[dpark]

Windows 8 is DPI aware. Windows has actually been DPI aware for a very long time, but with Windows 8, it's moving to a model where apps can and will simply provide upres images and Windows will do the magic to ensure that the correct images are used. App creators are being asked to provide raster images at 100%, 140%, and 180% in order to enable scaling for the expected densities.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/03/21/scaling-to-dif...

Surface and Surface Pro will presumably have 1366x768 and 1920x1080 screens respectively (no insider knowledge here; just makes sense given the marketing materials released). This will correspond with 100% and 140% scaling.

I suspect that many if not most apps will ship at least 140% resources just to satisfy displays such as the Surface Pro will have. And realistically, most apps will probably go ahead and ship 180% if they're shipping 140%, which is sufficient to support pixel densities (slightly) higher than iPad 3.

Disclosure: I work a Microsoft; I don't speak for Microsoft; etc.

[seanmcdirmid]

I'm aware of this post, but as far as I've read, the model is applicable to Metro/WinRt only; I've heard of no plans at all for desktop. I also haven't heard much goodness yet about running Windows 8 on retina macbook pros. Does Visual Studio 2012 ship in a way that can handle 200%? Photoshop for Windows? I've always assumed they would do this for tablet, but what about high-end desktop-only apps? I'm sure it happens eventually, 2X pixel laptops will go on the market, but the transition sounds like it will be a bit painful.

Disclaimer: also work for Microsoft, but all my info about product plans comes from devouring public information.

[dpark]

Ah, yes. For desktop, it's fuzzier (perhaps literally?). I haven't played with a Retina display on Windows 8. One of the PMs I work with has one that he purchased, though, and he mentioned that Windows automatically scales up the desktop (i.e. in Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display) on the Retina display. I don't know how well that works, though.

I'm not sure what the plan is for desktop apps on high-res devices. Hopefully the plan isn't "we'll live with tiny text" or "we'll live with fuzzy graphics", but it could be one of the two.

[seanmcdirmid]

Well, it sounds like a hard problem. Reducing the resolution is not a satisfying solution, even if it worked without artifacts, you'd still be wasting your expensive screen. The OS and apps would have to support the higher resolution to sell the hardware, and the hardware needs to exist to drive the software changes; chicken meet egg!

It is nice that this is fixed in WinRT, but we can't do the high-end productivity apps in WinRT (e.g., Visual Studio or Photoshop with plugins). I actually wouldn't mind using high-end productivity apps in WinRT (I maximize most of my apps already in desktop), and I hope in the future that will happen.