Microsoft VP Teases Windows 8 Release Date
As the weeks go by, we continue to learn more about the next major Windows release, Windows 8. We know, for example, that Windows 8 will integrate Xbox Live support, and that the new Start screen will look a lot like Windows Phone Live Tiles. It will run on regular desktops and tablets, and there will be versions for ARM processors. But one thing we don't know is exactly when it will ship. That's okay, because Microsoft Corporate VP Dan'l Lewin implied you can figure out if you do the math.
Speaking at the start-up LAUNCH event at the Microsoft Silicon Valley campus, TechRadar quotes Lewin as saying "if you look at the cyrstal ball and just say what happened in the past is a reasonable indicator of what our forward looking timelines will be and just speculate -- we've made the point about having a developer conference later this year, and then typically we enter a beta phase, and then in 12 months we're in the market, so let's make that assumption."
This year's Professional Developers Conference (now called Build) is scheduled to take place September 13. If the first Windows 8 beta follows not long after, you can expect the final version to ship in autumn 2012, based on the hints Lewin dropped.
Lewin's implied release date jibes with comments made by Windows President Steven Sinofsky, who said that releasing a new version of Windows "every two or three years is good," according to CNet. Microsoft launched Windows 7 in October 2009, and since it doesn't appear Windows 8 will be ready this fall, that makes an autumn 2012 release date seem all the more likely.
Comments
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nightkiller
June 19, 2011 at 6:55pm
This is beta right? That means that mis-spelling beginning is OK, right?
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Silencer
June 18, 2011 at 5:10am
I imagine, they'll have a very surprisingly low turn-out for the beta, and then they'll quickly make 'adjustments'.
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maxeeemum
June 17, 2011 at 2:11am
Remember Windows 98 than Win98SE than ME!
Now we have Vista than VistaSE (Win7) now VistaME (Win8).
I'll stick to XP and Linux till Microsoft wants to put out a better OS than Vista.
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maxeeemum
June 17, 2011 at 4:40pm
FYI I have several computers! I have been using Vista for a long time and Windows 7. I started with the Vista Betas then RC 1 & 2 then Vista later Windows 7 Beta followed by various W7 RC builds including the RTM. Also I purchased a laptop with W7 on it a over a year ago.
Vista was prettier than XP and Win7 is prettier than Vista but both are resource hogs. When I boot W7 all I see is Vista with a new GUI and some new functions. They work but I just don't like the way I have to get it to work. I just prefer using XP and Linux Mint mainly for ease of use and low resource needs.
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j814wong
June 17, 2011 at 3:02pm
I'm a Linux users. So I heard that Windows 7 was way better then Vista so I gave it a spin. I didn't like it much. I stuck with Linux and so did my parents.
Asides from that I jsut won't use a Microsoft Os because I don't like Microsoft as a company for various reasons so I am biased.
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Caboose
June 17, 2011 at 10:17am
You obviously haven't used Windows 7 then.
And its going to become increasingly more difficult for you to use newer and newer hardware that has poor, or non-existant support for Windows XP.
Best of luck to you.. you'll need it!
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maxeeemum
June 17, 2011 at 4:47pm
XP is still the most used OS in the world. I haven't found anything that doesn't support XP.
Have a nice day!
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Caboose
June 20, 2011 at 8:24am
Patience, young foolish one. Patience.
Windows 98 was the most used OS in the world at one point too. And anyone still running it, has a damn near impossible time trying to run current, modern, brand new computer parts on it.
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Rogue74
June 16, 2011 at 6:02pm
I think MS lost most PC gamers when it said "will integrate X-Box Live Support". Um, no thank you. We'll probably end up having to pay to allow a game to connect to the Internet.
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Bullwinkle J Moose
June 16, 2011 at 2:36pm
Windows 8 is NOT Windows 7 with a few changes
Microsoft has made developers horrified about coding for Windows 8
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/06/html5-centric-windows-8-leaves-microsoft-developers-horrified.ars/
Microsoft has done it again
Now that we know how to catch them using spyware imbedded into Windows 7, Vista and XP-SP3, the decision was made to remove ALL Spyware from their next Operating System
Starting with Windows 8, the Spyware will be in the Cloud where no-one can find it
By making the future Operating System "Cloud Based", there is no longer any need to imbed spyware into the Operating System itself, making it impossible for "honest" security researchers to find it or hold Microsoft accountable
The new Global Spyware Platform will be using a combination of HARDWARE and SOFTWARE that cannot be reverse engineered by end users
Windows 8 will be based on HTML 5 and Microsofts version of JavaScript which means NONE of your old programs will work on the new version of Windows
Web based applications (Cloud Computing) allows the NSA to run their Spyware Application from the Cloud when connecting to Web-Centric devices using Windows 8
This will be no different from other tablet based or smartphone based Operating Systems that use a combination of end-user hardware and network based software to prevent the end users from doing what they want with their devices
This is nothing new however...
