Sept. 9 - 10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Cloud storage startup Bitcasa has released new mobile apps for Android and Windows 8 platforms, with iOS and Mac apps coming in January, the company announced Tuesday morning.

Bitcasa offers a back-up solution that’s a bit different from peers such Dropbox, SugarSync, and Google Drive. Essentially, Bitcasa can back up all of your data and files on Bitcasa’s servers and you can even move things to the cloud that you can delete on your personal hard drive. The service’s interface makes accessing your files as easy as tapping an external hard drive. It costs $10 a month, a pretty reasonable price for what it claims is “infinite storage.”

Bitcasa and its new apps promise the following benefits:

Instant Streaming, Access Anywhere: With Bitcasa, users can play whole music albums, watch videos in various formats, view and share photo albums, and read documents from anywhere. Instant streaming from the Bitcasa Infinite Drive allows users to stream their personal jukebox of music, videos, and photos to mobile and desktop devices without having to sync or store files locally on each of your devices.

Infinite Storage: The Infinite Drive acts as a virtual external drive that expands with the user’s growing storage needs without ever worrying about running out of space again.

Safe Backup: Continuous and automatic backup gives peace of mind. Users can mirror their content from all their computers to Bitcasa, and access it anywhere. All files and backups are protected with client-side encryption, which means that only users can see and access their data. Users can easily retrieve files with time-capsule versioning by date.

Share Content: With one click, users can share any file or folder with their friends and family – Bitcasa or non-Bitcasa users – regardless of file size. For sharing on mobile devices, users can also set up alerts to protect against large downloads that might affect their mobile bandwidth charges.

Get Organized: Bitcasa automatically categorizes users’ data into Music, Photos, Videos, and Documents. Users no longer have to worry about managing and organizing their files — the same way they do not have to worry about storage capacity limits.

Bitcasa CEO Tony Gauda strongly believes in the power of mobile and one of the things he wanted to accomplish was making it easier to tap your files no matter where you are.

“With our mobile app releases, we are now making all of your data easily available from mobile and PC/Mac clients while taking the security of that data very seriously,” Gauda said in a statement. “By announcing our cross-platform support today, we are offering our global users secure access on all computers, mobile devices, or Web browsers by streaming from the cloud while allowing them to keep the data they access more often localized on their hard drive.”

You can download the new apps from Bitcasa’s download page.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Bitcasa launched in Sept. 2011. The company has raised $9 million in funding from Pelion Venture Partners, Horizons Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, CrunchFund, and Samsung Ventures.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Yahoo, still one of the most popular email services in the world, has revamped its email applications for web, iOS, Android, and Windows 8 with a much cleaner look that emphasizes speed.

Yahoo has been in the midst of changes under the direction of former Google VP Marissa Mayer, who took over as CEO earlier this year. Mayer has clearly brought some of Google’s ideas over to her new company, including free employee meals, smart acquisitions, and category advertising sales. She’s also brought over some good ideas on the product side, as you can see from the new apps announced today that will help stop Yahoo Mail users from moving over to Gmail, Microsoft’s Outlook.com, or other services.

“We’ve redesigned the new version of Yahoo! Mail with speed in mind — getting through your emails is faster than ever before,” Mayer wrote in a blog post. “We’ve also made your inbox more intuitive and easier to navigate, allowing you to focus on what matters most: your messages. And, because mobile is everything these days, Yahoo Mail now has a consistent look and feel across devices.”

The new apps for iPhone and iPod touch, Android, and Windows 8 are available now, while the version for the web will be rolling out to most users over the next few days.

Photos via Yahoo

In a surprising move, Facebook said it has no plans to build a native app for Microsoft’s just-released Windows 8 OS, the company told VentureBeat today.

After Twitter confirmed that it would build a Windows 8 app, we decided to check in with Facebook to see what its plans were. Microsoft and Facebook have a cozy relationship, with Microsoft owning 1.7 percent of Facebook and Facebook purchasing $550 million worth of patents from Microsoft in May. So it seems natural that Facebook would make an app for Windows 8, the one-size-fits-all OS Microsoft has been trumpeting loudly.

But what Facebook told us was surprising. Facebook manager of corporate communications Meredith Chin told VentureBeat (emphasis ours):

We only build the iOS and Android FB apps. You should check in with Microsoft on anything related to Windows 8.

We asked for explicit confirmation that Facebook had no plans for a Windows 8 app, but Chin did not respond. So instead we went down the rabbit hole and turned to Microsoft for answers.

