for touch browsing, and Sinofsky hinted that even desktop-sized Windows 8 computers will largely take advantage of touchscreen monitors. Developers will be able to create Metro style applications that will fill the entire screen, too. Microsoft said the next-generation of Windows 8 hardware will turn on instantly and will be capable of running all day on a single charge. The OS is designed to run on devices ranging from a 10-inch tablet to a large desktop, and developers will have access to Windows 8 later this week.

Demo of Windows 8 by WinRumors:



Full Press Release:

Microsoft Reimagines Windows, Presents Windows 8 Developer Preview

BUILD conference attendees and developers get first access to new operating system.

LOS ANGELES — Sept. 13, 2011 — Today at its developer-focused BUILD conference, Microsoft Corp. showcased a detailed preview of the next major release of Windows, code-named “Windows 8.” The company also detailed new tools for developers to help write applications for more than 1 billion people around the world who use Windows every day.

“We reimagined Windows,” said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft, in his keynote address to the thousands of developers in attendance. “From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise.”

The company also highlighted a variety of new features in Windows 8, including the following:

Touch-First User Interface

• Metro style. Windows 8 introduces a new Metro style interface built for touch, which shows information important to you, embodies simplicity and gives you control. The Metro style UI is equally at home with a mouse and keyboard as well.
• Touch-first browsing, not just browsing on a touch device. Providing a fast and fluid touch-browsing experience, Internet Explorer 10 puts sites at the center on new Windows 8 devices.
More Ways to Engage With Powerful, Connected Apps

• Powered by apps. Metro style apps built for Windows 8 are the focal point of your experience, filling your entire screen so there are no distractions.
• Apps can work together. Apps communicate with each other in Windows 8. For example, you can easily select and email photos from different places, such as Facebook, Flickr or on your hard drive.
• Your experience syncs across your devices. Live roams all the content from the cloud services you use most — photos, email, calendar and contacts — keeping them up-to-date on your devices. With SkyDrive, you can access your files, photos and documents from virtually anywhere with any browser or with Metro style apps in Windows 8.
Enhanced Fundamentals

• The best of Windows 7, only better. Windows 8 is built on the rock-solid foundation of Windows 7, delivering improvements in performance, security, privacy and system reliability. Windows 8 reduces the memory footprint needed — even on the lowest-end hardware — leaving more room for your apps.
• Preserving power-user favorites and making them better. For those who push the limits of their PC, Windows 8 features an enhanced Task Manager and Windows Explorer and new, flexible options for multimonitor setups.
New Developer Opportunities

• Windows Store. The Windows Store will allow developers to sell their apps anywhere Windows is sold worldwide, whether they’re creating new games or familiar productivity tools.
• Build using more languages. Windows 8 lets you leverage your existing skills and code assets to create great experiences using the programming language you prefer.
• Rich hardware integration leads to richer experiences — particularly for games. DirectX 11 gaming power underlies Windows 8, allowing the easy creation of full-screen games with smooth, flicker-free action.
New Generation of Hardware

• One Windows — many shapes and sizes. Support for ARM-based chipsets, x86 (as well as x32 and x64) devices, touch and sensors means Windows 8 works beautifully across a spectrum of devices, from 10-inch tablets and laptops to all-in-ones with 27-inch high-definition screens.
• Always connected. With Windows 8, new ultrathin PCs and tablets turn on instantly, run all day on a single charge and stay connected to the Internet so your PC is ready when you are. Next-generation system on a chip (SoC) support will also enable greatly extended standby and low-power states.
• Tap the full power of your PC. Windows 8 runs on PCs and is compatible with the devices and programs you use today on Windows 7, without compromise, to deliver the performance you expect of a PC.
Developers will be able to download the Windows Developer Preview via the new Windows Dev Center later this week. Webcasts of sessions will be posted on the BUILD site as well.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Some information relates to a prerelease product, which may be substantially modified before it’s commercially released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

DUKE NUKEM FOREVER DEMO COMING JUNE 3RD

If you’ve been following the Duke Nukem Forever saga for the last decade or so, you were more entertained than surprised when Gearbox delayed the launch of the game one last time in March from the original May launch dates to June 14th in the United States and June 10th internationally. If you’re still skeptical the game will ever appear at all, Gearbox has something to help you keep the faith: a demo, slated for June 3rd.

In a brand new video, Gearbox President Andy Pitchford says that the launch dates are for real this time, and the decades-long Duke Nukem Forever saga will soon come to an end. First, Gearbox will unveil a demo of the game on June 3rd that members of the First Access Club will be able to download and play to get a taste of what the full game will look and play like.

If you’re not already a member of the First Access Club, you can still become one by purchasing the Borderlands Game-of-the-Year edition, or by pre-ordering Duke Nukem Forever from select retailers around the globe. At this point, only First Access Club members will be able to play the demo. Gearbox hasn’t said whether or not they’ll make the demo available to anyone else, or make it freely available once the game is officially released.

If you want to get your hands on a demo code, you can visit the game’s official site to see a list of the select retailers you’ll have to pre-order from. In the United States, you can buy from Amazon or GameStop, in Canada you’ll have to buy from EB Canada, and in the UK you can order from GAME, Play.com, TheHut.com, or Zavvi.com. When Duke Nukem Forever is officially launched, it’ll be available for Windows, XBox 360, and PlayStation 3.

RUMOR: MICROSOFT TO DEMO WINDOWS 8 TABLET IN JUNE

According to an unconfirmed report on Monday, Microsoft has plans to give the world its first glimpse of Windows 8 for tablets this summer. Citing an unnamed source at Microsoft,Business Insider claims the company hopes to at least show off the new operating system’s design by the end of its fiscal year in June.

The report says Microsoft will be “taking a more Apple-like approach to interface deign this time around,” and will also use concepts from Windows Phone 7′s Metro UI. Generally, the Metro UI design couldn’t be any further from Apple’s approach with iOS or OS X, so it will be interesting to see which elements of each philosophy make it to Windows 8 if this report is accurate. Microsoft has not given any specific timeline as far as when it might publicly demo Windows 8.