The Future Of Voice, Touch, And Motion-Control In Windows 8

Recently, the iPhone 4S received tons of positive attention for one of its most impressive features, Siri. Apple’s new Siri technology allowed you to fully speak and have it converted to text message, navigate search engines through voice, and more. Regardless of the tons of attention received for the technology that is being painted as cutting-edge and unique, it really wasn’t anything new.
Voice to text, for example, has existed on the Android platform for a while. As for things like search engine search, and other ‘exclusive’ Siri features? Similar technology exists on the Microsoft end between Phone 7, Xbox/Kinect, and even Windows 7. So what does this mean for the future of Windows 8? Expect all these features to come together cohesively in Windows 8 on the desktop, laptop, and tablet side of the product fence.
When Windows 8 arrives next year, expect features that utilize Kinect on the desktop side and even other voice elements for the tablets. Even the Kinect Beta is coming out for the PC in January, around the same time the Windows 8 Beta is expected. This means that with Windows 8 you might be able to just plug in a Kinect and instantly have support in place.
Once Windows 8 makes its way to tablets and possibly even phones, it is likely that Windows 8 will have technology just as good as what is in place with Siri as well.
The only thing you have to wonder is if the idea of hooking up Kinect is really practical enough to catch on. For a laptop PC, it is more than likely than answer is no, but for the desktop? I guess it really depends on the desktop setup.
Where I really think that Windows 8 and Kinect will shine is for multimedia PCs. Metro has many things in common with the interface of Windows Media Center, and allow it looks a little boxy on large screens the idea of apps on the big screen and the ability to control them all with Kinect sounds rather appealing. Additionally a huge Kinect camera wouldn’t look nearly as obtrusive in a living room setup.

In Windows 8 I sincerely hope they do optimize the system for Kinect, at the same time I think its equally important to optimize voice technology that perhaps combines the use of webcams with microphone technology. Such a setup would certainly work better for laptops and even desktops.
It seems that the future of technology is pushing the old-style keyboard/mouse setup into the background with voice, gestures, motion, and even touch taking a new front-seat. Such a dramatic change in direction is certainly going to cause mixed reactions.
Traditionalist and power users are likely to be the last people to pick up the new input crazes, although early adapters like me will find it hard to resist at least trying to use these alternatives.
I am very curious how others in the tech world and readers just like you feel about the recent push forward to touch technology, voice, and other alternatives. Will the keyboard and mouse simply become a standard only for major productivity use and not for ‘content consumption’ and casual users? I think this is probably the most likely scenario at least in the immediate future.
In the long run, do I think that mouse and keyboard could dissapear altogether? Possibly, but not without some major improvements in voice dictation software, touch interfaces, and other such alternatives. For now, there are just some things that a keyboard and mouse can do better than touch and voice. For example, try doing a major Photoshop project using nothing but touch and voice, good luck with that.

Windows 8 Will Have Faster, Online-Based Installation

Once upon a time, Windows installations could take well over an hour or more and either were performed by PC techs or those who were fairly savvy with computers.
Back in these days upgrading meant loss of files (although back up was possible) and having to start from scratch.
With every version of Windows, Microsoft has went a step further in making installation an easy process that just about anyone with any level of PC experience can perform.
I talked a little about the recent blog post from Microsoft and how the new setup system works in the last article I wrote, although I primarily focused on how the Window.old file works and the deletion timer associated with it.
This time around I’m going to focus on how the new setup system makes upgrading faster and easier to use.
A big part of this new focus, according to Microsoft, will be its shift to focusing on a digital delivery model this time around.
Microsoft will now offer Windows 8 as a downloadable purchase that can then be put onto USB or DVD depending on your needs.
This is a similar approach that Apple has taken with its OS downloads of late, and with everything moving to the cloud it makes a lot of sense.
Of course if online isn’t your thing, there are still physical versions of Windows 8 DVDs coming to the stores as well. Whether there is a price difference in these versions (physical or online), we aren’t sure yet.
Microsoft also offers a scanning program that will check to see if your PC is compatible with Windows 8 and will give you a report that will show any upgrade problems that you might encounter and how you can fix them.
The report will also let you know about certain  peripheral devices  and were or not they will be supported, and can give you overall detailed or simplified information. The scan also determines the language version and whether you should get the 32 or 64-bit version of Windows 8.
Windows 8 can even start downloading and preparing for the setup process online and then take it to the Windows desktop and go from there. Windows 8 starts downloading to your PC to complete the installation process and once it’s finished you can keep all your account settings, files, apps, and everything else from Windows 7.
Windows Vista users will not keep their apps but can keep settings and account files. For those going from XP you will only retain user accounts.
The overall process of Windows 8, whether online or offline, is substantially easier than Windows 7. In Windows 7 there were four different installation wizards, including the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and Easy Transfer system, and up to 60 clicks were involved in the entire process.
Windows 8 will only require 11 clicks, which shows they have put a ton of work into making the installation process easier.
Although speeding up the process is great, probably one of this biggest changes to the easy-install Windows 8′s process is that you no longer need a CD key.
That’s right, your installation will embed the 25-digit product key into the disk image you downloaded and install it in the setup process. Keep in mind this is ONLY for the online based install.
Overall Windows 8 is shaping up to be a very interesting and different version of Windows, and the new install process is just another way they are making it even better.

