Windows 8 Facial-Recognition Login API Spotted [Updated]

Microsoft's next-gen OS, Windows 8, will be user-aware according to the latest APIs discovered, suggesting the platform could well be able to track and identify users when they sit at their PCs. Windows8Italia spotted the "Detect human presence" API in among their M1 copy of Windows 8; Microsoft has used a similar system on the Xbox 360 with Kinect, to log users into Xbox LIVE services using face recognition.

A similar method of face-recognition could be used in Windows 8 to bypass the traditional login screen. Lenovo has offered face-recognition login on some of its laptops, using the integrated webcam in the screen bezel, but by adding it as a core OS-level service Microsoft could roll out the functionality to all OEMs.

Previously leaked slides suggested that Microsoft was counting on the ubiquity of webcam integration by 2012 – when Windows 8 is expected to reach the market.

Update: Turns out this isn't the only interesting tidbit from out of the Windows 8 leak. WinRumors has been keeping track, and there's all manner of goodies: a Time Machine rival called History Vault, the ability to run Windows from a USB drive and push notifications. Microsoft's new OS is shaping up to be pretty darn impressive.

[via Microsoft News]