Microsoft has published some key drivers for the planning of Windows 8, including: … in Windows Server 2008 R2 into the Windows 8 desktop, offering a more …

Introduction

With over 400 million licences sold, Windows 7 has been a tremendous success for Microsoft and has been recognised as the fastest-selling operating system in Microsoft’s history. But now that Windows 7 is more than 18 months into this very successful release cycle, it’s time to start planning for the next version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system, currently code-named Windows 8.

Whilst a firm release date for the next version of the venerable Microsoft platform is yet to be fixed, Microsoft has published some key drivers for the planning of Windows 8, including:

Explosion of form factors (desktop, server, tablet, mobile)
Connectivity is assumed
Enterprise and Personal Computing worlds collide
Content Experience is now personal

Fast Forward from Windows 7

Microsoft has committed to incorporating some of the fault tolerance and resiliency features found in Windows Server 2008 R2 into the Windows 8 desktop, offering a more secure and robust computing platform. Judging from the currently published plans, Windows 8 will be an evolution from the Windows 7 desktop platform, and as such it is expected that the following features are not likely to change significantly:

Kernel drivers based on Windows 7 architecture
Networking will be improved but no major changes expected
Internet Explorer 9 likely to be the default browser

This means that the core compatibility challenges inherited from the migration efforts of moving
from Windows XP will still present a core compatibility issue for Windows 8 desktop adoption.

With an evolution from Windows 7 in mind, the following changes are expected in Windows 8:

1) No more Windows XP Mode
2) Evolution of Windows Identity:
? User accounts could be connected to the Cloud
? PC will logon to websites for the user
? Windows identity moves from PC centric to user-centric
3) Improvement of Windows Help and Support

The authors of this paper expect that these infrastructure and system management level changes will not significantly affect legacy application compatibility in the same way that the Help and Documentation changes did with the move from Windows XP to Windows 7. However, changes and enhancements to user profile and configuration settings may present challenges in migrating application settings to the new Windows 8 platform.

Download Windows 8-Application Compatibility.pdf