The hardware saga with Windows 8- Be ready to upgrade and make sure your service is up to speed

Windows 8 gossip and Windows 8 news aren’t the same thing. In all fairness to Microsoft, the new approach to operating system development with Windows 8 is getting very interesting. Although the promotions (such as they are) to this point have been a bit blurry and are reminiscent of the early 2000s buzzwords, the new system is starting to look quite impressive in terms of facts.

One of the big deal issues about Windows 8, and rightly so, is the story about 128 bit architecture. If this is the operating parameter for Windows 8, that is a big deal, and it’s a possible game changer. If you remember the progression from the old 80s clunkers to the current 32 bit consumer average, you’ll appreciate how big a jump this is in computing power potential.

The new system- New enough to generate a lot of questions, already

With that, however, comes some baggage, in the form of the “heirloom” technology which most of the world uses. The consumer average is usually way behind the current OS, whatever systems are operational. These systems don’t have the architecture or the hardware to run a 128 bit operation in any shape or form. It’d be disingenuous to imply that this is some sort of Vista-like “no hardware, no OS” approach, because the 128 bit option is actually a different system, not a 32 bit system with gimmicks requiring hardware, like Vista was seen by consumers.

Any new operating system has additional issues, and Windows 8 beta testing is definitely getting interesting in terms of identifying them. The issues range from sound cards to installing Office 2010, bread and butter things, to wallpaper and other fluffy, non-tech stuff that are largely cosmetic. What’s becoming clear, however, from this wide range of issues, is that Windows 8 is definitely as much a paradigm move as an OS development. These are the same issues that first came to public notice on Windows 95, when things like sound cards were exotic ideas and nobody knew what the term GUI meant. Windows 8 is starting to look like a “next level” in many ways.

Windows 8 and the future of the cloud

The other big issue, and it’s producing huge amounts of industry speculation and criticism, is the “cloud” situation. Cloud computing may be a great idea, but the technical and security issues are far from clear in terms of the large scale consumer market. The current small scale, ad hoc cloud options don’t really address the longer term issues. Windows 8 is going to have to deal with the “cloud factor”, particularly given its advanced architecture and the need for better servers to make the cloud truly efficient and able to manage gigantic data loads.

The good news is that the new architecture will make the cloud a lot more efficient. The likely-to-be-irritating news is that users will need to make sure that their own systems and services are up to speed with the cloud systems. When Windows 8 comes out these issues will be critical.

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This post is written by Business Process Outsourcing.