Windows 8

Windows 8 is an operating system developed by Microsoft. It is the ninth major release in the Windows NT operating system line, replacing Windows 7 and later being replaced by Windows 8.1. It reached RTM on 1 August 2012 and was released to general availability on 26 October 2012. Windows 8 was one of the most short-lived releases, with support ending on 12 January 2016 as extended support was in favor of its successor. Even though this is the case, it still runs on 0.52% of desktop and laptop computers as of February 2023.

It is the last version of 64-bit Windows to support processors without the CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW and LAHF/SAHF instructions and the first to drop support for processors without PAE, SSE2 and NX. It is the first client release of Windows to drop the traditional Service Pack mechanism in favor of releasing updates in smaller chunks on a continual basis.

This version drops the ability to directly upgrade from Windows Vista requiring at least Windows 7.

Editions
Windows 8 comes in the following editions:
 * Windows 8 (also known as Core) is the base edition intended for the average home user.
 * Windows RT is a version of Windows 8 for ARM-based tablets such as the Surface RT. Compared to other editions, it includes the Office 2013 suite and is only able to launch applications that either originate from the Windows Store or were digitally signed by Microsoft. It is otherwise functionally identical to the Core edition.
 * Windows 8 Single Language is same as Core but limited to a single installed language pack.
 * Windows 8 China (also known as Core Country Specific) is same as Single Language but only allows the Simplified Chinese language pack to be installed. This is a special variant targeting the mainland China market.
 * Windows 8 Pro is targeted at enthusiast and business markets. Compared to Core, it adds the ability to run Hyper-V virtual machines, receive RDP connections and BitLocker support.
 * Windows 8 Pro with Media Center is a variant of Pro that also includes the Windows Media Center.
 * Windows 8 Enterprise is designed for large organizations and can only be activated with a KMS server or MAK keys. It has the same feature set as Pro but supports creating Windows To Go portable workspaces.

Interface
Windows 8 was largely designed for use on touchscreen devices such as tablets, and this can be seen across the operating system, which features larger buttons, more distinct colors, and a more modern interface coupled with the removal of Aero translucency effects on open windows. The complete overhaul of the classic Windows shell was accompanied by the largely controversial addition of the Metro user interface, which includes a new Start menu (referred to as the Start screen), a full-screen tile-based user interface replacing the smaller Start menu first introduced in Windows 95. From the Start screen, Metro apps can be launched, which can either take up the entire screen, providing an immersive interface, or be snapped to a side of the screen alongside another application or the desktop. The Start screen contains titles for all applications and some can be live, with realtime information being directly provided to the user as time passes.

The Metro UI features direct integration with the traditional Windows desktop, which includes hot corners; instead of utilizing a dedicated Start button within the taskbar, positioning the mouse in certain parts of the screen will instead reveal various functionalities that a user would normally expect. Positioning the cursor to the left side of the monitor reveals a button that links to the Start screen, whereas right side reveals the Charms bar, a vertical menu that features buttons that allow the user to search the internet or the contents of a local computer, share items to others, access the Start screen, configure connected devices or quickly modify system settings. Right-clicking on the bottom left corner of the screen will reveal a Quick Link menu, which contains shortcuts to frequently used areas.

File Explorer
The File Explorer received a large design improvement with the introduction of the Ribbon UI first seen in Office 2007 and later improved upon in Office 2010. The Up button, which had been absent since Windows Longhorn build 3670 (except for early Vista post-reset builds like build 3790.1232 and build 5001), was reimplemented. The details pane has also been shifted to a vertical layout. Support for multi-monitor configurations has also been improved, as each monitor can now have their own customizable taskbar and desktop background.

Progress windows have been modified to remove the animation on the top and feature a toggleable advanced view that shows the current progress of a file operation, including a detailed graph for tracking file transfer speeds, coupled with the ability to pause operations. The older progress dialog box can still be observed when recycling large amounts of files, transferring files from a mobile device or while modifying permissions for files and folders, although this would be partially changed to the new one starting with 8.1. Notifications have been updated to be more noticeable, as they appear on the right of the screen and are the same color as the current theme.

