This post provides an update to the September 17, 2013, Windows requirements publication on MSDN. The below requirement changes are intended to relax the Windows 8.1 system and device requirements and give our partners greater flexibility in designing and differentiating their tablet and PC products in 2014.
It’s important to understand that the changes remove or modify the specific requirements listed under the summary of changes only. (See tables below.) All other requirements will remain as before to support device interoperability, compatibility with Windows, and app platform consistency. The tests associated with these removed or modified requirements will remain in the Windows Hardware Certification Kit (HCK) to aid in the testing and measurement of your system’s quality. We’ll provide a set of HCK filters by January 1, 2014, to help you achieve the passing result needed for certification.
We’ve made these requirement changes to give you greater flexibility in bringing to market systems that customers demand. We encourage our partners to do the due diligence to understand the implications of these changes, especially the ones related to user experience. Additionally, these changes have no effect on any of the existing system designs that our partners have built for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 platforms.
Device requirements - summary of changes
|
Requirement |
Change type |
|
Device.Audio.Base.Fidelity |
Removed |
|
Device.Audio.Base.InAirFidelity |
Removed |
|
Device.Digitizer.Touch.Bezel |
Removed |
|
Device.Network.LAN.SRIOV.SRIOV |
Modified |
|
Device.Network.WLAN.Base.MeetPerformanceReq |
Modified |
|
Device.Storage.Enclosure.DriveIdentification |
Modified |
|
Device.Storage.Hd.Sas.ComplyWithIndustrySpec |
Modified |
System requirements - summary of changes
|
Requirement |
Change type |
|
System.Client.BluetoothController.Base.BluetoothRequiredIfWiFiPresent |
Removed |
|
System.Client.Buttons.WindowsButtons |
Modified |
|
System.Client.Digitizer.Touch.Bezel |
Removed |
|
System.Client.NearFieldProximity.NFCPlacement |
Removed |
|
System.Client.NearFieldProximity.TouchMark |
Modified |
|
System.Client.Sensor.Integrated |
Modified |
|
System.Client.Sensor.MBBRequiresGPS |
Removed |
|
System.Client.SystemConfiguration.Windows8RequiredComponents |
Modified |
|
System.Client.Tablet.BezelWidth |
Removed |
|
System.Client.Tablet.RequiredHardwareButtons |
Modified |
|
System.Client.Tablet.TabletPCRequiredComponents |
Removed |
|
System.Client.Webcam.Specification.CameraRequirements |
Modified |
|
System.Client.Webcam.Specification.WNCameraRequirements |
Removed |
|
System.Fundamentals.DebugPort.SystemExposesDebugInterface |
Modified |
|
System.Fundamentals.Firmware.UEFIPostTime |
Removed |
|
System.Fundamentals.Graphics.Display.MinimumResolutionandColorDepth |
Modified |
|
System.Fundamentals.PowerManagement.CS.ConnectedStandbyDuration |
Removed |
|
System.Fundamentals.PowerManagement.CS.ResumeFromConnectedStandby |
Removed |
|
System.Fundamentals.SystemAduio.RequiredHeadphoneJack |
Removed |
|
System.Fundamentals.SystemUSB.SystemExposesUSBPort |
Modified |
|
System.Fundamentals.SystemUSB.USBControllerTransferSpeed |
Removed |
The current requirement documents (pdf and web versions) can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windows/hardware/dn423132.aspx .
