Windows 8 Release Preview Product guide preview.windows.com preview.windows.com preview.windows.
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Contents Windows reimagined 04 Windows 7, only better The new Start screen Touch, keyboard, and mouse: seamless integration The new language of touch 06 06 08 10 Windows 8 is cloud-connected Your Windows everywhere Connected to your people Connected to your files Family safety in the cloud 14 16 16 17 18 All the apps you want Built in apps Apps work together 18 20 21 Windows Store Designed for discovery Prot
Windows reimagined Welcome to the Windows 8 Release Preview. Windows has been reimagined to focus on your life. The beautiful, fast, and fluid design is perfect for a range of hardware: from compact, touch-enabled tablets and lightweight laptops, to PCs and large, powerful all-in-ones with high-definition screens. It’s smooth, intuitive, and gives you instant access to your people, apps, and stuff, so you spend less time searching and more time doing.
Windows 7, only better Behind the new look of Windows 8 is the rock-solid foundation you’ve come to expect from Windows 7. Immerse yourself in the exciting features of a new generation of PCs while enjoying the full power of Windows. In addition to the new look of the Start screen, Windows 8 incorporates the desktop that you’re familiar with. Think of the desktop as one of the many apps you can run in Windows 8.
Touch, keyboard, and mouse: seamless integration Windows 8 is hands-on and designed to eliminate the need to choose. You don’t have to “work” on your PC and “play” on your tablet. The most efficient way to get stuff done is immediately available. Whether you’re browsing apps, reading a book, or typing on the go with touch, creating a project that requires the more productive horsepower of a traditional mouse and keyboard, or doing everything at once, Windows 8 makes it easy.
The new language of touch On new, touch-enabled PCs, you can move things on your screen comfortably. Here are a few common Windows 8 gestures. Swipe from the bottom or top edge for app commands App commands are revealed by swiping from the bottom or top edge. You can swipe from the top to the bottom of the screen to dock or close the current app. Mouse equivalent: Right-click the app to see the apps commands.
Slide to drag This is mostly used to pan or scroll through lists and pages, but you can use it for other interactions, too, such as moving an object or for drawing and writing. Mouse equivalent: Click, hold, and drag to pan or scroll. Also, when you use a mouse and keyboard, a scroll bar appears at the bottom of the screen so you can scroll horizontally. Pinch or stretch to zoom Zooming provides a way to jump to the beginning, end, or a specific location within a list.
Windows 8 is cloud-connected 14 preview.windows.com Your Microsoft account is like a portable, personal PC that appears on any Windows 8 device you’re using. Sign in to your Windows 8 device with your Microsoft account and you’re immediately connected to the people, files, and settings you care about. Your PC comes to life with all the things that make Windows yours, including your Start page, themes, language preferences, browsing history, and browser favorites.
Your Windows everywhere Sign in and your Windows 8 device becomes yours because your personalization, desktop background, and settings are all there. Whether you set it up once just the way you want it or change it often, when you sign in even a brand-new PC lights up with everything that makes Windows yours. And anyone you share your Windows 8 PC with can have their own personalized, cloud-connected access by signing in with their own Microsoft account.
All the apps you want 18 Apps are the heart of Windows 8. You’ll be able to get up to speed quickly with a set of built-in apps for the things you do the most. Designed for your connected lifestyle, these apps integrate with the services you already use. preview.windows.com preview.windows.
Built-in apps With Windows 8, your entire PC is cloud-connected. You’ll have new Microsoft Mail, Calendar, SkyDrive, Photos, People, and Messaging apps that are connected to services like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter just by adding them to your Microsoft account. Just like the Mail app, Calendar combines your information by pulling together your multiple calendars into a single day, week, or month view.
Windows Store 22 In the Windows Store, you can search for or browse thousands of apps, all grouped in easyto-find categories. We highlight great apps for you and provide quick access to frequently downloaded apps. You can also see how other people have rated apps. You’ll always know what’s interesting, new, and popular. All of the apps you’ll see in the Store for Windows 8 Release Preview are free. After Windows 8 is available, there will also be lots of apps that you can buy.
Protecting children Using Family Safety, you can change settings to determine what your children can download and see in the Windows Store. Setting up a rating level filters the apps and games that children can access and provides a safer environment based on your preferred restrictions. You can choose from a variety of apps in the Windows Store After you decide, you can buy with peace of mind because before an app makes it to the Windows Store, it’s screened and checked for viruses.
