Windows 8 looming for October 2012 launch
updated 06:05 am EST, Thu January 12, 2012
Windows 8 to launch tablet OS answer to Apple Oct
Windows 8 will be shipping around October this year if a hint dropped to Pocket-lint from Windows Business Group director of PR Janelle Poole eventuates. The radically redesigned OS, which Steve Ballmer has referred to as Microsoft’s biggest gamble in recent times, had been rumored to ship early. Heavily criticized for failing to deliver a tablet OS to take on Apple’s iPad, Microsoft is betting that by developing its full Windows platform around a touch-based paradigm that it will attract users who want a ‘full’ desktop experience on a tablet.
"We haven't talked about the release date and we generally don't.,” said Poole. “We are talking milestone to milestone, so for us right now we're talking about the next milestone being the consumer preview happening in late February.
"One of the things that I think is a good guideline though is we've always said that Windows releases come round about every three years and this year will be three years in October since we launched Windows 7. So I think that's a good guideline to consider."
At least one or two vendors, including Acer, have mentioned that they expect to be launching Windows 8-based tablets later this year. These will be joined with next wave of ultra books with touch-based interfaces that aim to offer users the best of tablets and notebooks.
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On the other hand...
re: "Microsoft is betting that by developing its full Windows platform around a touch-based paradigm that it will attract users who want a 'full' desktop experience on a tablet."
Or consumers might just say "Jeez. That's too weird. I'm sticking with that old version, whatever they called it."
And corporate IT might just say "Nope. It would require too much expensive re-training of all our admins and users, and too much re-coding of all our custom business apps. We'll just stick with XP."