Microsoft rolls out the next version of windows, 8.1, at its
annual Build developers conference today. It's a big deal. Windows 8 was a
crazy ambitious step, what follows is just as important. This is what
Microsoft's taken from your months of feedback (or just, yelling).
Almost everything coming in 8.1 seems like a genuine improvement. The
question, then, is exactly how much improvement. It's not so much good news/bad
news asgood news and wait that's all the good news? We'll be updating this post
throughout Microsoft's keynote (refresh to see the latest updates), but we've
started you with an overview of what's going into the update.
To Start
Well, you can boot to desktop now. You can also boot basically
anywhere else you want, too-the All Apps screen, individual apps, the Start
Menu.
The Start button also returns, but it only flings you into the
Start Screen-no old school Start menu.There are also some new tile sizes: The
smaller square tiles (like Windows Phone 8's), which let you cram more stuff
onto your homescreen, and the gigantic square tile, which can display a bunch
of information, like emails or calendar appointments.
You can select a group of tiles at once and drag them into their
own group, which you can name, like a folder.
Swiping up from the Start screen brings up All Apps, which can now
be sorted in
more ways. This is a nice improvement from the swipe-then-tap
required to bring this up in Windows 8.
The start screen can be customized to more colors and has some
""motion
accents"" that move as you scroll through the metro
tiles. Or, blessedly, you can just put your desktop wallpaper behind the Start
screen.
As a whole, the changes to the Start screen are pretty indicative
of the update as a whole. A few functional improvements, some of which are
highly anticipated, but just as much window dressing and little flourishes.
Wider Customization
Microsoft's big push for 8.1 is to make Windows feel more
customizable, and that goes beyond the Start screen.
The most visible change is the tweak to multitasking.
""Snap View"", or the ability to pin a Metro app to either
side of the screen, has been changed to let you drag to resize the apps.
Meaning: If you want to have, say, Mail on the left side and a browser on the
right, you can have each app take up 50 percent of the screen, or drag the
divider around to your liking.
In addition to this, you can have up to four apps snapped as
vertical columns on
your screen. All screens can take four apps, but obviously you're
going to want a larger monitor to handle them (16:9 or 21:9 being ideal).
Microsoft has looked into allowing you snap apps as horizontal
rows-either at the top and bottom of the screen, or within columns created by
snapped apps-but that's not currently possible. Yell about this some more and
maybe it'll show up in an update down the road.
The lock screen can now be a moving collage of photos from your
PC, SkyDrive,
and Phone.
SkyDrive
SkyDrive features more prominently in 8.1. You can decide in all
your apps whether to view files on your PC or on SkyDrive, and where things are
saved. We'll add further features as they're announced.
Settings
We're going to see a lot of new APIs today that will allow
developers tomake apps more customizable. We're also told that the first party
Microsoft apps will have more options as well. We'll have more details as the
specific APIs are announced.
Search
Search is a big addition
for Windows 8.1. Well, ""change"" is probably more
appropriate.
In Windows 8, Search was broken down to search by applications, on
the web, in the store, through your files. You decided which you'd see.
In 8.1, Search is universal. Searching for any term will bring up
a ""hero"" display if you press enter, showing you results
from the web, in your files, and anywhere else, which you scroll through.
If you just type into the field, though, the pane on the right
hand side of the screen
will display results in real time, a lot like Apple's Spotlight.
This is a good thing, in theory, but we still want to see how it works in a day
to day setting.
3D Printing
Microsoft is partnering with Makerbot, 3D Systems, Form Labs,
Autodesk, and several other software and hardware companies to add 3D printing
support to 8.1.
Good thing? Bad thing?
Windows 8.1 brings good stuff to the table. The question isn't
really if it's good, but if it's good enough. A lot of that will depend on how
the new developer tools are implemented going forward, and how much developer
support overall improves this year.
Source :
http://www.gizmodo.in
