Microsoft demos Windows 8 features at Dell World

A new lock screen, a gadget bar, an overhauled “desktop," and virtual machine migration - these were the four new features Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer previewed at a Dell event in Texas last Friday. Ballmer gave the sneak peek of the new features in his address to 2,000 attendees at Dell World in Austin, InformationWeek reported. The features applied to Windows 8 and Windows Server 8, the report said. The features included:

• A lock screen over the user’s machine. However, email, social network and other active apps can post counts next to their symbols on the lock screen.
• A Metro-style user interface borrowed from the Windows Phone 7, which looks completely different from earlier Windows. The tiles, each representing a user app, can be rearranged by touch drag and drop.
• A dashboard containing news and weather feeds and stock market reports.
• Windows Server 8 will include an easy-to-use management feature of the virtualized data center, migrating virtual machines from one physical host to another without end-users noticing.

Live migration – vMotion to VMware customers - has been a function of skilled virtual machine administrators up until now. In live migration, much of the application, operating system, and data of the virtual machine is moved to a new physical location in advance. The InformationWeek report said live migration will be simpler and smoother with Windows Server 8, as demonstrated by Ballmer lieutenant Bryan Surace at the event. “With the virtual machine management built into Windows 8, any Windows Server administrator could handle live migration seemed to be the message behind the demonstration," InformationWeek said. — TJD, GMA News