Microsoft are soon to bring out their new version of Windows, which is touting the rather square ‘Metro’ interface specifically designed to work well with tablets. Luckily for the public, anyone and their mum can now try out Windows 8 Consumer Preview – a free, pre-release version that gives you a taste of what is to

come. But unfortunately, it requires either installing over your current version of Windows, or doing a bit of technical jiggery-pokery and using a virtual environment or partitioning your hard drive so you can dual-boot. For those that just want to know what it’s like without the bother, here are my impressions.It’s immediately apparent when booting up Windows 8 that Microsoft are trying hard here to compete with

Apple‘s iOS and Google’s Android. Poppy, bold colours; big square tiles with white icons on; a lock screen that shows the internet connection, number of unread e-mails, time, date and next calendar event in the simplest, most concise way possible; it’s almost aggressively minimalist, and will allow you to digest information quicker than ever. This front-end you see when you first open Windows 8 is the ‘Metro’ interface,

and it’s a godsend to people on touch devices. There’s even an App Store and a host of apps that Microsoft have baked in, many of which are quicker and easier to use than their ‘desktop program’ counterparts. As with Android and iOS, you’ll be getting a Maps app (running off Bing Maps), People app (effectively contacts, although it includes social updates from any services you have connected to your Windows Live account), Calendar, Photos, Videos, Music,

Mail and the default browser Internet Explorer. These all use your Windows Live account, and as such Windows will require your user login to be the same login as your Hotmail account. If you’re not so keen on using your Hotmail password you can use one of the coolest new features on offer – picture passwords. Simply pick a picture of choice, and interact with it in any 3 gestures. For example,

swip ing f rom eye to eye on someone’s face, or circling their nose then touching the centre of the smile.There are also some unique apps on offer such as Messaging, a stripped down version of Messenger with buil t- in Facebook integration; SkyDrive, Microsoft’s own cloud-storage service so you can access your important documents from any device with internet connection; Remote Desktop, so you can control another PC over the internet (particularly useful for 3G tablet owners with a desktop PC at home) and Xbox Companion, an app dedicated to controlling your Xbox from Windows. All of these provide much-needed functionality Metro-style and play to Windows’ strengths.But what if you’re not a touch-screen user? Windows 8 is clearly designed with tablets in mind, and while it preserves the Windows 7 desktop as you know it, it won’t set your world on fire. To say it’s useless would be unfair: Microsoft’s own anti-virus software (formerly known as Security Essentials) is now integrated and invisible for ease of use, refreshing to a clean install is faster and easier than ever, task manager is now beautifully easy to use with its new lick of paint, Windows Explorer has a ribbon interface just like newer Microsoft Office revisions. There are numerous other tiny changes, but I don’t think anyone other than power-users would really notice or care for them.Windows 8 is a brave new world for tablets, but despite its additions, it may well simply confuse affairs for laptop and desktop users.

THE SPHINX 22

Technology

Windows 8 consumer preview impressionsOliver Stevenson

Late last month saw the release of the Raspberry Pi a computer; whose size barely surpasses a credit card, whose power is thwarted by your average smart phone and whose price tag is dwarfed by the cost of a game. So why is a seemingly insignificant piece of kit causing such a stir and of any importance? Harking back to the 80s, the developers’ aims for the computer are to rekindle a community of young programmers, educating a new wave of enthusiasts. Originally part of U n i v e r s i t y o f C a m b r i d g e ’ s Computing Department, the team

behind the Raspberry Pi, noticed a year on year decline in the technical skill of applicants to their computer science course. Blaming the shift towards cultivation of office skills and web-page creation in school computer classes (amongst other things) the team sought to provide a means for computer classes and those

interested, to learn to program and gain a better understanding of how computers run. In creating the Raspberry Pi, hopes are that it will act as a catalyst towards this shift. With interest from several governments (including an unnamed middle-eastern country planning on providing every girl with

one) and demand rumoured to have been running at 700 per second for the first week (according to the Guardian) leading to the complete sale of their first 10,000 in minutes, it looks capable of making waves. Limited in what the kit can actually do in comparison to modern desktops, it’s hoped that at £22 it will allow children (and grown-ups alike) to mess around with coding (and hardware) without the fear of computer fatalities. The community is currently running away with it, limited by their imagination only, the official forum is littered with interesting ways to use the computer. Ranging from the sensible (cheap personal web servers) to the common yet more ambitious (In car entertainment centre or TV media hub) to the downright outlandish (the ‘mind’ in a fully automated radio controlled plane or the intercom which can be accessed anywhere in the world). There is no doubt that the Raspberry Pi is an amazing educational tool, in many ways it is the computational equivalent of passing on the traditions and languages of esoteric cultures. If the Raspberry Pi is integrated successfully into schools, which there is no reason to believe it won’t happen, the positive repercussions for the British tech industry could be colossal down the line.

Raspberry Pi: The £16 computer which will change the way we learnSpencer Montagu

Raspberry PiTech Specs

Operating SystemsLinux/Debian GNU, Fedora, Arch

Linux, RISC OS

CPU700 MHz ARM1176JZF-S Core

Video OutputComposite RCA (PAL & NTSC)

Audio Output3.5mm jack, HDMI

Memory256MB (Shared with GPU)

Onboard StorageSD / MMC / SDIO Card Slot

Power Rating500mA (2.5w) (Base Model)

Size85.60 x 53.98 (3.370 x 2.125in)

Windows 8New Features

Metro UIA ‘tile’ based interface which was primarily constructed for use on touch screen devices.

Windows To GoAllows Windows 8 to be run from a bootable USB device

Lock Screen FunctionsSimilar to Google’s Android, Windows 8 allows users to unlock their devices in a number of ways