Windows 7 TalkZ

” Are you passionate about software performance? Are you excited by the potential to have a positive impact on hundreds of millions of users, by improving their Windows experience? The Windows Fundamentals Performance Test Team is look for a software design engineer who can help us do just that – make future releases of Windows faster, smaller, and more responsive than Windows 7. OS Fundamentals, and specifically performance were a major area of focus during Windows 7 and will be just as important if not more so, during the development of the next version(s).“

So how does this pan out? If you are a developer, and you are looking at OS development, your focus would be to change and improve Windows 7 to create a new operating system, Windows8. The next question is more interesting, how do you make Windows 8 faster and smaller and more responsive?

Given that the technologies that are under development and have been available to Microsoft, such as 128 bit processors with 6,8,12 or even 48 cores, the operating system will look very different if it is trying to work with these features. There are other technologies, for instance Solid State Drives will be replacing the traditional rotating head hard disk drives. Another technology is the light  (photon) based circuitry that will replace traditional wiring.

Touch and voice technology which came of age in Windows 7 will be in Windows8, and it will be interesting to see what the development will look like.

Embedded Systems, which need a stripped down version of the full operating system could benefit  from the new more compact Windows8 version.

For more information about some of these technologies see:

Solid State Drives A Quick Review

LightFleet Delivers a Light Based Server to Microsoft

Webkit2 for Multiple Cores Architecture

Windows7 Component Embedded System

See Source: Microsoft Careers Global for the full job description.

I’m sure there are many readers, like myself, who are thrilled by the anticipation of a new Microsoft OS. If you weren’t, you probably wouldn’t be reading this. Either way, months and sometimes years before a new early build or beta is released, there are users guessing what the changes in the new OS might be. Longhorn felt-like and actually did take forever to go from concepts to Vista, then we also saw our fair share of pre-Windows 7 concepts way before the beta, which is normally the case. Alot of these concepts are elementary and most will never be looked at twice, but there are some very talented users out there with some very good ideas.

I ran across this picture on a blog and thought it was funny:

Maybe this is the next version of Windows?

Often times a user will post screenshots or a video with their concept of what the next Windows might look like and Windows 8 is certainly no different. Personally, I am always excited at the prospect of new UI changes in the next OS and I’m sure that Microsoft employees keep their eyes peeled for interesting concepts as well. I thought I would gather some interesting concept images and videos of the next iteration of Windows that users across the web have already posted.

Here are some concepts videos that I have found:

Windows 8 Concept

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKm1jeR_uL4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNLIu6n-cKY&feature=related

Of course, these are just a few concepts out there right now and many more will certainly pop up in the coming months. We’ll do our best to stay on top of the betas and early releases and keep the readers posted on any breaking stories about the next OS, but for now, looking at what the users want and come up with will have to make do. As always, stay tuned into Windows 7news and Windows8news for all of your windows news and tips. If you’ve seen any good screenshots or conept videos, link them in your comments, because I’m always interested in seeing good concepts.