Display language support
Microsoft offered 109 display languages in Windows 8, 14 more than Windows 7, adding the following localizations:


 * English (United Kingdom)
 * Punjabi (Pakistan)
 * Sindhi (Pakistan)
 * Central Kurdish (Iraq)
 * Uyghur (People's Republic of China)
 * Belarusian (Belarus)
 * Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)
 * Tigrinya (Ethiopia)
 * Tajik (Tajikistan)
 * Wolof (Senegal)
 * K'iche' (Guatemala)
 * Scottish Gaelic (United Kingdom)
 * Cherokee (United States)
 * Valencian (Spain)

Out-of-box experience
The out-of-box experience received a complete overhaul, now allowing the user to pick an accent color and introducing express settings, which allows for easier installation by automatically configuring the device to use a set of recommended options in one click.

Logon screen
A UI overhaul for the logon screen was introduced, which saw the addition of a lock screen that displays the current date and time, a customizable background image, and quick notifications, statuses and updates from supported applications. Security improvements to the logon process were also included, adding support for logons through a PIN or a picture password. The ability to connect to a network via the logon screen was also added, allowing users to connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi networks without the need to log onto the operating system. The logon screen also reminds users when a reboot is required to install updates.

Task Manager
The Task Manager now opens up in a simple view which only displays a list of open programs and not processes. Expanding the view reveals a modernized and improved version of the classic Task Manager, featuring tabs and a bigger focus on memory usage.

Windows Store
Windows Store allows the consumer to distribute and download Metro apps or advertise desktop software. The Windows Store would later be redesigned in Windows 8.1. The Store was called "MSHelp" in order to disguise its true purpose between builds 7814 and 8032. The Windows Store would later be rebranded as the Microsoft Store in September 2017 in an update for the app for Windows 10 devices.

Windows Media Center
Unlike Windows Vista and Windows 7, Windows Media Center is not included by default in any Windows 8 edition. Customers with existing Windows 8 Pro licenses could purchase Media Center with the Windows 8 Pro Pack until 30 October 2015. It was previously free under a promotional offer (until 31 January 2013). The application no longer runs at startup, nor does it overlay itself on top of other windows.

Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager now renders using a software-based 3D rasterizer when a hardware-based accelerator is unavailable; this also conincides with the Windows Classic and Windows Basic themes being disabled by default. Although the visual styles still exist, they cannot be used unless one uses workarounds to forcibly enable the older styles, such as the direct modification of system files or utilities that change the way how windows are displayed.

Sounds
Windows 8 introduces a new sound scheme, which considerably brings down the number of used sounds. The new Background and Foreground sounds are now used for many scenarios formerly using separate sounds, such as various types of message boxes. Some sounds have been disabled, such as the startup, shutdown and log on/off sounds. Despite that, the new scheme also includes a new logon sound, although it is disabled by default. This sound is often confused for a startup sound, although it was actually supposed to play when the user logs in, while the proper startup sound (also disabled by default) remains unchanged since Windows 7 and no longer works with fast startup.

According to Jensen Harris, a former Microsoft executive, the logon sound was originally removed due to loudness concerns. However, Matthew Bennett, the in-house sound designer who created the sound scheme, and previously worked on sounds for Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7, was not notified of the decision and submitted one anyway. In the end, the sound was included with Windows, but was left disabled as the responsible team objected to restoring the sound due to performance reasons. An alternative four-note variant was also produced for Surface, however, in the end it was removed and replaced by the stock three-note sound.

