Users will be able to roam all of the settings between machines, including applications, personalization features and taskbar. Developers are encouraged to build apps that use Windows Live Skydrive as if it were a local hard drive. Sinofsky says that this feature is secure because Windows LiveID uses a trusted authenticated connection on both PCs. But it also raises concerns, says analyst Wes Miller, research vice president at Directions on Microsoft. "I like the sync story," he tweeted. "But it's REALLY emphasizing Live. Is Windows Live enterprise ready?"

ALL IN THE CLOUD:

Windows 8 will run on Intel and ARM chips and is designed for hardware-accelerated graphics, extending the work started with Internet Explorer 9. Windows 8 will be the platform for PCs and tablets. While Windows Phone 7 will remain separate, developers will be able to easily port their applications from Windows 8 to WP7 with as little as a few lines of code.

BACKGROUND:

Windows 8 will natively support just about any program language, including C+, HTML5, XMAL, Silverlight and Javascript. The Metro-style UI uses a new framework dubbed the Win Run Time. It includes more than 1,800 different objects for Windows application developers to use, "all natively built into Windows, not a layer on top of Windows, this is Windows," Sinofsky said to applause. "You pick the language you want to use and you can build your own Metro-style applications with W8."