Windows 8 enables two views of the desktop--the classic, icon-based view, and the Metro view, which presents apps as Live Tiles that can be launched for mobile-style, full-screen viewing. In Metro, a feature called Snap lets users run and display two apps at the same time. Grant warns that systems must have a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768 to run Metro, and 1366 x 768 to use Snap. 

 

"If you attempt to launch a Metro-style app with less than this resolution (e.g. 800 x 600) you will receive an error message," said Grant. There is, however, a workaround that can be implemented through a Registry edit that overrides Windows 8's determination that a system is not Snap capable. 

 

To keep their existing configurations intact, many users that have downloaded Windows 8 Consumer Preview are running it on virtual machines. But Grant warns that such a setup could significantly hamper performance. "We strongly recommend you run Windows 8 on hardware, as it was designed to run for the majority of consumer experiences," said Grant. 

 

The "most important reason is access to the rich experience powered by accelerated graphics, and the fast and fluid operation that you'll experience when running this way," Grant said. 

As for the actual hardware that users should run, Grant said most systems that support touch on Windows 7 will also do so with Windows 8 Consumer Preview, but added that certain models that Microsoft has used for internal testing run touch particularly well. Those include the Dell Inspiron Duo, Lenovo x220t, and Samsung Series 7 slate. 

 

Secure Boot, a new security feature in Windows 8 that protects PCs at the firmware level, requires UEFI BIOS to run, which is only found on the newest PCs. Another security feature, BitLocker, will run best on PCs equipped with the Trusted Platform Module, which may need to be enabled in the BIOS settings. Hyper-V virtualization needs a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) and an extra 2 GB of RAM. 

 

Finally, Grant recommends that users back up all key data before upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8 Consumer Preview. "Please keep in mind that there is no rollback after an upgrade installation," said Grant. 

 

Look for tension between customization and mass appeal as SaaS providers try to keep large customers happy while staying true to the multitenant model. Find out the whole story in our SaaS Adoption Soars, Yet Deployment Concerns Linger report. 

 

(Source: InformationWeek)