Microsoft is still more than a year away from a final version of the Windows 8 operating system, but a recent pre-beta release of the unfinished OS sent to select developers has led to leaked information. Through secret screenshots, buried code, and dabs of imagination, the Windows rumor mill is swinging full gale. Here are some of the biggest Windows 8 rumors so far:
- Adaptable, Windows Phone 7 Style Interface. A new minimalist welcome screen heralds other design points that mimics the Metro UI used on Windows Phone 7 devices. What’s more,Winrumors.com believes the interface will be “fully dynamic” with “icons and shortcuts that will adapt to different usage scenarios.”
- History Vault. Think Mac OS X’s Time Machine feature, which allows data backup so nuanced you can restore your system to a specific date and time. Via WinRumors.
- More Ribbons. A drastic change to Microsoft Office navigation, the infamous ribbon, with its lateral layout of buttons, tabs, and shifting menus was greeted by many users with disdain. According to slides from liveside.net, the ribbon interface will play a larger role in browsing through Windows 8. Here’s a screen of Windows Explorer.
- Microsoft Store . Two members of the technosphere, Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrot, believe Windows will launch its own digital storefront for Windows applications, similar to the Mac App Store. A new file format called AppX lends credence to their suspicions.
- Bundled PDF Reader. A new PDF reader named “Modern Reader” is the first known AppX file. The new reader imitates Adobe Reader in function, but also appears to resemble both Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 programming styles. Because of the parallel design structure, Rivera and Thurrot suspect that AppX files will be usable across both Windows 8 for PCs and Windows Phone 8.
- Internet Explorer 10. Windows8beta.com uncovered a hidden dialogue window advertising an upgrade from Internet Explorer 9 to IE10, a version of the browser that isn’t available and has not been acknowledged by Microsoft, but that Windows8Beta suspects will be released in Windows 8.
- Windows Live ID built-in. Similar to Android’s requisite Gmail account, Windows 8 may offer more integration withWindows Live services. This rumor is buoyed by the presence of Share and Sync buttons in Windows Explorer that may allow users to sync music, photos and more with Microsoft cloud services like SkyDrive and the PC-to-PC storage solution, Live Mesh.
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