Starting Windows 8

By ccoltmanm
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Grand Master

Mr. Gibs

Posted
Posted

Well, Vista is prolly the closest thing lately to a "complete rewrite", and even then I'm sure they used some existing code. However WITH that almost total rewrite, there was 7(?) years between XP and Vista? That just takes WAY to long.

Vista: November 8, 2006

XP: August 24, 2001

5 years 2 months. lol

And no Vista wasn't an almost total rewrite, it just brought in a large amount of new technologies that were written on top of existing code. And of course some of the existing code was improved.

Proficient

david13lt

Posted
Posted

It wont be out for atleast another 3 years.When they start talking releasing Windows 8 beta's then we can start speculating :p

If I remember correctly Microsoft stated 2 year release cycle for Windows, meaning software should be release around 2012 and we already know that it's in the works. This is something Microsoft has to do in order not to make the same mistake and with Windows XP.

Experienced

azure.sapphire

Posted
Posted

If I remember correctly Microsoft stated 2 year release cycle for Windows, meaning software should be release around 2012 and we already know that it's in the works. This is something Microsoft has to do in order not to make the same mistake and with Windows XP.

Not to hijack this thread or anything, but how did you like Ergo Proxy?

Grand Master

Andrew Lyle Global Moderator

Posted
  • Global Moderator
Posted

this is as close as we can see so far..

Either a custom skin (i'm sure someone here will post a link to it) or someone has some sick video editing effect skills :p

Vista: November 8, 2006

XP: August 24, 2001

5 years 2 months. lol

And no Vista wasn't an almost total rewrite, it just brought in a large amount of new technologies that were written on top of existing code. And of course some of the existing code was improved.

Right. If you look back at the early longhorn builds (wiki has them) you can actually see them skinning Windows XP :p They change the background on every build, but they slowly modified the taskbar and explorer dozens of times.

  • 4 weeks later...
Grand Master

Ci7

Posted
Posted

If windows 7 is going to be replaced soon I just hope they stick with windows 8 for a long time.I really dont feel like switching OS's all the time.

no one is going to put a gun in your head and force you to upgrade your OS every two years

you get plenty of support with professional edition of windows (mainsteam+ extended support = 10 year)

  • 3 weeks later...
Rookie

Microft

Posted
Posted

Windows 8 is expected in 2014, along with Office 15. Windows Embedded is also confirmed, and if anyone thinks they are good enough, why not apply for a job on the Windows 8 Team:

The Windows Embedded for Vertical Industries team is looking for an experienced and strong SDET. Our team delivers Windows Embedded toolkit and Windows Embedded Ready solutions for several key device categories like Point of Service, Thin clients, Set top box/Connected TV, Digital signage, Multi-function printers, Industrial automation, etc?

Windows 8 Job Vacancy

  • 2 weeks later...
Enthusiast

VII7

Posted
Posted

hope they make W8 a bit more modular in the sense of user actually getting options to remove certain features and programs fully, no dependencies

That will never happen - they payed billions of dollars in fines to keep their I.E. monopoly and the Windows image they desired... Even the "Windows Themes" are still locked "officially" and that will never change, for same reasons... :hmmm:

If you want freedom Linux is the only way, Windows and OS X will comes as they are - only opened towards 3'rd party software, that's all.

Mentor

LightShadow

Posted
Posted

Windows 8 is expected in 2014, along with Office 15. Windows Embedded is also confirmed, and if anyone thinks they are good enough, why not apply for a job on the Windows 8 Team:

The Windows Embedded for Vertical Industries team is looking for an experienced and strong SDET. Our team delivers Windows Embedded toolkit and Windows Embedded Ready solutions for several key device categories like Point of Service, Thin clients, Set top box/Connected TV, Digital signage, Multi-function printers, Industrial automation, etc?

Windows 8 Job Vacancy

2014? I don't see them going back to a 5 year wait between releases... The last time was XP and Vista... And although 7 is stable like XP , I really love new versions to try out. I'm thinking it's due 2012/2013 at the latest. With builds with changes starting to pop up next year. Then Office 2014

Mentor

LightShadow

Posted
Posted

Windows 8 is expected in 2014, along with Office 15. Windows Embedded is also confirmed, and if anyone thinks they are good enough, why not apply for a job on the Windows 8 Team:

The Windows Embedded for Vertical Industries team is looking for an experienced and strong SDET. Our team delivers Windows Embedded toolkit and Windows Embedded Ready solutions for several key device categories like Point of Service, Thin clients, Set top box/Connected TV, Digital signage, Multi-function printers, Industrial automation, etc…

Windows 8 Job Vacancy

2014? I don't see them going back to a 5 year wait between releases... The last time was XP and Vista... And although 7 is stable like XP , I really love new versions to try out. I'm thinking it's due 2012/2013 at the latest. With builds with changes starting to pop up next year. Then Office 2014 (Office 15) in 2014. Bringing features unique to 8.

  • 2 weeks later...
Mentor

cropcircles

Posted
Posted

Win8 is already in development, They don't wait a few months or half a year after the previus OS before starting the next.

