Yesterday evening, Microsoft gave us our first glimpse of the next version of Windows. The world’s most popular operating system is due for its biggest overhaul in decades. Microsoft wants Windows 8 to be used in both tablets and desktops–and rather than split the difference, they simply added a new, Windows-Phone-7-like tablet interface right next to the traditional keyboard and mouse interface.
Windows 8, which is currently just a codename, is a split-brain operating system. It’ll run two totally different kinds of apps: the traditional Windows software, looking (at least at this stage) pretty much like Windows 7, and a touch-focused tablet-like interface that’s in the vein of the angular, aggressively 2-D, thoroughly modern, and quite beautiful Windows Phone 7 smartphone OS.
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