“Would You Like Your Windows 8 On Desktop Or ‘To Go’?” — Windows 8 Will Have Portable Option

There was a time when the legendary DOS (Disk Operating System) ran off removable media. Then Windows happened we needed several such media to just install it, forget running it off one. And then thumb drives became big enough for hackers to make portable versions out of Windows. But then all of that was yesterday. That is history now. Microsoft has announced that Windows 8 will have a feature called “Windows To Go”, which will allow you to carry your world around on a thumb drive.

The Windows To Go feature is helpful for IT professionals who can now give portable systems to the workers they are in charge of assisting. It will fit on a small portable USB drive and will contain the exact settings and preferences that they users is accustomed to. Essentially, the Windows To Go feature takes a Windows 8 install and copies an image of it on to the thumb drive. This image can then boot on any machine capable of running Windows 7 or Windows 8.

 

This news was part of a session during the ongoing BUILD conference going on Anaheim California. However, the session has not made it clear whether this feature is part of the general package or is an enterprise feature. it is also unclear whether using this would require an extra fee to make it available. Ever since the inception of Windows, there has never been a portable version even though it has been technically quite possible (as mentioned above) for a long time now. One more question to add to our tally of unanswered questions regarding Windows 8. But then they have to save some excitement for the official launch