Microsoft’s newly released Windows 7? That’s so yesterday. The web is buzzing about apparently leaked documents showing the company’s thinking for Windows 8.
Eighteen documents, which appear to have been part of an internal Microsoft presentation, were first published on an Italian site, Windowsette, and have now migrated to various industry-watching sites. The PowerPoint slides include projections of up-to-date technology for the next Windows, such as faster boot times, support for USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0, touch input, and HD video. More intriguing are next-generation features such as facial recognition, wireless 3-D displays, attention detection, and easier self-diagnostics.
Lap, Workhorse and Family Hub PCs
Microsoft has not commented on the purported documents. According to the documents, Windows 8 would primarily target three form factors — the Lap PC, the Workhorse PC, and the Family Hub PC.
One of the slides describes the Lap PC as optimized for web, media consumption, casual gaming, IMs, social networking, and e-mail. The Workhorse PC’s key features are productivity applications, a heavier use of e-mail, and media organization and manipulation. The Family Hub PC is the same as the Workhouse, but with less emphasis on productivity and a greater emphasis on gaming.
The Workhorse most closely resembles today’s PC, but it includes facial recognition and a feature called “My PC Knows Me.”
Facial recognition would utilize the webcams present on many new computers, enabling the operating system to recognize the user and automatically log on. Different users are logged into different accounts. When the user leaves, a proximity sensor knows he or she has left and logs off.
‘Leapfrog Their Competition’
The Lap PC is an iPad-like tablet, with an accelerometer for gaming and screen orientation that automatically shifts between portrait and landscape views. There is also ambient light detection to optimize the display, as well as attention detection, which can…