Windows on a wide range of hardware 26 preview.windows.com With Windows 8, you don’t have to choose between a fun touch device and a hard-working PC because you can have it both ways. Prefer a mouse and keyboard? Great. Prefer touch? Enjoy the convenience. Windows 8 will run on amazing hardware, from tablets to laptops to all-in-ones with large, high-definition screens. Whether you like to stay put or work on the go, you can enjoy the power, convenience, and versatility of Windows. preview.windows.
Flexibility Windows 8 has the flexibility you need. It combines the convenience and mobility of a tablet with the productivity of a laptop or PC and gives you a great experience—practically anywhere. Longer life Windows 8 is designed to deliver a great experience across many different devices, from ultra-fast desktops to low-power tablets. Because Windows 8 can run on low-power CPUs, you can work much longer on a single charge. That means you can stay connected so your PC is ready when you are.
Internet Explorer – reimagined for Windows 8 30 preview.windows.com Built for speed, Internet Explorer brings you a faster web. By taking advantage of Windows 8 and your device’s hardware, Internet Explorer makes browsing as fast and fluid as everything else on your Windows 8 device. Internet Explorer 10 provides an edge-to-edge, fast, and fluid experience that gives you less browser and more web. preview.windows.
Internet Explorer 10 puts your websites front and center All of your open sites in one convenient location Less browser, more web A more trusted web Internet Explorer 10 puts the focus on the web, not the browser. It dedicates your entire screen to your websites so the web is literally edge-to-edge. There only when you need them, browser tabs and navigation controls appear and then quietly get out of the way when you don’t want them anymore. Fast and fluid With Internet Explorer 10, the web is fast.
Windows 8 for business 34 The way people work has changed dramatically during the last several years. People use technology in the home and at work interchangeably. They’re mobile and expect access from anywhere. Technology at home is rapidly becoming central and people don’t want to give up the convenience of their personal devices and services when they enter the workplace. preview.windows.com preview.windows.
Focused on business and people Windows 8 is reimagined to support different working styles. It’s more intuitive so you can find what you need faster and easier. The new look of Windows and the new app model make it easier for businesses to create their own line-of-business apps to help improve productivity. Windows 8 improves on Windows 7 fundamentals like speed, reliability, security, and other essentials that are important to IT administrators.
BitLocker drive encryption helps protect corporate data on mobile PCs that include a TPM chip. On Windows 8 Professional and Windows 8 Enterprise editions, BitLocker now encrypts hard drives more quickly, helping to keep data safe without significantly interrupting worker productivity. BitLocker now supports encrypted drives, which are hard drives that come pre-encrypted from the manufacturer. BitLocker offers a variety of solutions for different business needs.
Built on a solid foundation 40 Most people don’t think about what’s under the hood—and you certainly don’t need to with Windows 8. You can rest assured that Windows 8 has the flexibility to meet your needs. It runs on different hardware systems, such as ultra-thin, ultra-light, and all-in-ones, so you can choose a device that suits you. If you’re used to working with apps like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, they’ll run smoothly with the full power of Windows on the Windows 8 desktop.
Rock-solid More for power users Speed. You’ll notice improved performance and system reliability. Even on lower-power systems, Windows 8 is responsive. Your PC starts quickly, your apps run faster, and you’re more secure from start to finish. File management. Windows Explorer is enhanced to make file management and navigation straightforward. The ribbon organizes Windows Explorer and reveals features that used to be hidden. We’ve brought back a long-lost favorite: the Up button.
Multiple monitors. If you’re one of the many people who use multiple monitors, you’ll find it more flexible than ever. With many types of hardware, you can display the Start screen on one monitor and the desktop on the others. Desktop backgrounds can be different on each monitor or can stretch across your screens. Windows 8 Consumer Preview works seamlessly with multiple monitors Windows 8 Release Preview all the corners and edges alive on all monitors.
Developing for Windows 8 If you’re a developer, Windows 8 Release Preview gives you an amazing platform to reach Signing up to sell your app in the Windows Store means you can tap into the worldwide user people around the world who use Windows every day to be more productive, creative, and base of Windows, even at the Release Preview stage. You’ll draw from a wealth of new tools have fun.