They start the next before the last one is done. And you won't see a full rewrite for a very long time, there's no need either. And major parts of the OS was already rewritten with Vista. And it took 1-2 years for the drivers vendors to catch up. which caused the media and anti people to go on a crusade about how vista sucks, yet somehow 7 which is for all intents and purposes, as far as stability, performance and compatibility go(the point the complained about Vista) identical is awesome (and yes 7 is awesome, but so was vista anyway)

Reverse Engineering minus all the useless services.

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

Jason S. Global Moderator

Posted
  • Global Moderator
Posted

I just think it would be go to "trim the fat." Vista and 7's footprint on hard drive space is huge. I think they are taking that for granted.

people always want more, but expect size limitations. im not a coder, but bits are bits. more included stuff = more space.

however, it'd be nice to be able to truly customize your install. say you dont want Windows Media Center, or all the pre-installed Games. just uncheck those to save space initially...

Experienced

pickytech

Posted
Posted

I think the risk is minimal. Microsoft has experience so they wouldn't be really starting from scratch with ideas of how to go about doing things. I'm sure a new experience would allow more Plug and Play approach to hardware. Like Apple for instance. I'm just shooting out ideas and wondering why. I don't have any background.

I just think it would be go to "trim the fat." Vista and 7's footprint on hard drive space is huge. I think they are taking that for granted.

The only reason that Apple has certain Plug and Play features is because you are downloading and installing a lot of drivers that you do not need. When/if you ever install one of those devices, then you already have the driver. A lot of those drivers are many MBs in size, which really adds quite a bit of bloat.

My OS X footprint is something like 12 GB. Originally, Windows Vista took up a lot of unnecessary disk space, but they did rectify the issue with Windows 7. I am not positive, but I believe my Windows 7 install (64 bit) is smaller than my Mac OS X one.

For Windows 8, I would like to see:

  1. Microsoft push OEMs and motherboard vendors to use EFI over BIOS by the time Windows 8 comes out, which should dramatically decrease boot times for newer PCs. It looks like either the vendors are doing this on their own, or Microsoft is successfully pushing them.
  2. Moving away from the registry. It cannot be killed for another version or two of Windows (too much legacy), but a less central point of failure needs to be made.
  3. User definable, software sandboxes that hide the rest of the file system from select programs (for instance, if some custom application goes crazy, then it can only destroy the folders you let it touch). I'd like to see more advanced sandboxes, but that's a start.
  4. Untying Internet Explorer from the OS. It can install by default, but the undesirable nature of lurking security vulnerabilities far outweighs the benefits. This goes for anything (including Safari on the Mac; as far as it not being the same thing, it seems awfully strange that Safari updates require reboots to OS X).
  5. Wider integration of Windows Update (this could really happen with Windows 7). More accurate, and up to date video card driver downloads (usually they tend to be a few months behind).
  6. Greater 64-bit push.

I'm sure there are more, but these are off the top of my head.

Grand Master

.Neo

Posted
Posted

The only reason that Apple has certain Plug and Play features is because you are downloading and installing a lot of drivers that you do not need. When/if you ever install one of those devices, then you already have the driver. A lot of those drivers are many MBs in size, which really adds quite a bit of bloat.

My OS X footprint is something like 12 GB. Originally, Windows Vista took up a lot of unnecessary disk space, but they did rectify the issue with Windows 7. I am not positive, but I believe my Windows 7 install (64 bit) is smaller than my Mac OS X one.

It's your own choice whether to install Mac OS X with all language translations, printer drivers etc. or not. If you didn't install the HP printer/scanner driver for example, Software Update won't download them when a update is out either...

Rookie

sanfermin

Posted
Posted

They will never rebuild the OS from scratch, just rewrite portions as they did in Vista.

Perhaps in the future they may base their OS off one of their research projects (Singularity / Midori), as in the way they moved from 9x to NT.

Exactly.

Microsoft problably has another code branch where they are rewriting the (or "a") OS but before it is released time will pass........

Not only that but they have to move to a 64-bit code branch.

  • 2 months later...
Contributor

xtruder

Posted
Posted

I seriously doubt Microsoft rewrites every OS they make, it wouldn't make any sense, why reinvent the wheel? I don't know anything about programming, but Windows 2000 = Windows NT 5.0, Windows XP = NT 5.1, Vista = NT 6.0, 7 = NT 6.1

I assume Microsoft builds on previous code, rewrite some, and build upon code they've already coded. I wonder how many lines of code make up Windows 7 :o

Grand Master

Ci7

Posted
Posted

I seriously doubt Microsoft rewrites every OS they make, it wouldn't make any sense, why reinvent the wheel? I don't know anything about programming, but Windows 2000 = Windows NT 5.0, Windows XP = NT 5.1, Vista = NT 6.0, 7 = NT 6.1

I assume Microsoft builds on previous code, rewrite some, and build upon code they've already coded. I wonder how many lines of code make up Windows 7 :o

three years is too little to rewrite an OS as big as windows with millions of lines of code....

as about vista , they rewrite a good chunk of graphic , audio ,and networking stacks

that is why most drivers broke

it is rumored that Windows 8 would be NT6.2

give idea that it would be little application breakage

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