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| Chicago |
Windows 8 does come with the brand new Metro style interface with boxes occupying the screen rather than icons, together with gesture recognition. Swiping down will close the applications. SNS updates will be tied with your directory information. Picture password. Start typing in and the app comes up, the Microsoft IT evangelist Brian Lewis told the audience. It took him half a year just to come across the feature, he said.
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| IT Pro Evangelist: Brian Lewis |
Microsoft has a Metro style app store online. The apps are searchable there as well, including those being sold online. On app search box, a question came from the audience. Can you set parental permissions? There the speaker offered a very modern answer to all possible questions. Go online, visit his site, ask him the question there.
http://mythoughtsonit.com/ITcamp/
There should be a lot of questions indeed. Microsoft claims to have authority over all Metro apps distribution. Developers need to get its approval to put their apps online for use for other machines than theirs. Can Microsoft then take the sole responsibility of the apps? How long will be the wait time? Would the developers' rights be severely restricted? There are reports that the pre-installed Windows 7 apps seem to run, but the installers may not work. It costs $49 (personal) or $99 (corporate) to submit your apps for sale at the Windows Store.
Windows 8 is going to be installed in EVERY machine available in the market. FSF, the Free Software Foundation is asking for signing the petition: "Windows 8 doesn't offer me the privacy and freedom I deserve. I won't be upgrading to Windows 8; instead, I'm standing with the free software movement."
We had a little discussion on this topic back here. Would it is not practical for Microsoft to have oversight over all Metro apps? The Apple store does that, they told me. It is for security and to make money.
Other topics that got many asking questions is on Windows to go or USB/SSD to go feature that can put your system in the removable storage and boot the system from there. There are such bootable image available online but not from Microsoft official site. Now it is all possible to carry your system along wherever you go. The questions from the audience: Security? Partitions? Data protections? Will it erase the data? There was no question, however, on how to prevent pirated such bootable systems from being sold. Will it be protected from piracy?
