According to Microsoft’s sources, the AllThingsDigital:D9 conference scheduled for next week will see Steve Sinofsky, Microsoft head of Windows and Windows Live division present Microsoft’s new tablet software. It is speculated that Mr. Sinofsky will announce Windows 8 tablet version or a new development relating to Microsoft’s ubiquitous OS; however, Bloomberg has confirmed from reliable sources in Microsoft that the conference will see Microsoft unveil Windows 8 in tablet form.
It is said that this demonstration will have Mr. Sinofsky launching several tablets running the Windows 8 OS, supporting new top of the line hardware and an Nvidia Tegra 2 chip. The Nvidia Tegra 2 is the world’s first “mobile super chip” as the company likes to call it. It specializes in multitasking and is the first one to feature dual core processing capabilities for a mobile chip (though now Qualcomm has also developed dual core processors). In addition, the high performance capability of the chip is said to make internet browsing on mobile devices a breeze and almost halve website loading speeds. This is also accompanied by hardware accelerated Flash and high quality gaming. Currently, Nvidia is the world’s most popular and best rated manufacturer of GPUs for PCs, laptops and gaming consoles and has been featured on a number of tablets like the Galaxy Tab and the Motorola Xoom.
Recently, there have been leaked images and rumors of a version of Windows for ARM system-on-chip (SoC) machines, but this is the first official confirmation from the company. Moreover, Windows 8 is said to support all processor architectures from Intel, AMD and ARM. Further details about the user interface of Windows 8 and the specific version for ARM devices and tablets are to be announced later. Speculation however is growing about the UI of the new tablets from Microsoft, with the possibility that it will be influenced by the current Metro design of the Windows 7 phone.
Despite the demo scheduled for next week, it is unlikely that this tablet from Microsoft will be coming into the market anytime soon. Chances are that we will have to wait at least another year before it becomes available. The motive behind this move by Microsoft is up for speculation by experts. The general consensus is that Microsoft simply wants to announce its presence in the tablet race. The introduction of the iPad and the Galaxy Tab has revolutionized personal computing and Microsoft probably wants a piece of the action too.
