Microsoft's Development on Codename: "Windows 8"

The new look of Microsoft's next operating system...

Microsoft Corp displayed a version of its next operating system at the All Things Digital technology conference in late May. This emphasizes touchscreen features , which are optimized for tablet computers.

The world's biggest software company is expected to release the new system, what’s known as Windows 8, in 18 months time since it is trying to catch up with the success of Apple's iPad that was released on the market more than a year ago.

In an exhibition at the D9 conference held in Palos Verdes, California, a Microsoft executive presented an opening page that is similar to Microsoft's most recent phone software, with live “tiles” that are controllable by pressing and swiping the screen.

Steven Sinofsky, head of Microsoft's Windows unit, said that the product did not have a name until now, but he did not also mention the exact date of its availability.

“The release date is a ‘Defense Department secret’,” Sinofsky joked, adding that it is not going to be this autumn.

Microsoft usually aims for 24 to 36 months between major Windows versions, assuming that the release date for the next Windows is in between October 2011 and October 2012.

Sinofsky, who mentioned that Microsoft was not out of the game in tablets, guaranteed more details at a developers' conference that is going to be held in September.

He did say Microsoft is working to combine Internet telephone service Skype into the new system, following its agreement to buy the company last month.

The exhibition shows Microsoft is progressing toward the new operating system that should guarantee to run on a variety of hardware devices from desktop PCs to laptops and tablets, with both touchscreen as well as mouse and keyboard commands.

Five months back, Sinofsky displayed a crude version of the new Windows system working on ARM Holdings chips – which work better on mobile devices because of their low power requirements – at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

That indicated a change in importance for Microsoft toward mobile devices, even though the new Windows will still run on chips made by their traditional partner, Intel Corp.