Inside Scoop: Peeking inside Windows 8

Don't -- here for cnet.com and talking to Seth Rosenblatt senior editor for CNET. -- -- spending a lot of time with windows eight I have talked to me about windows eight what are we looking -- Sure this is the new start screen it replaces your start menu if you wanna think -- it as having blown up your start menu that's a great way to think of it. On instead of having these little icons that you have to go into use instead have these live tiles as you can see some of them are updating with real time information. So you don't have to go into it to see. What's happening in that particular app or program and in this particular case we're running this common task -- we are running this on a touch screen can touch these tiles and that will. -- -- into the actual application indeed and this is actually Windows 7 touch screen. Running windows he's not actually let's dive into one of these apps here on short on the screen -- showing me something how we get into that -- Internet explore okay so in an expose here we're gonna happen. Pops -- rating and as it contains very fast. There's if there's a lot of changes in the it's not called metro version of I intend. -- location bar is on the Barnum here this is also where you perform your searches. You have you -- tabs up on top. You can see here they're quite -- the thumbnails are really easy to -- their clean. And from the bottom. If you tap in your location bar you get European sites -- frequently viewed sites favorites here. And they keep any touch keyboard if you are on a touch screen and that's a good point to make yet likeable to stop at my desk asking you if you have to run the touch screen right. And that's not the case it isn't it works really really well with the keyboard and -- touch screen. If you happen to have a mouse as well it works great with that too. If you're on a laptop for example that has a track pad it actually included the touch screen gestures onto the track -- the way that OSX has them. So you now have but you have your life edges here to bring. But the charms bar here on this side or previously viewed maps. We go. Over here. So we're just cycling through previously viewed pages. And and here's a previously viewed apps. Now this is the only change from Microsoft in general to -- actually have. By default -- operating -- them. Customizations or and ability to use this on a touch screen tablet or -- -- literally it displays it this. Yes as the talking about why my Microsoft might be -- and -- with Microsoft. Into an hour in four and trying to put this on more cash in -- through. Microsoft is looking at a unified ecosystem in a way that no other company has built yet. Windows eight will work on desktops laptops and tablets are windows -- which we -- is coming in September. Is going to be the mobile phone version Smart phone version. And they're all going to talk to each other with. Windows -- really robust -- features are going to be able to sync settings browser history. Documents will sink through sky drive. And Microsoft is aggressively pushing that with seven free gigabytes of space. I'm you can of course upgrade -- more on it it's really something that we have not yet seen in this way. Is there anything that windows users are going to. Turn and run from about the experiences. -- there's anything -- that is really worth running and you know screaming to Linux or or even -- effects. But there are certain there's certainly a learning curve here -- it's a new way of dealing with things even -- you do have your desktop mode. So you do have a place to run your traditional animation run scared backed -- you can run scared right back to this. On you still get your charms bar here and previously viewed -- here. But. It's a learning curve it's something completely new and that will intimidate some people all that being said. Microsoft is making this really really easy to get into. They want you to upgrade to -- like nobody's business. They are charging only forty dollars for an upgrade that's almost a hundred dollars cheaper than it was to upgrade to seven. If you bought a computer after June 2 of this year you can pay only fifteen dollars to upgrade. -- good reasons for it we've got a faster operating system that's -- for one. My tests on this machine with booting it up to get to the start screen including -- and put it at under 25 seconds on the. And so when our users when -- get their hands on -- -- October 26 right now. This is only available to reviewers and manufacture -- -- until then readers can check out your full review thanks for joining south. For cnet.com I'm Donald and yeah.