Windows 8: Microsoft Seeks Help on New OS

Windows 7 is barely getting released and there is already talk of Window 8 that will come out a few years later.

Currently, Microsoft is looking to fill jobs associated with working with its new Windows 8 operating system. Two job postings have actually been spotted. Everybody knows that Microsoft has been working on the new operating system for a while, but public references to it have been few and far between.

One of the jobs that was posted for Windows 8 is for a lead development engineer in software testing. "For the upcoming version of Windows, new critical features are being worked on including cluster support and support for one way replication," the job post reads. "The core engine is also being reworked to provide dramatic performance improvements. We will also soon be starting major improvements for Windows 8 where we will be including innovative features which will revolutionize file access in branch offices.

Where the post reads “file access in branch offices,” this could be a reference to Microsoft's upcoming BranchCache technology. Windows 7 Enterprise edition and Windows Server 2008 R2 both will feature BranchCache, which is designed to improve application responsiveness across an organization's branch offices via a wide area network connection.

The second job posting that Microsoft put up is for a software development engineer specializing in testing. The person will specifically work “on the next version for the file server,” according to the post. The post also reads, “As the team moved to Windows 8, you will have 2 main responsibilities - (i) put on the customer/design critique hat as we plan our next version file server management experience (i) participating in the architectural design, and development and driving automated testing for managing the next generation file server.”

Microsoft has been hinting at a Windows 7 release candidate appearing in May of this year. As for Windows 8, veteran Microsoft watcher Mary-Jo Foley offered a guess on the release schedule. Foley wrote in her blog that "Windows 8 will be released around 2011 (with Microsoft publicly promising a 2012 delivery target)."

Foley also noted that Windows 8 will not be based on futuristic concepts, such as Microsoft's incubation project for a more modular operating system, code-named "Midori." It'll be based on the same "old" Windows 7 code.

We're still all eagerly awaiting the release of Windows 7, yet Microsoft is officially already working on Windows 8. It feels like we've been waiting for Windows 7 for ages now. We haven't, it's only been two-and-a-half years since Vista arrived. Maybe that's why it feels like a lifetime, because Vista was so damn disappointing and many people haven't given it the credit it now deserves.

It looks as though Windows 7 is finally finished though. The Release Candidate has already leaked on torrent sites, and the official version is due around May 5. So let's forget it and focus on the next-but-one Microsoft OS, Windows 8. It's coming, and probably sooner than most people would expect.

CBT Planet offers the very best in computer training courses. You can expect us to have comprehensive and quality CBT training programs on both Windows 7 and 8 when more news on the Microsoft's ever-changing operating system is released.