Windows 8: from 7″ to 70″ screens

By Tom Warren, on 12th Sep 11 7:48 pm with 40 Comments

Metro across Windows 8, Windows Phone and Xbox

Microsoft appeared to confirm on Monday that Windows 8 will focus on 7″ upwards devices.

In a comprehensive post to the company’s ISV developer community blog, Bruce Kyle, an architect evangelist at Microsoft, described Microsoft’s Windows 8 strategy from 7″ devices all the way up to 70″ TVs. The information was quickly pulled by Microsoft after what appears to be a slip in a tightly controlled revealing of the company’s plans with Windows 8.

What does this mean for the prospects of Windows 8 on phones? Microsoft appears to be ruling this out by targeting 7″ devices with full fat Windows. One of the most intriguing parts of Windows 8 is the rumors and speculation surrounding Windows Phone applications on the Windows 8 operating system and beyond. Microsoft is about to reveal its Metro platform and tooling aspects at the BUILD developers conference in Anaheim, California on Tuesday. Is a Windows 8 Phone on the horizon?

Kyle’s posting also revealed some brief details about the schedule for BUILD. Day 1 of BUILD will begin on Tuesday at 9AM PST with Windows and Windows Live Division chief Steven Sinofsky. Day 2 will kick off on Wednesday at 9AM with Server chief Satya Nadella and Visual Studio chief Jason Zander. The speaker revelations confirm that Microsoft’s client unveiling on Tuesday will be followed by an in-depth look at the company’s server and developer offerings on Wednesday.

Stay tuned to WinRumors for full BUILD coverage starting at 9AM on Tuesday September 13.

Thanks to WinRumors reader Joel Leigh for the news tip

http://www.jeffkibuule.com Jeff Kibuule

Granted, even if Windows Phone 8 were really Windows 8, I don’t think they’d announce something like that which won’t come out for another year.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Williams/713122739 Matthew Williams

Hmmm well I assume OEMs can put it on ANYTHING they want so we will see.
Vladan

Gimme. BUILD. Conference. NAO!
http://www.searingarrow.com AlienSix

The suspense is killing me, need Win8 on laptop now!
Anonymous

Did anyone really think that Windows 8 would be put on a phone? The only thing I’ve thought about this is that they would build Windows Phone 8 on the same “core OS” as Windows 8.
- Anonymous
  
  I was thinking w8 core/metro side and all without native windows showing through. Obviously with home screen tweaks to fit a phone
Anonymous

I should take 10 sleeping pills so i can sleep till tomorrow. and then i will see the conference “faster”!

well, i cant wait for it, specially when Steven is tomorrow, that man is amazing, and its always nice to watch him or read his blogs. and obviously its about Windows.

wow alot of years, for me its been, from ms-dos and then 3.1 and and then today windows 7, and tomorrow will be like the start of a new one: 8. which sounds amazing for how they are developing it, for tablets and new UI and such, and alot of cool features hyper-v, ribbon, and of course in a hope, xbox live as gaming platform.
- http://meercat9.com/ Billy Moffat
  
  If you take 10 sleeping pills at once, you may never get to see it at all
GP007

Windows Phone 8 is next year, too soon for them to move off of Windows CE to full Windows NT so soon. Maybe after WP8 then yeah, and by then smartphones will be at 2Ghz and have 2GB of ram I bet.

I think the more interesting bit here is about 70″ TVs. I’d love to see MS cut a deal to have a special version of Win8, with Media Center as it’s main UI, installed on “smart” TVs next year.
- Joe
  
  My guess is that throughout Windows 8, Windows Phone will stay separate, though they will share at least WP’s mobile app store. Then with Windows 9 (or w/e) will come the big combination of the two, because at that point mobile hardware will be at the point where anything can run full versions of Windows.
http://twitter.com/oolong2 oolong2

As anyone who’s been paying attention would realize…

WP7 for phones and W8 for anything above a phone. Which includes tablets that work like a phone,

If you remember the enhanced sleep mode that was mentioned some time ago that allows certain operations to run while Windows 8 is still in sleep, which is just like what a phone does… So this was obviously meant for some kind of communications use. This is probably one of the most significant new features never talked about for Windows 8…

Will W8 eventually go on a phone? Of course… All you have to do is look at the history of windows and you’ll find one or two manufacturers every couple of years trying to put windows desktop on a phone…

The question is are they planning on merging the platform… 5 years from now I can imagine Microsoft will still have a windows phone OS to support feature phones, but I can’t imagine their latest OS (windows 9 or Windows 10) will treat smart phones any than desktops….
Anonymous

“….. from 7″ devices all the way up to 70″ …”
I want a 70 foot tv!
- Anonymous
  
  i have 120″ screen, pretty much the coolest thing ever… sadly not likely supported if they only go up to 70″ QQ
- Anonymous
  
  I don’t think they really mean 70, they just used it cause it sounds good”7-70″, so don’t worry.
  BTW where the hell did you get 120″ screen. LOL
- Anonymous
  
  its an HD projector… my friends is bigger but his isnt Widescreen so i feel its a moral victory… Projection set ups are where its at
Anonymous

Like if you’re FREAKING EXCITED!!!!
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=11814278 Chris Woelfel
  
  I’m not, but my balls are!
- Guest
  
  I’m not, but my other head(sexual healing) is!,
Anonymous

Get real. They are not going to put a full desktop OS on a phone. It would be stupid. They might make Windows Phone compatible with Windows 8. But Windows Phone 8 is not going to be Windows 8 the desktop OS. That’s crazy. It would ruin Windows Phone, and I think Windows 8 looks incredible. But it’s a not a phone OS.
- Anonymous
  
  There is actually a good chance WinPhone8 will run atop the Win8 kernel, but it’s unlikely that the entire OS will be on the phone.
- Anonymous
  
  Why would it be terrible? Eventually the hardware will be fast enough.
  
  Remember when it would have been crazy to have a dual core CPU and 512MB of RAM on a phone? Now it’s almost standard.
Penta2100

I wonder why Hp got out of the PC buisness? make to go into the PT
buisness? (personal Tablet?)
- Anonymous
  
  The dumped the tablet business too. Hence the fire ales of the HP Touchpads. They are trying to be like IBM and just provide services and consulting.
- Anonymous
  
  They won’t. Mark my word. You can kill me legally if they do.
- Guest
  
  I know you’re not serious, but I wanted to point out, and think you might be interested to find out, that there are some rights you can not revoke, for example, you can not legally agree to become a slave, even if you say so. Which, considering you can be threatened to say you want to become a slave, makes perfect sense. I suppose it depends on the country, but in most countries, I would expect this be the case.
Penta2100

I wonder why Hp got out of the PC buisness? make to go into the PT
buisness? (personal Tablet?)
Anonymous

it wouldn’t make sense to have windows on a phone just yet. the screen is just too small. maybe in the future when cpu’s and battery life allow for a phone driving a mouse keyboard and monitor for extended periods, it will make sense to make the photoshop capable windows 8 phone. for now, tablets are a good first step.
Anonymous

it wouldn’t make sense to have windows on a phone just yet. the screen is just too small. maybe in the future when cpu’s and battery life allow for a phone driving a mouse keyboard and monitor for extended periods, it will make sense to make the photoshop capable windows 8 phone. for now, tablets are a good first step.
Anonymous

will they be broadcasting any of the BUILD conference??? if so is there a link
Noob001

Windowz is already Fail!
20% Of People Use Mac
- Brandon
  
  Another Apple Fanboy,
  im sick of these!
- Anonymous
  
  Enjoy your static icon Palm Pilot XXXI interface while I enjoy my modern UI with information showing/updating live tiles across my devices.
- Anonymous
  
  oh, yeah its a fail since i havent heard of windowz, what is it?
  
  20% uses mac?… nice info! dont know where you saw that, but if you believe that. good for you. i bet you will sleep good tonight.
  
  maybe you got lost in the way? i mean, this is a site about microsoft. didnt your mac tell you that? maybe you should give that info to your Mac friends.
- LEON1199SG
  
  80% market share = Failed?!
  WHAT THE F@%&!!!!!
- Orange
  
  Noob001 is now called “iMad”
- Orange
  
  Noob001 is now called “iMad”
Surman

Windows Phone 7 is first device based on new platform. Windows 8 will be based on same platform with more features. But for developers will be no difference make software for windows phone, w8 or xbox360.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=11814278 Chris Woelfel

Build it and I will c*m.
Pratikanj_007

@e0e76f57dc6cb6a77864ac336472c08a:disqus – 20% Use Macs, But Count the other 80%, you only told the world dat Windows is the best, as its used by 80% of the people in the world
http://www.ringcentral.com/phone-service/index.html best phone service

Jeez, this thread is long already.

Look, I think it’s great that they’re limiting W8. At least for now. The way I see it, it could help weed out the bugs before they inevitably (and we know they will) expand it. Just my two cents.