Microsoft would not confirm or deny if anyone was working on a Facebook app for Windows 8, but it did provide this carefully worded statement about its relationship with app developers and companies (emphasis ours):

We are super-excited about the quality and the breadth of apps in our store for the global grand opening. More and more are being added every day. Developers are excited about our industry-leading revenue sharing and the opportunity to be in on the ground floor of the most significant release of Windows in history. Consumers are also excited about the apps in the Windows Store, and Windows 8 puts the apps at their fingertips. More great apps get added every day. If you have a question about a specific app, you should ask the developer.

Essentially, Microsoft is directing us back to Facebook to give us guidance about a potential Windows 8 app, creating a circle of confusion without any answers.

This likely means one of three things: A) Facebook is ignoring Windows 8 completely; B) Facebook is secretly working on Windows 8 app; or C) Microsoft is building a native Facebook app for Windows 8 because Facebook won’t invest resources into it.

Because neither company wants to admit what the hell is going on, we can’t be sure which answer is correct. The last option does actually seem viable in light of the native Facebook application for Windows Phone, which it now apears that Microsoft — not Facebook — is building. Since Facebook only mentioned iOS and Android in its statement, it must consider Microsoft as the main force behind the Facebook Windows Phone app. And so, Microsoft could also be building a Windows 8 app.

Photo illustration: Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

With Windows 8 now available for public consumption, Microsoft is plugging all of the various apps that are either already available or coming for the new operating system.

At today’s Build conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer not only talked up the forthcoming Twitter application but also apps from PayPal, Dropbox, and more. Even the media business is plotting apps, such as ESPN’s, which will deliver an aggregated news feed, game scores, and, of course, lots of video content. All the new apps should take full advantage of the Windows 8 pinning functionality, instantly making them distinct over other platforms.

Below is the official list of Windows 8 applications, along with descriptions, posted by Microsoft. Let us know which apps you’re looking forward to in the comment section.

Via The Official Microsoft Blog:

• Disney – Disney’s Phineas and Ferb game, Agent P Strikes Back, aka Perry the Platypus, on Windows 8, and forthcoming on Windows Phone 8, showcases how easily browser-based games can become Windows Store apps. Disney developed the game for Windows 8 by taking advantage of Windows 8 HTML5 support as well as built-in capabilities like in-game sharing and support for an Xbox controller via USB. “Agent P Strikes Back” is the first of a series of games that Disney will bring to the Windows 8 platform, including the hit mobile games “Where’s My Water?” and “Where’s My Perry?”.
• Dropbox – Dropbox’s new Windows Store app, coming soon, offers a cloud based storage and synchronization service for photos, documents and videos on Windows 8.
• ESPN – ESPN previewed a Windows Store app that re-imagines the ESPN experience with aggregated news, scores and video as well as ESPN The Magazine, ESPN podcasts and photo galleries. With Windows 8, ESPN’s app allows fans to pin specific sports and teams to their Start Screen.
• Legos – The LEGO Group will deliver LEGO® Life of George, the award winning game that combines real LEGO Bricks and a smart device, with new unique features on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. With LEGO® Life of George, the LEGO Group is using Windows on mobile devices to explore the next frontier of childrens’ play, combining the physical world of LEGO bricks, the virtual and networked experiences and a child’s imagination and creativity.
• NASA – NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently released a number of free experiences on PCs, Windows Phone and Xbox geared for inspiration and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Making learning and discovery accessible, NASA’s Mars Exploration Program has now released “NASA Be A Martian” and “Mars Rover: Curiosity” as free Mars-related apps for Windows 8 PCs.
• PayPal – PayPal’s Windows 8 API enables developers to use the PayPal payment system within their Windows Store apps for simple and secure commerce activities for the more than 100 million active PayPal users. Crowdstar’s free Windows 8 game, Fish With Attitude, uses PayPal in-app purchases of game characters.
• Unity – Unity, the cross-platform game engine and development environment, is deep into development on the Windows Phone 8 add-on which will give game developers the power to deploy new and existing games to Windows Phone 8.

Photo via Microsoft

Twitter has announced that it’s building an official app for Microsoft’s Windows 8 OS, which was released Friday.

“#Windows8 needs a great Twitter app,” the company wrote on Twitter Mobile account. “So we’re building it. Looking forward to sharing it with you in the months ahead.”

