BARCELONA: IT giant Microsoft on Wednesday launched the test version of a new generation of its Windows operating system, designed to run seamlessly on computers and portable tablet devices.
`Windows 8 is a generational change in the Windows operating system,` said Windows president Steven Sinofsky.
`It`s Windows reimagined, he added, at the world`s biggest mobile fair in Barcelona.
The operating system is Microsoft`s answer to Google`s Android platform and Apple, which has dominated the tablet market it ignited with the release oftheiPad.
Like its two competitors, Microsoft is adopting the `app` style in its reinvented operating system.
Unlike previous generations of windows, which has a taskbar pulling up a list of software, the latest version has a selection of applications or `apps` tiled on the start page.
Apps are selected or moved around in the same way as on a smartphone by hand, swiping to switch between pages, pinching to enlarge or shrink and tapping to select.
`Apps bring to life the operating system. The more apps you have, the better your experience,` said Sinofsky.
For those who have several devices, they will be connected through a `cloud`, a resource that pools a user`s data online rather than on a user`s computer disc.
`This connection through cloud is very important in how we thought of Windows 8 in the beginning,` said Sinofsky.
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