GeekWire’s Todd Bishop calls Windows 8 “solid”

Some are calling Windows 8 the most important piece of software Microsoft has designed since co-founder Bill Gates won the contract to build the first operating system for IBM Corp.’s personal computer in the early 1980s.

“Windows 8 is huge. Microsoft’s business is still in the 40 percent range for Windows,” said GeekWire‘s Todd Bishop. “This is a huge piece of Microsoft’s business.”

The company released an early version of the system to developers, and GeekWire’s Todd Bishop has been working with the new product for the last several days.

“Usually, Windows operating systems, especially at this point of the process are very glitchy. This is the level that’s usually known as the ‘beta,’ they’re calling it the ‘Consumer Preview.’ I’ve been using this thing over the past week on a test machine,” said Bishop. “It is solid.”

Windows 8 is radically different from its predecessors.

“Windows 8 is probably the biggest change in Windows since Windows 95,” said Bishop. “The main difference is that the default start screen is based on big tiles as opposed to tiny icons. This is Microsoft’s attempt to reinvent Windows for tablet computers.”

Microsoft designed Windows 8 to help it perform a difficult balancing act. The company hopes to keep milking revenue from a PC market that appears to be past its prime, while trying to gain a stronger foothold in the more fertile field of mobile devices.

“You’re going to have the same operating system on the tablet as you do on your desktop,” said Bishop. “That’s the challenge for Microsoft, is making it work in both of those settings.”

Along with the tile design that Microsoft calls “Metro,” users will also notice the familiar “Start” button is gone.

“It’s almost disorienting to see that old friend disappear,” said Bishop, adding that the Start menu functionality has been replaced with “hot corners.”

“They are invisible, but if you move your cursor up to the corners, they activate commands and menus and allow you to navigate through the operating system.”

The beta version of the revamped operating system will be unveiled Wednesday in Barcelona, nudging Windows 8 a step closer to its anticipated mass market release in September or October.

Bishop thinks it will be ready.

“I was extremely surprised at how far they are,” said Bishop. “I think there’s no question they’re going to be realizing the final version this year, based on what I’ve seen.”

Microsoft’s financial performance traditionally improves when it releases a new version of Windows. The last upgrade came in October 2009 when Windows 7 hit the market. The company has sold more than 525 million copies of Windows 7 since then.

Watch tour of Windows 8 with GeekWire’s Todd Bishop:

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By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
The Associated Press contributed to this report.