隨著微軟(Microsoft)在全球開發(fā)人員面前揭示下一代 Windows 操作系統(tǒng)?，F(xiàn)在，世界各地的工程師們都開始重頭檢視它、編程應(yīng)用程序，并檢驗程序bug。 我們尚未得知 Windows 8 (順道一提，這仍是代號而非該操作系統(tǒng)的正式名稱)的正發(fā)布日期時程表。但業(yè)界有關(guān)該操作系統(tǒng)確切發(fā)行日期的謠言滿天飛，包括了從今年稍晚到明年底，甚至有人揣測會更晚發(fā)布。 然而，在這些預(yù)測中，即使是最可信那一些，也只不過是憑經(jīng)驗而做出的推斷。某些情況下，有些甚至只是胡亂猜測罷了。 迄今我們并不知道搭載 Windows 8 的PC、平板計算機(Tablets)和其它產(chǎn)品何時會在商店中開始販?zhǔn)?。我們所知道的是，?dāng)這一切確實發(fā)生時，將會是電子產(chǎn)業(yè)的一個巨大驅(qū)動力量，它將推動大規(guī)模的PC換機潮，并讓許多今天的平板懷疑論者冒險嘗試。 上周，微軟Windows 暨 Windows Live部門總裁Steven Sinofsky表示，微軟是在已經(jīng)充份準(zhǔn)備好的情況下發(fā)布 Windows 8 ，而非在準(zhǔn)備好之前就率先發(fā)布。“我們會在產(chǎn)品完全就緒時才發(fā)布，不會因為趕著上市而急就章，”Sinofsky說。

微軟Windows和Windows Live部門總裁史蒂文辛諾夫斯基（Steven Sinofsky），正在周二舉行的Build大會上演講Yhoesmc

Sinofsky 于上周的微軟 BUILD 大會上發(fā)表演說。這次的活動，讓W(xué)indows 8看起來似乎變成了自豆泥(refried beans)問世以來最好的一項產(chǎn)品。而它也確實如此。 在微軟 BUILD 上展示的 Windows 8 是一種極具吸引力的產(chǎn)品，與之前的Windows 操作系統(tǒng)相比，Windows 8以更質(zhì)樸、更流暢和更令人信服的方式，支持觸摸屏，以及渲染‘地鐵風(fēng)格’(metro style)的接口和應(yīng)用程序。該操作系統(tǒng)提供了全新的直觀特性，讓使用者得以簡化其設(shè)備和信息的應(yīng)用。它還充份運用了統(tǒng)一可擴展固定接口(UEFI)規(guī)范的優(yōu)勢，提供安全、迅速的激活。 但它仍然是一項處于正在進行式中的工作。好幾次，在BUILD大會中，當(dāng)展示人員想展現(xiàn)Windows 8的功能時，這個操作系統(tǒng)便會出現(xiàn)bug。微軟 Windows 使用者體驗團隊項目管理總監(jiān)Jensen Harris承認(rèn)，該操作系統(tǒng)中的某些部份的確還很粗糙。 微軟CEO Steve Ballmer稱 Windows 8 是該公司有史以來風(fēng)險最高的一項賭注，這想必是因為在后iPad (post-iPad)與后Android (post-Android)世代，Windows將處于更復(fù)雜的競爭態(tài)勢。Harris在今年度的BUILD中對與會開發(fā)人員表示，由于全球極其龐大的Windows PC數(shù)量，因此，這次的釋出將是“有史以來最巨大的一次發(fā)展機會”。 “你們當(dāng)中有些人想致富，”Harris說?！耙灿行┤讼腴_發(fā)應(yīng)用程序給數(shù)以億計的人使用。” 在商業(yè)版Windows 8正式釋出之前，微軟力求對該操作系統(tǒng)的一切都做到一絲不茍。當(dāng)然，這是常識，從Windows 1至7都是如此。 但在這種情況下，該公司看來更加謹(jǐn)慎。Windows 8的確很不一樣。隨著支持 ARM-based芯片、觸控屏幕，并導(dǎo)入了更加直觀、更吸引人的使用者體驗，Windows 8代表了微軟能否在呈爆炸性成長的媒體平板領(lǐng)域中取得商機，以及阻止使用者拋棄Windows的最后機會──許多使用者已經(jīng)愈來愈習(xí)慣蘋果的iOS和Google的Android了。 編譯： Joy Teng 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文： World waits on Windows 8，by Dylan McGrath

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{pagination} World waits on Windows 8 Dylan McGrath The developer release of the next version of Microsoft Windows is out in the world. Developers are—right now—working with it, kicking the tires, writing applications, finding bugs. We still have no timeline on the official release date for Windows 8 (still the codename, not the official name, of the operating system, by the way). Rumors—as rumors tend to do—abound, with prognostications for the OS's street date ranging from late this year to late next year, or even later. But even the most credible of these predictions are nothing more than educated guesses. In some cases, they are nothing more than un-educated wild guesses. We simply don't know when PCs, tablets and other products running Windows 8 will hit store shelves. What we do know is that, when that does occur, it will be a huge driver for the electronics industry, spurring a massive PC refresh cycle and prompting many heretofore tablet skeptics to take the plunge. Earlier this week, Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft, said, in essence, that Microsoft will release Windows 8 when it's ready, and not before. "We are going to be driven by the quality and not by a date," Sinofsky said. Sinofsky's comments came in a keynote address earlier this week at Microsoft Build. The event was—no pun intended—built from the ground up to make Windows 8 seem like the best thing since refried beans. And that is exactly what it did. Microsoft Build showed Windows 8 to be a very compelling product, introducing support for touch screens and rendering "metro style" interfaces and applications in a much more pristine, fluid and compelling way than Windows has in the past. The OS offers new, intuitive features that can streamline the way users use their devices and organization information. It also takes advantage of the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) spec to offer secure and rapid boot-up. But it remains a work in progress. Several times during Build, bugs in the OS came to the forefront when presenters had trouble getting Windows 8 to do what they wanted it to. At one point, jokingly asking if Microsoft mentioned that the version of Windows 8 released Tuesday (Sept. 13) was a developer pre-release, Jensen Harris, director of program management for the Windows User Experience Team, acknowledged that the OS is in some ways still very rough around the edges. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has referred to Windows 8 as the riskiest product bet in the company's history, presumably because of the ramifications for Windows' popularity in the post-iPad, post-Android world. This week, Harris told developers at Build that the release is also the "single biggest developer opportunity in the history of the world" because of the sheer number of Windows PCs. "Some of you are going to get rich," Harris said. "Some of you are going to build apps that are going to be used by hundreds of millions of people." Microsoft is right to wait until all the Ts are crossed and Is are dotted before releasing the commercial version of Windows 8. This, of course, is just common sense, and would have been applicable to the release of Windows 1 through 7 as well. But it seems especially prudent in this case. Windows 8 truly is different. With support for ARM-based chips, touch screens and a more intuitive, compelling user experience, Windows 8 represents the last best chance for Microsoft to truly get in on the explosive growth projected for media tablets and stem the tide of users showing the willingness to forsake the Windows experience they've grown accustomed to in favor of Apple's iOS and Google's Android.