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Windows 8 Release Date: October 26th

Posted by Soulskill on from the just-in-time-for-halloween dept.

Several readers sent word that Microsoft has selected a release date for Windows 8: October 26th. Steven Sinofsky made the announcement today at the company's annual sales meeting. The new version of the operating system will be sent to manufacturers next month, giving them plenty of time to prepare for general availability.

3 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Upgrading...no; Surface, hells yeahs by lilfields · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have no intention of upgrading my desktops to Windows 8. From everything I've used and read on and about Windows 8, the start menu is a desktop PC disaster...but for touch, holy cow is it beautiful. I will keep my desktops/laptop running Windows 7 and grab a Windows 8 RT Surface. I think Microsoft wants this to be the reaction of most users. The start menu is just to grab developers attention of "hey this is going to be on every PC shipped out until Windows 9 hits, you have huge app exposure now." Those apps run on Windows Phone & Windows RT and the New Xbox...Microsoft then almost overnight has a platform that will be expansive and cross platform putting a fight up against Apple's appstore. Then in Windows 9 they can dial back the Metro start menu, make it more intuitive for the desktop and they suffer no loss. They might even GAIN share thanks to the tablet market. Windows 8 sells as bad as Vista did, big deal, Vista sold millions upon millions of licenses & the PC market is flat...and Windows 7 is the best desktop environment (in my opinion.) This is all about Microsoft flanking Apple in the tablet & phone markets. Nothing more, nothing less. I'll buy a Windows Phone 8, a Surface RT, and keep my desktops on 7. Yet Microsoft still wins.

    1. Re:Upgrading...no; Surface, hells yeahs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, I'm going to spend 500 dollars for a gimp Windows RT job when I can spend the same amount and get a retina display iPad with hundreds of thousands of touch optimized apps and games and peripherals coming out the wazoo or save half the money and get a Nexus 7 which is actual portable like a tablet should be and still has a massive touch native ecosystem. Yeah, no. Windows RT is the stupidest shit I have ever seen in my entire life. You get a tablet with no apps that is called Windows but can't run all my old Windows apps. I MIGHT AS WELL GET THE IPAD.

  2. Re:YASIR by loufoque · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If only Ubuntu hadn't made so many mistakes in the past 4 versions, then probably many would have moved to it