Applications
Windows 8 introduced massive changes to the existing set of built-in applications. Many were added and some were removed:


 * The Mail and Calendar apps were brought back as modern apps after being removed from Windows 7.
 * Internet Explorer 10 was introduced. There are two versions of IE 10, a modern touch-optimized Metro app and the classic desktop version.
 * The People app was added as a modern replacement for Windows Contacts.
 * The Messaging app was added. It would later be replaced by the Skype app in Windows 8.1.
 * The Photos app was added as a modern replacement for Windows Photo Viewer although the latter is still present and usable.
 * The Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps were added. They can play local video and audio files stored on the computer and were a gateway to purchase and play videos and music bought from the Xbox Video and Xbox Music marketplaces.
 * The Xbox Live Games app was added. It allowed users to view their Xbox Live account and information.
 * The Camera app was added. It allows users to take pictures using their computer's built-in webcam.
 * The SkyDrive app was added. It allows users to view files stored on their SkyDrive cloud storage. It was renamed to OneDrive in 2014 as an update for Windows 8.1.
 * The Reader application, which allows users to view PDF files, was added.
 * The Search, News, Finance, Weather, Travel and Sports apps were added. These apps exposed Bing and MSN services to pull down content.
 * The PC settings app was added as an alternative touch-based UI for the Control Panel.
 * File History was introduced to replace Backup and Restore as the primary backup component of Windows.
 * Windows Defender was overhauled as an antivirus solution replacing the downloadable Microsoft Security Essentials program.
 * The Control Panel received a minor UI redesign.
 * Hyper-V which was first introduced in Windows Server 2008 was added as an optional component for the Pro and Enterprise editions of Windows 8, replacing Windows Virtual PC.
 * Disk Defragmenter was renamed to Drive Optimizer with some minor changes.
 * Windows Anytime Upgrade was renamed to Add Features to Windows. It could be used to purchase a license to upgrade to the Pro edition or to add Windows Media Center to an existing Windows 8 Pro installation which upon adding would identify the system as Windows 8 Pro with Media Center. Support for this service ceased on 30 October 2015.
 * The Desktop Gadgets were completely removed from the operating system due to security vulnerabilities.
 * Windows CardSpace was removed.
 * The classic desktop games like Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans, Purble Place, Minesweeper, Hearts, FreeCell, Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Internet Checkers, Internet Spades and Internet Backgammon were completely removed, although updated versions of some of these games were made available on Windows Store.
 * All shortcuts to the Games Explorer were removed. The feature and its command line shortcut remained until Windows 10 April 2018 Update after which it was completely removed in favor of the Xbox app.
 * Windows DVD Maker was removed.
 * The Action Center Control Panel applet received updates.
 * The DVD playback and Media Guide features were removed from Windows Media Player. Additionally, the DVD-Video and MPEG-2 Video codecs also no longer ship with the operating system due to the cost of licensing, the increasing amount of devices that do not have optical disc drives and the prevalence of online streaming services. However, it is possible to restore DVD playback support by downloading third-party DVD playback programs like VLC Player or until October 2015, by acquiring Windows Media Center by purchasing the Windows 8 Pro Pack.
 * The Network Map was removed from Network and Sharing Center.

Other changes

 * Windows 8 can only be officially upgraded to from Windows 7 on devices using a 1 GHz processor or faster with support for PAE, NX and SSE2, 1 GB of RAM (2 GB of RAM for Windows 8 x64) or higher, 16 GB (20 GB for Windows 8 x64) of hard drive space, a DirectX 9-based WDDM display adapter or better display adapter, and a DVD-ROM drive, with BIOS or compatible firmware and Windows 7 supported and installed.
 * The Windows Runtime platform was introduced.
 * Support for virtual smart cards were added.
 * The design of the On-Screen Keyboard was updated.
 * The "peek" button for password text boxes was added.
 * Native support for USB 3.0/XHCI devices was added.
 * Support for UEFI Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 were added.
 * The Windows Recovery Environment received a major UI update based on the Metro design language. The Reset and Refresh options were also added.
 * The WinPE-based Windows Setup received design updates.
 * The Upgrade Assistant and Windows 8 Setup programs were added for upgrades and clean installations.
 * Improved support for mobile broadband was added.
 * The boot screen was updated. The Windows logo can be replaced by OEMs with their own logo in the UEFI firmware.
 * Fast Startup was added which allows the operating system to boot up faster after shutdown.
 * The ability to create portable workspaces (known as Windows To Go) has been added.
 * Microsoft account integration was added. This allows users to link their profiles with a Microsoft account which provides additional functionality such as synchronization of user data and settings and allows for integration with other Microsoft services. However, local accounts can still be setup and used.
 * Flip 3D was removed.
 * The sample pictures, sample music clips, sample video clip and built-in user account pictures that were present in previous versions were removed.
 * The Windows 7 sound schemes were removed. However, the folders of which the sound files were in are still present.
 * The Briefcase functionality was hidden and disabled by default, although it can be enabled with the use of a registry hack. The feature would remain until Windows 10 April 2018 Update after which it was removed completely in favor of OneDrive.
 * Certain dial-up networking settings are no longer available.
 * Support for DirectDraw was removed.
 * Unified search was removed.
 * The Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 compatibility modes are no longer available.
 * The Recent documents folder is no longer present on the Start screen.
 * Creating an ad-hoc wireless connection is no longer available in the GUI.

