Steve Ballmer details new Windows 8 features at Dell World

[Shawn Knight]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shared some new Windows 8 features during a recent speech at Dell World in Austin, Texas. Ballmer demoed multiple key features of the new OS to the crowd of 2,000, reminding them that this was just the tip of the iceberg and there was still a lot more to come.

One new feature in Windows 8 is a lock screen that activates after a set period of inactivity. As the user is away from their desk, the lock screen keeps a tally of new incoming emails, social network updates and other important application information. When the user returns, they can quickly see what has happened since they have been away before even logging back into their machine.

Ballmer also showcased the Metro UI for those who might not have seen it before. There wasn’t much new here – a quick rundown of how the tiles can be customized to show various data at a glance such as news alerts and stock tickers. One of Microsoft’s key goals with the Metro UI is to allow users to gather a wealth of information in a short amount of time. Or as one of my journalism professors, “Mr. Magazine” used to say, “More information in less time and less space.”

Windows Server 8 was demoed running 32 virtual processors with more than 100GB of RAM. The Microsoft team also showed off how users could move a virtual machine from one location to another without the user even noticing. This is done by moving much of the application and system data to the new location in advance. When the move is ready, the local instance is suspended and finally moved to join the new location with the other data. This is said to happen seamlessly, allowing the end user to carry on as if nothing had happened.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/45886-steve-ballmer-details-new-windows-8-features-at-dell-world.html

 

[SammyJames]

Ironies abound...

One company that will, most likely, be the first-in-the-world putting on a show for a company that has recently become third. Not to mention that this takes place in Austin, which has seen drought, fires, 110+ degree heat, and water and food shortages.The guest company, on the other hand, comes from a place where winters are mild and water is everywhere. Plus, Seattle and Tacoma are in a (pretty much) liberal state -- as opposed to Austin, which is a liberal oasis in a sea of red, red, red.

I don't know what any of it means -- it's just ironic.

 

[tehbanz]

interesting finally hearing about windows server 8, this is the first time i've heard it mentioned in all the windows 8 buzz, thanks!

 

[Guest]

you know what's awesome about this technology? absolutely nothing. handling 32 processors? not new. 100gb of ram? also not new. seamlessly switching virtual machines? this is the foundation of chrome os.

one thing that every professional computer user does, if he knows what he is doing, is get rid of all gadgets running on windows. no one needs to see the weather as a huge banner, no one needs to see their tweets on a huge screen, because that kind of thing is handled by their phone. my point is, windows 8's main feature seems to be that it shows, in bigger, brighter colors (and clipping off the screen for some reason), exactly what we don't want running all the time using up all our ram. that stuff looks cool for about 1 hour before we go back to launching a sensible browser, or a program that needs to be run for work, or a creative program that we don't want screwed with. if we want to be informed of events in real time, there are a lot of ways to get them sent to us in an unintrusive fashion.

by the way, there is STILL no way (natively, i know you can hack it) to email something to someone with a single click in windows without it going to window's wretched outlook. this is funny and ironic because windows is now pushing email in a single interface as a feature. it is more efficient now to check your email with an ipod touch 1st gen, or with thunderbird, than trying to check multiple addresses natively on windows.

 

[tehbanz]

I agree Guest, windows 8 is definitely not garnered to the power user. I see it as a tablet interface on a PC, which is NOT useful/creative/inventive. It's a cash grab for M$m. Remember in the new tron movie?
[Big Shareholder Guy] What's the difference between this OS 9 and OS 8 ?
[Programmer D-bag] This one has a 9 on the box!

 

[SammyJames]

tehbanz said:
I agree Guest, windows 8 is definitely not garnered to the power user. I see it as a tablet interface on a PC, which is NOT useful/creative/inventive. It's a cash grab for M$m. Remember in the new tron movie?
[Big Shareholder Guy] What's the difference between this OS 9 and OS 8 ?
[Programmer D-bag] This one has a 9 on the box!

Yeah, I agree too. The more I hear about how "great" Windows 8 is going to be, the less thrilled I get. It seems as though Microsoft is gaming for the "other 10%" of computer users. Give me a break.

MS has been creating terrible OSs for the last 25 years. Why change now? At least we have all gotten used to the quirks in Windows. Now we're just gonna have to learn a bunch of NEW quirks. Well, I for one am going to hang on to my copy of Windows 7 for as long as I can.

 

[caravel]

well, i for one am going to hang on to my copy of windows 7 for as long as i can.

well, i for one am going to hang on to my copy of windows 95 for as long as i can.

well, i for one am going to hang on to my copy of windows 98SE for as long as i can.

well, i for one am going to hang on to my copy of windows 2000 for as long as i can.

well, i for one am going to hang on to my copy of windows XP for as long as i can.

But in the end... they all went out and handed over their cash.

 

[SammyJames]

caravel said:
But in the end... they all went out and handed over their cash.

Your point is...?

 

[Guest]

That you have no clue.

"MS has been creating terrible OSs for the last 25 years"

This was enough to discredit anything you ever say on this forum.