Top 5 Windows 8 Expected Features That Could Make it Microsoft’s Greatest Ever Operating System

Microsoft has released an early version of its upcoming operating system, Windows 8, on a prototype tablet. Now experts believe that the fusion software could win back the ground that Microsoft had lost to Apple.

Analysts also predicted that Windows 8 could boost Microsoft's market share in the smartphone and tablet businesses.

Here are top 5 Windows 8 features that are expected to arrive with the OS:

Microsoft is expected add a windows 8 app store taking a leaf out the book of Apple which came up with the concept of a Mac App Store. Earlier, Apple had sued Amazon for using the name “App Store” for its own use. Now Microsoft could be rest assured that if a Windows 8 app store does come up, then Apple will not let it go unanswered.

Nothing has been known about the features of the new app store, its contents and pricing until now but has been confirmed by Microsoft’s Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky in a company blog post.

Previously, a Chinese Web site, CnBeta leaked and posted a picture of the new app store. Nothing, however, could be judged from it.

Although Microsoft hasn’t announced anything about the Kinect gesture control, analyst and nerds everywhere are hopeful that it will arrive with Windows 8 when it launches in 2012. It is being rumored that after Kinect’s popularity on Xbox, Microsoft will want to cash in on that popularity for Windows 8.

Earlier Windows Supersite's Paul Thurott told Gadgetbox that he not only expects Microsoft to support gestures, but also introduce other new kinds of input methods that will include facial recognition and voice control.

Windows 8 is said to be the first ever operating system from Microsoft that will run on ARM-based processors. This will arrive in addition to the company’s traditional x86 chips from Intel and AMD.

This expectation has come into being after ARM processors such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, TI’s OMAP and NVIDIA’s Tegra have made a name for themselves in the smartphone and the tablet market as they are extremely powerful and low-power consuming.

A new mode, “always on, always connected,” has been introduced in Windows 8 for the ARM support. This will bring forth a standby mode for any device for hours without getting disconnected from the internet.

Microsoft, as it seems, has had enough of Start Menu and hence is expected to introduce an amazingly new user interface that will be packed with live tiles that are touch-friendly and will show updates from news and other social media updates from your friends.

The new OS also will be supporting full-screen HTML 5 applications on the desktop itself. User will now be able to switch between apps with a swipe from left or right.

Microsoft, however, may have a tough time convincing the traditional users that tiles will be much better than icons and that the same interface that works so nicely on Windows Phone 7 will also work on their desktops.

Previously, every copy operation in Windows had its own dialog box which displayed a single progress that, at times, didn’t even provide an accurate estimate of nearly how long the operation would last. This has been one of the major complaints of the customers over the years.

Now Microsoft’s Windows 8 will place all ongoing copy operations into a single dialog box where their progress can be viewed and the user could also pause or resume their progress. A comprehensive report showing the file transfer rate will also be displayed with a more effective and detailed warning if the user tries to copy one version of a file over another.

However, the company, in a previous blog post, said that estimating the copy time of a file or a folder is nearly next to impossible as it is unpredictable.