While the first taste of Windows 8 might be just around the corner as CES 2011 kicks off later today, some fresh tidbits related to Windows 7’s successor have made their way to the public.
Windows 8 will reportedly feature a new graphical user interface codenamed Mosh and a new application model codenamed Jupiter.
The information comes from WinSupersite, and has not been confirmed, which means that users should take it with a grain of salt.
Under the codename Mosh the Redmond company is said to be developing a new tile-based user interface for the slate version of Windows 8.
On various occasions when I talked with Microsoft employees that asked for feedback related to Windows 7 and touch, I always stressed the importance to delivering a fully-fledged NUI (natural user interface) for such devices as Tablet PCs, instead of just Windows Aero.
And I always have Metro, the Windows Phone 7 UI as an example. In fact, when I hear tile-based UI, I immediately think that Windows 8 will get a new Metro-like user interface adapted to slates.
An older report indicated that Microsoft was hard at work on yet another GUI for Windows vNext, this time codenamed Wind, and it appears that it’s not really related to codename Mosh.
Codename Jupiter seems to be a confirmation of past speculation indicating the fact that a Windows 8 app store is cooking in Redmond.
The software giant again, has offered no confirmation but it appears that Windows Phone won’t be the only Microsoft OS with its own app store for very long.
According to sources familiar with codenamed Jupiter, the company is said to be developing a Cloud store designed to offer Silverlight applications as AppX packages (.appx).
It also appears that the next iteration of Microsoft’s development platform, Visual Studio 2012 will have a great role to play in allowing devs to build content for the Windows 8 app store by leveraging C#, Visual Basic, or C++.
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