It’s clearly a smart move to have a client on Windows 8, which includes its own app store for buying and downloading new software. But here’s the question — why is Twitter just announcing this now? Did it really need to wait until Microsoft announced 4 million people had purchased Windows 8 before pulling the trigger?

Developers from around the spectrum have been building great Windows 8 apps for months. Twitter could easily have been in the first batch of apps, but instead Tweetro was the first eye-popping Twitter client out of the gate. And based on the tweet, we’ll have to wait “months” to see what Twitter cooks up for Windows 8.

We’ve contacted Twitter to ask what the hold up was and why it’s announcing this after Windows 8′s big launch.

Twitter bird image via Zoo-chan/DeviantArt

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Amazon is helping to fill out the Windows 8 app catalog with a dedicated Kindle app.

Announced after the Windows 8 launch event in New York City, Kindle for Windows 8 brings Amazon’s library of books to Microsoft’s fledging operating system.

The news is indisputably great for Windows 8, which has been criticized in most early reviews for its paltry selection of apps. While Kindle for Windows 8 doesn’t appear to do anything new visually, it’s still a significant addition to the Windows 8 ecosystem.

Notably, the app supports x86, x64, and ARM processors, meaning that it’s compatible with both Windows 8 and the tablet- focused Windows RT.

But what’s really interesting is that Amazon announced its eBook app before Barnes & Noble did the same. That’s notable because when Microsoft invested $300 in a Barnes & Noble, a Nook Windows 8 app was an explicit part of the deal. In any case, we’ve reached out to Barnes & Noble to see what’s going on.

The Amazon news comes on the same day that StumbleUpon announced its own Windows 8 app, which the company says takes full advantage of the operating system’s live tiles. With all of this third-party support, maybe Windows 8 will turn out alright after all.

Hulu Plus will be among the multitude of new apps available when Windows 8 launches Oct. 26, the streaming video service announced today.

Hulu’s new Windows 8 app, which is already available in the Windows store, gives you access to the full breadth of its content library, meaning the backlog of older shows as well as the newly premiered TV shows from the broadcast television networks. However, to use the app, you’ll need to be subscribed to the $8 per month Hulu Plus premium service.

The new app was designed for use on both desktop computers and touch screen devices. And from what I’ve seen in Hulu’s demo video, it’s also got some features that are unique to the OS, such as pinning a particular show to the Windows 8 home screen and letting you watch videos using only half your screen.

The Hulu app will also come preloaded on Windows 8 tablets from Acer and Sony. Check out a preview in the demo video below.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The team behind Star Chart, one of the best Windows 8 apps we’ve seen yet, has updated its incredible application that helps you explore the stars and solar system — just in time for Windows 8′s launch next week.

Star Chart caught our eye initially because it lets you explore the night sky and constellations. Even cooler, if you have a Windows 8 tablet, you up a tablet at the sky, and it shows you corresponding stars and constellations. Now the app has been updated with a ton of new 3D content that allows you to explore the solar system with rich depictions of the planets and their moons.

San Shepherd, a director at Star Chart developer Escapist Games, told us the company originally developed Star Chart for platforms iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, but Windows 8 posed some steep challenges.

“Bringing Star Chart to Windows 8 has been a huge investment for our small startup,” Shepherd said via email. “We’ve really had to pull the stops out on quality and consider the implications of large screen formats, various form factors and input devices. Luckily we’re all geeky game developers with experience making AAA console games at places like EA and Codemasters, so it sort of sits in our blood. We talk in shaders and dream in ray-tracing.”

Shepherd says that the most rewarding aspect of the app is making education more fun through technology and connecting parents and their children. He writes:

The best part of making Star Chart is reading reviews from parents who’ve managed to bond with their kids while using the app. Knowing that kids are learning more about the solar system and the stars, while parents are getting to spend some quality time with their kids is simply priceless. We love the idea of parents standing in their gardens at night holding Star Chart up to the sky and pointing out the constellations. It’s what we grew up with, and now its accessible to everyone with an AR-enabled device. It’s like having your own personal Stephen Hawking or Neil deGrasse Tyson by your side.

Star Chart photo: Escapist Games

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Microsoft released the final build of Windows 8, dubbed “RTM,” to developers and manufacturers last week. So how will it work on your desktop when it lands on Oct. 26?

Based on my tests, not very well. In fact, if you’re still using a desktop PC, you’re probably going to dislike Windows 8.