Windows 8 functionality breathes new life into an old OS

With Apple and Amazon making headlines daily for their tablets, fans of Microsoft products might feel a little bit out of the loop.

Microsoft’s latest splash in the headlines was their Windows-powered Nokia Lumia smartphone, recently released in the UK to rave reviews from tech and consumer analysts alike. But other than Lumia’s limited release, things have been relatively quiet for the software giant.

Microsoft has been steadily introducing updates and patches to Windows 7 OS—most recent updates address key security issues that strengthen the operating system’s code from hackers—but fans already have their hopes heaped on the upcoming OS, Windows 8.

The OS is set to be released sometime in 2012, but already tech enthusiasts are waxing poetic on the possible new features offered by the Windows 8. But more realistically, people wonder how the OS will work with the latest hardware. Below is a brief overview of the more dramatic changes Windows 8 is expected to bring to compatible hardware.

Desktops and Laptops

Early reports indicate that Windows 8’s more groundbreaking features will be reserved for the tablet market, but we’ll save that discussion for later. As for Windows 8’s functionality with the classic desktop/laptop hardware, users can expect major changes compared to experiences on previous Windows operating systems.

Desktop/laptop users will probably notice first that the architects of Windows 8 created a completely revamped user interface called Metro. Metro is meant to be far more intuitive than past Windows UI, and it functions much in the same way of operating systems on Windows-powered smartphones.

On the home screen, for example, desktop users might be disoriented to discover that the standard Start-button desktop has been replaced with an entirely different display. This would be Metro, where all your programs and functions are laid out in a tile format whose contents are easily accessible by a double click. Think of these tiles like souped up folders on a desktop.

Desktop/laptop users will also notice that they can access Microsoft’s “App bar” to download interesting applications to their home screen, similar to downloading apps onto a smartphone. Apps can be run within their respective tiles simultaneously, allowing the user to engage in several functions at once without ever needing to close out of one tab in order to focus on another.
Users will also note the ease with which they can search content on their computers; the user need only type in the home screen in order to bring up the search menu, where you can search through apps, internet files, and plain old regular data files to find what you need.

Tablets

Users will feel much more at home using Windows 8 on a tablet, though exactly what tablet they will use is a subject open for debate right now. The Metro UI has touch features practically built for the ever expanding tablet market, though users can certainly utilize them on non-tablet touch screens.
The home screen is the same as the one explained above for desktops/laptops, but with a tablet the user will feel more at home sliding, arranging, and engaging with the dynamic tiles. Not merely passive icons as in other tablets and smartphones, the tiles in the Windows 8 UI will reflect constantly changing data, so the user doesn’t need to pull up another screen in order to get new information.
In fact the Metro UI is much more interactive than those on any other touch screen device. For example, the tiles will arrange themselves based on their necessity—rarely used or unnecessary tiles will stick to the background, while the more vital tiles present themselves for your constant interaction.
Windows 8 will also allow active apps on your home screen to share data with one another with little effort required on the user’s part. You can take and edit photos with one app, for example, and then share them with friends via email (or a social network!) without needing to toggle between the two.
Overall, it appears that Microsoft put the bulk of their efforts into designing a revolutionary operating system that works beautifully on a touch screen, and a little less intuitively on a desktop. Windows 8 may still be months and months away from wide release, but the early details have generated enough excitement to keep fans enthused until they can try it on their own.