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Mar 20 2012   8:09AM GMT

Windows 8 Launch Slated for October



Posted by: Tony Bradley
Windows 8, Windows 8 tablets, Windows on ARM, WOA

Not that it takes a Nostradamus to predict, but sources are now confirming that Microsoft plans to officially launch Windows 8 in October of this year. The timing is great for the holidays–that is, assuming that the OS is well-received.

I’ve been working with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on my Dell XPS M1330 notebook, and so far I’m not really sold. I mean, it has a lot of nice features, and I like it in general. But, I love Windows 7, and Windows 8 feels like Windows 7 with Metro added as an additional, frustrating layer I have to work through to get to the features and capabilities I actually want to use.

I think Metro is the key to the success of Windows 8, though. I think Microsoft needs to get it right, and that it needs to have massive support from app developers. Finally, the hardware developers that create Windows 8 tablets need to create sleek, compelling devices at competitive prices to position Windows 8 tablets aggressively against the dominant Apple iPad.

If Windows 8 tablets can live up to expectations, and if ultrabooks are introduced with touchscreens and other features that leverage the capabilities of Windows 8, it could be a very nice holiday season for Microsoft and its partners. But, don’t expect existing Windows users to rush out in droves to pay for an upgrade to the latest OS.

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Fidoliedo  |   Mar 20, 2012  10:09 AM (GMT)

Every time Windows comes out with a new OS, it gets rave reviews inspite of the fact that down the line, it becomes bloated with updates, and is racked with holes and the constant updates are intrusive and annoying. But none of that is in your blog? Each beta release shows great promise, but the final is usually stripped down to almost nothing. And each progressive version is less and less customizable. When XP came out, it definitely was different, but the core didn’t change and out the gate ran quite well… but with subsequent updates, the OS got slower and slower to the point it was useless. And don’t even start with Vista which was a flash in the pan and quickly replaced with Win7. Not to mention the myriad of different versions, win7home, win7home premium, win7 profession, win7 basic, win7 ultimate… really now? What’s wrong with coming out with 2 products, one for home and one for corporate?
Sometimes I think the purpose of a review is not to accentuate the negative but to accentuate the positive….. After all, you are trying to sell something no?


 

S3kur3  |   Mar 21, 2012  9:01 AM (GMT)

[B]@Fidoliedo[/B] – No. Not at all. Obviously, I want people like you to read my posts, but I have no vested interest one way or the other in the success or failure of Windows 8, or even Microsoft itself. Why should I care if you love Windows 8 or hate it?

For the record, this isn’t a “review” at all. It is a simple blog post revealing information that we can expect Windows 8 to be officially available in October. But, to the extent this is an assessment of Windows 8 at all, I wouldn’t call this a rave review. Most of this post is dedicated to explaining things I don’t like about Windows 8, and why I prefer Windows 7 so far.

I do disagree with you in respect to the OSs slowing down over time, and the failure of Vista was a marketing failure more than a failure of the OS. I definitely agree with you on the diversity of product offerings. I’ll go one further and say there should only be one. Arguably, the home users need security features more than the enterprise, yet they’re always stripped from the home versions. Just make Ultimate for everyone.

Windows 7 is awesome. I’m just not sure Windows 8 has what it takes to usurp the throne from Windows 7.