Microsoft has designed Windows 8 to work across almost all devices, with the exception of smartphones, a nearly one-size-fits-all approach to the operating system. That’s a marked contrast to Apple’s decision to use iOS for tablets and phones, and OS X on desktops.

On top of this, Windows 8 will share a kernel with Windows Phone 8 to make it easier for developers to create apps and games that work for both.

Unfortunately, Windows 8 doesn’t work equally well for all devices. How I work on a desktop is going to be different from how I work on a tablet. Using my fingers to navigate through Windows is a wholly different experience than using a mouse to click on things.

With Windows 8, Microsoft favors tablets, touchscreens, and laptops with modern touchpads. It works very well for these kinds of computers. Traditional desktops with a keyboard and mouse, on the other hand, have been left in the dust.

Desktop issues

True, a major part of the OS is devoted to the traditional Windows desktop. The desktop view is there if you need to run older Windows applications, or if you just want a familiar-looking interface.

But the desktop view isn’t what Microsoft is pushing. Much like Apple’s Mac App Store, there will be a Windows 8 Store available for downloading the new full-screen apps Microsoft is betting heavily on. (Notably, the store won’t offer older Windows programs at all.) These new Windows 8-style apps appear on your computer’s Start screen and run in a full-screen mode without menu bars or toolbars. Microsoft has referred to its Windows Phone and Windows 8 interfaces as “Metro”, but it has ditched the term and not yet given us a replacement, so I’ll refer to it as the “modern” design. Indeed, much of the focus for Windows 8 is on the sleek Start screen (image above).

Now let’s dig into some of desktop issues. (Let us know what other issues you see for the desktop in the comments.)

Dead mouse — Windows 8 isn’t meant for mice — it’s meant for fingers. The spread-out Start screen is more ideal for tapping than clicking, whereas the Start menu in Windows 7 is crammed into a tighter space to make it easier to click individual items. Scrolling using your mouse now moves the screen left and right instead of up and down. Mouse scrolling can be problematic inside some modern apps. Parts of the Bing Weather app, for example, are meant to be scrolled up and down and can interrupt you. (Check out this video for an illustration of this problem.) Basically, scrolling through apps with your fingers is much easier.

Right-clicking — When you right click your mouse in Windows 7, a menu pops up next to where you clicked to give you more options. Right clicking a picture, for example, brings up options like Preview, Cut, Copy, or Delete. Right-clicking a program on the desktop Taskbar gives you lots of helpful options too. But right-click menus go out the window in Windows 8, unless you’re using an old-style desktop app. Now, instead of a menu of options appearing right where you clicked, a limited number of options appear at the bottom of the screen. You now need to move your mouse to the bottom of the screen to select an option, and this gets incredibly tedious in modern apps and on the Start screen.

Small displays — The modern-style Start screen and modern apps look great on tablet screens and small displays, but they can get a little messy on a desktop PC with a large monitor. Modern apps aren’t optimized for larger resolutions, although Microsoft makes it possible to scale apps. Microsoft is preparing Windows 8 for the world where 10- to 13-inch monitors are the norm, as ZDNet points out. Thankfully, Windows 8 at least includes decent multi-monitor support for power desktop users with two monitors.

Full-screen apps — Windows 8 already has some killer apps. Unfortunately, these apps are almost all better suited for tablets than desktops. There’s no “X” in the corner to exit apps in a single click like you can in Windows 7. Instead you have to click the very top of an app and drag it to the bottom of a screen to close it — an easy gesture on a touchscreen, but a laborious exercise with a mouse. It’s also not as easy to switch between these modern apps as it was with old-style desktop apps and the Windows 7 Taskbar.

Modern app switching — To switch between open modern apps using a mouse, you need to hover in the top left corner and then drag down to see the programs on the full left side of the screen. Only modern apps are shown in this lineup of open apps, not desktop apps. So if you want to switch between a modern app and an older desktop app, you need to go into the desktop and then select the desktop app you want. A two-step process has replaced the old one-step switch.

Screen splitting — Another issue with modern apps is the space allocated to them on the screen. When I work, I often divide my screen in two equal-sized windows. Modern apps don’t do this. You can only allocate roughly 25 percent of the screen to one app while the other 75 percent is taken up by another. This layout is not conducive to multitasking. Thankfully, you can still do a 50-50 split, or whatever tiling you’re used to, in the desktop area.