Microsoft is simply the Last Major OS developer to use this approach
Think of the other Operating Systems using this approach as "Beta Testers"
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Caboose
June 17, 2011 at 10:16am
*facepalm*
I think you need to top up your kool-aid there. I'm surprised that the gov'ment hasn't come and taken you away because "you know too much!"
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ftldelay
June 16, 2011 at 2:09pm
Do we REALLY need another version of Windows so soon? If they can't even spell the word "beginning" correctly in the screenshot above, why should I believe that Windows 8 will really be what it should be? I think most people are perfectly happy with Windows 7, so I don't think we need another one of those "rushed-out-with-minimal-changes-and-buggy-as-all-hell" releases (ala Windows ME).
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ftldelay
June 17, 2011 at 5:47am
Well, being an IT guy and the "family geek", I'll still end up supporting it for those that do buy it...
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AndrewEgel
June 16, 2011 at 11:53am
My only concern is that I'll have to keep paying 100-250$ everytime a new windows OS comes out. Hopefully they will follow the Apple model and release the new upgrade version for 20$ (Snow Leopard).
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Recidivist
June 16, 2011 at 1:18pm
If you buy every single version of Windows when they come out, it's your own fault. Get Windows 7 and be contempt untill 'Windows 9' when something might actually have changed, because Windows 8 is nothing but useless, unhelpful changes designed to trick people into thinking that this is a whole new OS, while really it's Windows 7 with retarded facelift. If you are in the market for tablet, maybe this release will benefit you, if you're not, you may as well just ignore it and spend your money on something worthwhile - Like an iPhone*.
*I jest, now that would be silly. A biscuit, perhaps?
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Neufeldt2002
June 16, 2011 at 12:50pm
I think the only reason Snow Leopard is $20.00 is that it is more like an Service Pack rather than a new version.
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someuid
June 16, 2011 at 11:27am
Microsoft really needs to break up their OS. A base OS they can upgrade every 3-4 years and several GUIs you can pick and chose from. Then they can go GUI crazy, release something new every 6 months if they want to, and let users pick.
As computers become more and more regular tools for the day, and come in more and more formats (phones, tables, netbooks, ultralight notebooks, notebooks, desktops, workstations, all-in-one, htpc, etc, etc etc), this monolithic OS thing is just going to get worse and worse as MS tries to make Windows run on the dinkiest phone to the most powerful workstation and get the gui to work on anything from a 4" touchscreen to a 40" monitor or 400" wall projector.
Come on MS - do this. That would be innovation, not this "look at me I can do tables and phones also, with some trade-offs".
Why else do you think GNU/Linux is used on so many different hardware platforms, from a phone to mainframes?
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zaphodbeeblebrox 42
June 16, 2011 at 10:36am
just like Deviate said but in my words
vista all over again
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Deviate
June 16, 2011 at 9:52am
After what I've heard regarding the UI so far, I'm honestly not interested. I think they're going to junk it up. I really don't want my PC to act like a tablet. In fact I wish the whole tablet gimmick would just stop. It's right up there with everything 3D.
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Silencer
June 18, 2011 at 5:15am
"I'm honestly not interested."...
I usually comment, then read others' comments, so as to not 'pollute' my thinking. As I did here as well. See my post, about 22 up! Ya.
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Happy
June 16, 2011 at 12:35pm
I agree. This whole tablet mania needs to calm down. It's not the second coming of Christ. I mean Jeez!
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Caboose
June 16, 2011 at 10:58am
Tablets have a welcome place alongside standard computing. I think they enhance, not supplement, the normal computing experience.
But ya, I don't like the new "Tiles" UI for Windows 8. I'd prefer a standard desktop.
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Deviate
June 16, 2011 at 5:51pm
If anything, perhaps they're a niche based "convenience" but I still think they're just a showy little gimmick for big-wig execs to carry around like a toy.
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