Hoping to make a smooth transition
into emerging channels, the latest version of Windows is designed for not only laptops and desktops, but for tablets as well -- "which makes sense, given its big, touch-friendly buttons and visual
style," PCWorld notes. That said, Windows 8 is expected to run standard Windows apps, and support standard Windows peripherals.
Likewise, regular Windows apps will be able to run in a separate, traditional desktop mode that users can switch to with the press of a button. Apps made specifically for Windows 8, meanwhile, will "use the power of HTML5, tapping into the native capabilities of Windows using standard JavaScript and HTML," Microsoft said.