Hidden apps — It can be hard to find programs meant for the old-style Windows desktop if you don’t know where to go. From the desktop screen, you cannot launch desktop apps that aren’t already pinned to the Taskbar. That’s because the Start button is gone. Let’s say you use the Calculator app often. To access it, you have to go to the Start screen, right-click the screen, go to the bottom right-hand corner and select All Apps, then select Calculator. Once Calculator is open on the Desktop, you need to pin it to the Taskbar or you have to go through all of those steps again the next time you want it.

Internet Explorer tabs — This last point is minor, but the modern version of Internet Explorer 10 has no visible tabs. If you want to switch between tabs, you have to right click inside Internet Explorer to reveal your open tabs. I rely heavily on tabs to get my work done, so if you need them like I do, you’ll have to use old-style Internet Explorer from the desktop. While I don’t use Internet Explorer, it’s what comes available out of the box and many folks still use it. Alternately, you can download and use Google Chrome, which includes tabs in its modern app.

Tablet and touchscreen benefits

In its current form, Windows 8 is a tablet-centric OS. The interface works best on tablets, and we can’t wait to see it running on devices like the Microsoft Surface.

Windows 7 and Windows 8 are different beasts, and workflow is different when you have to deal with the Start screen versus the Start button. In Windows 7, I can do everything I can think of from a single screen. I can launch apps from the Taskbar or the Start button, I can easily re-size all my apps in different windows as needed, and everything feels optimized for an external mouse and keyboard.

Windows 8 requires me to switch between the desktop and the Start screen, which feels unnecessary. It shouldn’t take me extra steps if I choose to use a mouse, and that leads me to believe that Microsoft wants us to use tablets or ultrabooks instead of desktops. It also wants us to use full-screen modern apps instead of windowed desktop apps. (One exception: Microsoft Office 2013, which you launch from the Desktop but is more touch-friendly than past versions.)

The problems listed above show Microsoft is willing to alienate desktop users in favor of an interface that embraces touch screens and trackpads. Many businesses still rely on desktops for their workers, and it’s plausible that Windows 7 will remain the top choice for those businesses. That said, companies could adopt Windows 8 for tablets and hybrid laptops they want to deploy to workers.

After spending much time with Windows 8, I can’t recommend it for advanced desktop users unless Microsoft makes interface tweaks to make it more desktop-friendly. I don’t plan to upgrade my desktop from Windows 7 to 8 at launch because Windows 7 works so well. After several years of usage, I consider Windows 7 the best desktop OS ever, and I prefer it to Apple’s also-great Mountain Lion OS.

I expect Windows 7, with its 630 million licenses sold, will remain an incredibly popular OS for the next 10 years — just like Windows XP.

Microsoft is apparently getting ready to launch a new version of Skype that’s been optimized for the company’s forthcoming Windows 8 operating system.

Windows blog Neowin managed to get its hands on the new app today, which is clearly marked as a preview version. As you can see from the screenshot above, the app features the familiar Windows 8 user interface tiles, which seems like a good fit — especially for anyone primarily using the fugly Skype desktop app for Mac like myself.

After signing in, your most recent activity pops up in a column on the left side of the screen, followed by a favorite contacts/numbers/chat rooms column and a block of Skype users currently online. All the text within the app is larger than what most people are probably used to, but not so much that it’s intrusive.

Neowin said it found the new Skype app to be very polished, with no crashes or clarity issues during video or audio calls. With the launch of Windows 8 just around the corner, as well as the newly released Windows 8 RTM 90-free trial, I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft started rolling its shiny new version of Skype out to users for a public beta testing soon. (And if you’re jonesin’ for the best apps that are already released, be sure to check out VentureBeat’s top 10 killer Windows 8 apps feature.)

We’re reaching out to Skype and Microsoft for more information about the Windows 8 app and will update the post with any new information.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Whether you want it or not, Microsoft will release its Windows 8 operating system on October 26. The new OS upends the familiar Start menu-based interface you’ve known since Windows 95 in favor of one more streamlined for tablets.

In light of the major interface change, Windows 8 could be the next Vista, with users skipping a generation of Windows over real and imagined problems. Microsoft desperately wants to make sure this doesn’t happen, so Windows 8 will cost just $40 to upgrade, versus the $100+ price that Windows has carried in the past.

Another way Microsoft hopes to bring people over to Windows 8: killer apps. Following Apple’s iOS and Mac App Stores, Windows 8 will have its own dedicated marketplace where users can discover and download apps. Companies like Doo.net and Evernote have already built Windows 8 apps and made them available in the store, even though the OS hasn’t yet been released.