Apps take center stage 48 Windows 8 makes it easy to build full-screen Metro style apps that are fun to use and explore. Flexible and easy-to-use controls, built-in animations, and layout options make your apps feel fast and fluid. Live tiles on the Windows Start screen display information from your website or service and help ensure your app is useful—even when it’s not running. When users acquire additional apps, their experience is enriched when those apps participate in app contracts.
Metro style app principles More than just an app platform, Metro style is a design philosophy that puts content before chrome and helps you build attractive, easy-to-use apps that will delight your customers with their intuitive and common interaction model. Some principles common to great Metro style apps include: Content before chrome. Content is at the heart of Metro style apps, and putting content before chrome is fundamental to the design of Metro style apps. Fast and fluid.
Fast and fluid With Windows 8, we created a touch-optimized platform that you can interact with in an intuitive way. As a result, interactions with the operating system and UI elements feel natural and responsive. Animations and transitions are used deliberately, and effects are subtle and designed to enhance the connection between you and the PC. App layout and presentation are simplified with easy-to-use layout APIs and presentation controls.
Tiles are connected and alive Through tiles on the Start screen, apps are alive with activity and can deliver vibrant content, even when they’re not running. Using live tiles, your app can provide useful, at-a-glance data to the user, while minimizing battery usage. Windows Push Notification Services (WNS) enables your app to receive messages and send them to your app’s live tile or provide a notification to the user. Live tiles bring your app to life, even when it’s not running 54 preview.windows.
Build apps using what you know 56 preview.windows.com Windows 8 lets you build Metro style apps using a variety of programming languages and tools. You can program your apps using C#, C++, or Visual Basic, while using XAML to declaratively describe the user interface. Or you can build apps using web technologies like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Developers looking for the best possible performance on Windows 8 can use Microsoft DirectX 11.1 with C++. preview.windows.
Extensible and compatible with existing frameworks The new Windows 8 app models feature native extensibility, which you can use to build your own reusable component libraries. You first build your own custom components with C++, C#, or Visual Basic and compile them as portable libraries. Then, you can use any supported language to call these components from your apps. The Windows Runtime (WinRT) is a straightforward set of APIs used to build Metro style apps.
A library of templates is included in Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Windows 8 to jumpstart development of your Windows 8 app. The templates include common layout and interaction models, including fixed layout, grid app, navigation app, and split app. With Windows 8 and Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Windows 8, you can build apps with Metro style UI using Windows 8 controls. The controls are designed to work equally well with touch devices or mouse and keyboard.
Line-of-business app development Enterprise developers can create Windows 8 apps that are critical for their business and feel confident that they maintain control over the deployment and access to their apps. Businesses can directly sideload their apps built for Windows 8 onto their Windows 8 Release Preview domain-joined PCs, bypassing the Windows Store. An app created in an enterprise can stay within the corporate firewall and be centrally managed, updated, and distributed.
Broad reach, flexibility, and transparency of the Windows Store 64 preview.windows.com Windows 8 and the Windows Store make it simple for millions of customers to find, try, and buy high-quality, certified apps from practically anywhere in the world. The Windows Store makes it easy for you to distribute, update, and get paid for the apps that you develop. preview.windows.
Selling in a global marketplace The Windows Store supports the distribution of free and paid apps in dozens of markets worldwide, so most customers can find and install the apps they want in the language of their choice. The Windows Store supports market-specific catalogs, tailored for customers in many specific locales, as well as market-specific payment providers. You can choose the catalogs in which your app is listed.
Your personal app dashboard Best economics The Windows Dev Center provides a dashboard that includes many ways to improve your apps by monitoring their success. View reports on downloads, revenue, aggregate usage, inapp transactions, customer ratings, market trends, and crash and hang data. You can access reports and telemetry data that show failure-based and causal data and that indicate how reliable your products are in the field, including how often they crash or hang.
Windows 8 Release Preview is here 70 From start to finish, we’ve reimagined Windows. It works the way you do and it keeps you connected to the people, websites, and things you love most. Apps are at the heart of Windows 8. Beautifully designed for your connected lifestyle, apps integrate with the services you already use. Keep in touch with friends, browse the web, and store data in the cloud. It’s all possible.
