Windows 8 and tablets: More details and iPad 3 rivals

 
Janet I. Tu reports:

Windows 8 is Microsoft's major redesign of its flagship operating system. ... It will be designed to run on tablets, as well as laptops and desktops.
...
[Microsoft is] creating one place to manage and monitor all copy jobs, and give people more control. ... [You can] pause, resume, and stop each copy operation...giving control over which copy job to complete first...[with a] more clear, concise and efficient design, intended to simplify...resolving file name collisions. ... [It] shows all the critical information for all the collisions, front and center.   

   
Gavin Clarke adds:

[Windows 8] will combine file...dialog boxes into a single box, you'll be able to stop and pause...the new operating system will...feature a graph that shows the data transfer speed, transfer rate trend, and how much...is left to transfer.
...
Microsoft...justified the changes by quoting telemetry data gathered on Windows PC users' habits. ... The jury is still out on whether such telemetry-sifting is doing Microsoft any good.
...
Microsoft has refrained from talking about the big architectural stuff...which will have huge implications. ... [It's] yet to explain how Windows 8 will achieve compatibility with older apps built for x86...on ARM.   

Microsoft's Alex Simons blogs on his team's newish blog:

[T]here are some pretty cluttered and confusing parts of the Windows 7 copy experience. ... We clearly have an opportunity to make some improvements.
...
[M]any of you are going to want to know what we’ve done to improve the...estimated time remaining. ... (This has been the source of some pretty funny jokes over the years).
...
All of this adds up to building a significantly improved copy experience...unified, concise, and clear...puts you in control of your experience.   

And Michael Muchmore has much more: [No, too obvious -Ed.]

All indicators point to Windows 8 being a huge change. ... While Windows 7 was a tightening, speeding up, and interface-improving...Windows 8 promises to radically change the operating system.
...
Windows 8 also promises to move the PC in a drastically new direction. It's Microsoft's response to the "post-PC" world of tablets epitomized by Apple's iPad.   

Meanwhile, Mary Jo Foley talks tab... err, slates:

[At] the Microsoft Tech Ed New Zealand show this week...Microsoft officials...showed off a new quad-core Windows slate...according to...Alan Burchill...Microsoft Most Valuable Professional.
...
Microsoft Enterprise Technology Architect Patrick Hevesi noted that there are quad-core Windows slates coming later this year...sound[ing] suspiciously like the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer.   

        
And Finally...
The Life and Career of Steve Jobs, as imagined by those crazy Taiwanese animators, NMA
[don't miss the Tim Cook cameo, complete with rainbow halo -- good grief]

 
   
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's the creator and main author of Computerworld's IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.