After extensively looking around the Windows 8 Store, we’re pleasantly surprised with the quality of apps already available. We’ve picked out 10 stand-out apps that look and work great on Windows 8. Most of these apps will work fine for desktop users, but as with most aspects of Windows 8, these provide a better experience using a touch screen. Also, while the store includes a few decent games such as Cut the Rope and Pirates Love Daisies, we’ve decided to stick to more traditional apps for this list.

Here are our favorite 10 apps so far:

1. The Big Picture

One of my favorite blogs on the web is Boston.com’s The Big Picture. It takes eye-popping photos from around the world and presents them in large-scale form to make them easy to consume. It’s totally engrossing. Now The Big Picture experience can be had in a beautiful full-screen Windows 8 app. You can easily scroll through this week’s best photos from The Big Picture or look through the blog’s archive. If you really connect with a photo, you can save it to your computer for later viewing. Be warned: You could get lost for hours.

2. Cocktail Flow

Cocktail Flow wants to be your personal bartending assistant. The beautiful app lets you swipe or click-through different kinds of alcoholic beverages and tells you how to make them. Drinks are sorted by alcohol type, drink color, or drink type. The app includes a panel for saving your favorite drinks for reference later. This app might be somewhat simplistic, but it looks slick and could be your best friend whenever you host a trendy party.

3. CookBook

Plenty of sites and mobile apps are dedicated to recipes, but CookBook streamlines them all into a well-designed interface for Windows 8. On the left-hand panel, CookBook sorts recipes by the following categories: appetizers, bread, breakfast, desserts, main dish, salad, side dish, and soups. Click any recipe and you’ve got a large photo, user rating, ingredients, and directions — all key to helping you decide if you want to invest your time into making that item. The app also makes it easy to save your favorites and recipes you’d like “try soon.”

4. Fresh Paint

Fresh Paint is an incredibly fun app created by Microsoft to demonstrate Windows 8′s touch capabilities. It’s more than just promotional junkware, since the app lets you paint realistically in delightful ways. You can select different brushes and colors to paint with, and each stroke of the brush adds to other colors in a way that smears other colors. All in all, it’s a blast and another app you can lose yourself in for hours. I can’t wait to try it on Microsoft’s Surface tablet.

5. Inrix

Inrix provides a look at real-time traffic conditions around the world. The service claims to use “billions of data points” to help people make smarter driving conditions. In the use case for Windows 8, this would be best for tablet use when you are out and about. Or if you’re a planner like me, you could use the app to check traffic conditions before you leave the house.

Check out apps 6 through 10.

Pages: 1 2

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Document management startup Doo.net has boldly launched a Metro-style application for the upcoming Windows 8 OS even though it has yet to release a version of its app for Win 7.

Doo.net’s native application for Windows 8 (and OS X) aims to help people and businesses better manage their glut of documents using the cloud. All of your documents are locally stored inside the native app, but they’re also backed up and synced with the cloud. The Metro app looks well-designed and provides organization between companies, document types, people, places, and more. It also offers integration with Dropbox and Google Docs and can collect docs in your email account via IMAP. Although the app seems a bit simple in purpose, the enthusiasm to create an app for Windows 8 is compelling.

Doo.net founder and CEO Frank Thelen told VentureBeat that he’s willing to bet on the success of Windows 8 because of the “power of Microsoft” and Windows’ massive installed base. “Windows 8′s UI is one of the best UIs we’ve ever seen,” Thelen said. “And the new Surface tablet is a little better than the iPad and will be successful.”

While I’ve been skeptical of Windows 8 adoption, the company just announced that XP, Vista, and 7 owners can upgrade to Windows 8 for just $40 a pop, which makes it more likely people will buy in. A good price, innovative hardware like Surface, and strong apps like Doo.net will make it a viable operating system. Thelen expects the launch of the OS in a matter of months.

Although the company has bet much of its success on Windows 8, it also has a working Mac app that can help Apple users manage their documents. Doo.net is also working hard on an app that will work for Windows 7 that it expects to launch this year, along with mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Bonn, Germany-based Doo.net opened in beta in mid-June and has raised $10 million thus far from investors including Target Partners, DuMont Venture, e42 Ventures, and angels.

Take a look at the gallery below to see a few more looks at Doo.net’s slick Metro app and its Mac app: