14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like crumbs from the Windows 8 feast are all that the public will get to nibble on in order to feed their post-Windows 7 hunger.
Thankfully, more and more information on Windows vNext has made its way into the wild in the first quarter of 2011, just as the next generation of Windows progressed to the last development milestone before Beta.
Over the weekend, new screenshots allegedly from Windows 8 Milestone 3 leaked, confirming previous leaks, but also revealing some new changes.
Microsoft has yet to comment in any way to the Windows 8 leaks, or to share official details on the successor of Windows 7.
I don’t expect the company to open up on Windows 8 until the platform is close to the Beta stage, which according to sources familiar with the Windows development process, won’t happen until the second half of 2011.
The new leaks come to prove work done to integrate Windows Live and Windows 8, as the enhancements of the operating system’s Taskbar indicate.
From what I’m hearing, the software giant is building the next iteration of Windows Live to take advantage from the enhancements in Windows vNext. The integration is focused around clients such as Mail and Messenger, but also the social networking component of Windows Live.
As you can see in the screenshots, users will be able to connect to Windows Live right from the Windows 8 Taskbar, which I hope will also represent a closer connection with services such as Mesh and SkyDrive.
The second screenshot comes from Windows 8 Server, offering a glimpse at the UI evolution for the operating system.
As I’ve said before, it’s to be expected of Microsoft to overhaul the graphical user interface of Windows 8, and it looks like both the client and the server flavors of the platform will get an UI redesign.