Criticism
Windows 8 was the first Windows operating system since Windows NT 3.51 to not include a Start button nor a Start menu, a design decision which was met with extreme criticism and various complaints from many technology publications, news organizations and users alike, resulting in most desktop users switching back to Windows 7 due to a lack of accessibility which additionally stemmed from the lack of an onboarding experience. The removal of the Start menu (or rather, it being replaced by the Start screen) and a Start button were significant factors that contributed towards the operating system's commercial failure, which eventually caused Steven Sinofsky, then-current head of the Windows engineering division during 8's development, to resign from their role weeks after the operating system had been made available to the general public, with Julie Larson-Green appointed as successor.

Even though its ARM-based counterpart was largely praised by various technology outlets for its touch-oriented controls and user interface, it too had become a subject of criticism as internal restrictions that prevented the usage of applications that either did not originate from either the Windows Store or were not digitally signed by Microsoft, coupled with the extremely limited library of available ARM-based applications, resulted in expectations for Windows RT falling short entirely.

Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 was released as a free upgrade for existing Windows 8 users on 17 October 2013 in an attempt to address some of the shortcomings presented within its predecessor such as the removal of the Start button, the lack of a proper onboarding experience, a detailed all apps view and a complete design overhaul of the Windows Store experience. Further updates to Windows 8.1 brought over the ability to directly log onto the traditional Windows desktop by default and accessibility improvements to the user interface, such as the ability to minimize or close Metro applications by hovering the cursor to the top of the screen and dedicated options for shutting down the operating system or logging out via the Start screen. Despite this, the lack of a Start menu was still the subject of criticism directed towards the operating system. Mainstream support for Windows 8 ended on 12 January 2016, with extended support being shifted over to Windows 8.1 to focus on long-term development.

The release of Windows 10 eventually withdrew a significant majority of the user interface changes introduced with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 with the reintroduction of the Start menu (with additional support for dynamically updating tiles) and the removal of the Charms bar. The Start screen's functionality (and its full-screen mode) would be moved over to a separate mode designed specifically for tablet devices.

A fully-fledged start menu from early Technical Preview releases of Windows 10 was backported into a later Windows 8.1 update which was released exclusively for ARM devices on 1 September 2015.

System requirements
Microsoft recommends Windows 8 to be installed on a system with a processor with a speed of at least 1 GHz, at least 1 GB (2 GB for x64 versions) of RAM, 16 GB (20 GB for x64 versions) of hard drive space, a DirectX 9-based WDDM display adapter or better display adapter, and a DVD-ROM drive. Windows 8 drops support for processors without PAE, SSE2 and NX, as attempting to boot on these processors will cause an  bugcheck.

As a result of the upgraded processor requirement, Windows 8 can be installed on processors as early as the Pentium 4. Windows 8 can also be run with as low as 512 MB of RAM. SVGA cards can still be used, and most WDDM-required effects are now software rendered, although such rendering will be slow compared to using hardware rendering.