AppleInsider Staff
Microsoft's Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky made good on a promise from Windows Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller who said Windows 8 would see release sometime in October, reports Electronista. A subsequent post on the company's dedicated Windows blog detailed the meeting, describing upgrade tiers and purchasing options.
Windows 8 will debut in 231 markets covering 109 languages on launch day and existing users of the ubiquitous OS can upgrade to the revamped software online for $40. According to Microsoft's website, all PCs running Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 qualify for the $39.99 upgrade with the option to add on Windows Media Center for free though the operating system's "add features" option.
Wednesday's announcement also portends the imminent release of tablets, PCs and Ultrabooks running the one-OS-for-all software when Microsoft announced as much during the Surface unveiling in June.
Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky announces Windows 8 launch date.
Source: Microsoft
Microsoft's Surface will likely be one of the first Windows 8 examples on offer when the OS debuts as the device marks the Redmond-based company's first foray into the tablet hardware market. Initially, a stripped-down ARM-based iteration called Surface for Windows RT will roll out before a more full-featured Intel version dubbed Surface for Windows 8 Pro hits stores later this year.
It is unclear what features are missing from Windows RT but Microsoft is claiming the new OS is meant to reflect a "PC+" era where all devices run identical operating systems. This is counter to Apple's "post-PC" era which describes multiple devices running software tailor-made for specific tasks, an example being OS X for laptops and iOS for iDevices. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner claimed that the iPhone maker's view future computing is incorrect and instead believes in a "ond-OS-fits-all" approach to OS coding. Interestingly it appears that Windows RT skews toward the "post-PC" model.
Apple is looking to release its own next-generation operating system with OS X 10.8 later in July, and while no specific date has been set a launch should be imminent as the company seeded the Mountain Lion gold master last week.
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
26 Comments
$40 for which one of about a dozen versions?
I have only 2 Windows boxes and both are running XP. Our company has a few Windows servers though.
Windows 8 is the bravest thing Microsoft have ever done, and it will be very interesting to see if it ends up like another Vista. It's a sure bet that businesses will stay well clear of it, but home users will probably end up with it without realising it when they buy a new computer. Whether they like it or not will be very important for the future prospects of Surface and Windows Phone...
Who'd of thought Microsoft of all companies would do something so crazy?
Sorry, I don't have a lot of confidence in MS...I will never, ever buy an MS product ever again! :)
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/151364/windows-8-to-launch-on-oct-26-with-new-hardware-in-tow#post_2149530"]It is unclear what features are missing from Windows RT but Microsoft is claiming the new OS is meant to reflect a "PC+" era where all devices run identical operating systems. This is counter to Apple's "post-PC" era which describes multiple devices running software tailor-made for specific tasks, an example being OS X for laptops and iOS for iDevices. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner claimed that the iPhone maker's view future computing is incorrect and instead believes in a "ond-OS-fits-all" approach to OS coding. Interestingly it appears that Windows RT skews toward the "post-PC" model..[/quote] It takes a lot of nerve to say something like that - given Apple's success in the Post-PC / PC+ market vs. Microsoft's. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft backpedals in the coming months. Besides, the entire premise of "all devices running identical operating systems is nonsensical in terms of Microsoft's strategy. Windows RT has some substantial differences compared to Windows 8 - not the least of which is their inability to run the same software. So I guess the Microsoft version is "it's OK to have completely different, incompable versions of the operating system, as long as they all have 'Windows' in the name". [quote name="mytdave" url="/t/151364/windows-8-to-launch-on-oct-26-with-new-hardware-in-tow#post_2149549"]$40 for which one of about a dozen versions? [/quote] I don't know, but it's interesting that MS has decided that they have to follow Apple's model of low priced upgrades. That will undoubtedly have a big impact on Microsoft's financials. Instead of $129 to $299 per upgrade, they'll get $40 per upgrade (although Apple's $20 covers every computer in your house, so MS is still much more expensive). They will make up some of the difference in volume, but since there's really no compelling reason to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8, I don't know just how successful that will be.