The most radical redesign of Windows since 1995, Windows 8 erases the distinction between tablets and full-fledged PCs. The new operating system embraces touchscreen gesture control while retaining mouse and keyboard inputs. The default presentation looks like a mobile interface: Tiles displaying snippets of information replace icons, and the static desktop becomes a moving flow of websites and apps. (Users can access a traditional desktop if they prefer.) This reinvention of the OS is a platform for a reinvention of the PC as well. Microsoft’s new Surface series of tablets have keyboards built into their protective covers, and the Pro model offers the full versatility of a laptop.

The question most people might ask would be – “Why did Microsoft decide to redesign the Windows Operating Systems?”. It was because Microsoft felt the time was ripe for a new look and feel for a product used by more than 1.2 billion people. Julie Larson-Green, the new head of Windows product development, recently spoke with MIT Technology Review about the reasons behind the major changes in the latest version of Windows.

Touting the new Windows 8 Start screen, Larson-Green said that in the past Windows users worked at a desktop with a monitor. In her view, people typically launched one window, put it away, and then launched another window. But in Windows 8, all the apps and windows you might want to launch are visible through Live Tiles. “Instead of having to find many little rocks to look underneath, you see a kind of dashboard of everything that’s going on and everything you care about all at once,” Larson-Green said. “It puts you closer to what you’re trying to get done.” It’s no secret that Windows 8 is designed with touch screens in mind. Larson-Green sees that as simply a “natural way to interact.” After using a touch-screen device, even people still using the mouse and keyboard on a regular desktop may find themselves reaching out to the screen to try to move something with their finger. And touch screens are the future, in her opinion. Though she concedes that there will always be some PCs without touch screens, she believes the majority will be touch-enabled.

In recent months Microsoft’s market share can been seen eroding due to competition from the tablet OS marketplace where Apple and Google are the dominant force. It can be seen that without change the existing platform would become irrelevant as users ditch it in the pursuit of a better developed platform. There has indeed been much debate on the viability of Microsoft new system. Will Microsoft loyalists take the plunge and delve into Windows 8 or will they remain on existing Windows 7 platforms remains to be seen.