Skip to main content

New Windows 8 screenshots released by Microsoft

Microsoft’s latest OS is still under development, but that hasn’t stopped Windows 8 from gathering a good amount of industry buzz.

First and foremost is the extensively redesigned user interface which has been optimized for touchscreens and tablets. Similar to the Windows Phone 7, Windows 8 will feature a new “Start screen” and include live application tiles. The new start screen will also display the user’s name and avatar.

Additionally, the new interface is primarily designed for 16:9 screen resolutions with larger screens capable of displaying two Windows 8 applications. Moreover, with such a large focus on apps in today’s user marketplace, the new Windows 8 will be much more app focused and allow users to sync their apps and content across devices as well as access the Window Store on any supporting device.

For a more in depth preview of Windows 8, check out Microsoft previews Windows 8 at BUILD.

Editors' Recommendations

Amir Iliaifar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Associate Automotive Section Editor for Digital Trends, Amir Iliaifar covers the ever increasing cross-section between tech…
Microsoft announces a new threat to push people to Windows 11
Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating system logos are displayed on laptop screens.

Microsoft is sharing more details of its plans to transition customers still using Windows 10 from a free offering to a paid structure if they wish to continue receiving security updates.

The company is phasing out the legacy operating system, which will reach its end-of-life support on October 14, 2025. After this, Microsoft will begin charging enterprise users a monthly fee for Extended Security Updates (ESU). Businesses must purchase an ESU license for all Windows 10 devices in order to maintain security support beyond the cutoff date.

Read more
Best Microsoft Office deals: Get Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for free
Students using Microsoft Office software on their laptops outside.

Even though Google Docs and Google Sheets are free, Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 remain the golden standard in the fight between Microsoft vs Google on the most widely used office software. Unfortunately, this market dominance means that both Microsoft Office and 365 can still be quite expensive, and even though you can certainly get a free trial of Microsoft Word, if you want the full version and the rest of the suite, you'll need to pay. Luckily, there are quite a few good deals you can take advantage of that don't require you to spend the high prices that you would if you bought directly from Microsoft. To that end, we've gone around and collected the best deals we could find below.
Best Microsoft Office deals
Microsoft Office is a pay once, receive once service. You don't have to pay recurring monthly fees to use it, but the software also never updates. For what it's worth, the Microsoft Office packages are labelled "2021", so they're all fairly recent but also ripe for a good deal. With the exception of AI integrations, not much has really changed in the past couple of years when it comes to your basic document creation and these programs should continue to be effective for years to come. Depending on what package you get, you'll get access to different apps, based on the needs of the target audience. For example, Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 keeps it lean and cool and with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint being the only apps included.

Here are our favorite deals for the classic Microsoft Office experience:

Read more
Ends tonight: Get 42% off a year subscription to Microsoft 365
Office 365 Apps on an orange background.

For a complete set of productivity apps that will be familiar to most people, you may want to take advantage of this offer from HP -- a 42% discount on a one-year subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal, which brings its price down to just $40 from its original price of $70. That's $30 in savings on software and services that will be helpful to both professionals and students. You're going to have to hurry in completing the transaction if you're interested though, as there's not much time left before the bargain gets taken down.

Why you should buy Microsoft 365 Personal
Microsoft 365, formerly known as Office 365, is a subscription service that gives you access to all of the brand's most popular productivity apps, among other things. If you sign up for Microsoft 365 Personal, not only will you be able to use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft OneNote, but you'll also get 1TB of cloud storage where you can save your files and access them from anywhere, as well as protection from Microsoft Defender. Any software updates will be done automatically, so you won't have to keep checking if there are any newer versions yourself.

Read more