Putting an end to the anticipation and speculations all over the tech world, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 will be officially available in late October. General public will be able to put their hands on PCs and tablets installed with Windows 8 from the 2nd or 3rd week of October. In a conference, VP of Microsoft Tami Reller stated that RTM (release to manufacturer) will be done in late August and the gadgets will be available to public by late October. Microsoft partners will receive the operating system in late august so that they can assimilate it in their gadgets and release by late October for general public. The commerce platform for Windows apps will also be turned on in the month of August so that developers start gaining profits for their apps. Access to Windows 8 will also be granted to Microsoft’s enterprise customers in the month of August with software assurance benefits.
Windows 8
For the first time, Microsoft has announced a confirm date for the release of a new operating system. Microsoft VP Reller also revealed that 630 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold till date. The number is 30 million more than what previous records reflected in the month of June. It was also revealed that the old Windows users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 by shelling out an amount of $40. However the people who purchase a Windows PC today will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 in $14.95. All Windows 8 buyers will get free access to Microsoft Skydrive cloud storage.
Microsoft is not only giving alluring offers to the users, but also to resellers and Microsoft partners. The company claims that Windows 8 will be the second best thing ever happened to Microsoft and its partners in terms of sales and margins, the first one being its pilot operating system- Windows 95. Reller stated that the combination of Windows 8 and Office 15 will add the midas touch to the profits of resellers and Microsoft partners. The company claims that Windows 8 will boost up the profit margins of Microsoft partners to 23 points which is 11 points higher than the competition.
Some techies have predicted that the month of October is the release month of Windows for most of its operating systems except Windows vista which failed to live up to people’s expectations. So maybe Windows is playing a safe game this time by releasing Windows 8 in the month of October itself. While the company confirmed the release time frame of Windows 8 operating system, nothing was revealed about the release of Microsoft Surface. Things seem to be dicey on this front as Microsoft VP Reller and her boss Steve Ballmer seemed skeptical when asked about the tablet. Nevertheless, they commented that Microsoft partners would be relied upon to release tablets with Windows 8 operating system. Rumors are strong that Samsung could be the first one to launch a tablet with Windows 8. However, this tablet might not be available to the public by October. Also, people will have to wait till 2013 to get the complete Windows 8 lineup. Nonetheless, Windows 8 is slated for release in late October and let’s hope that it is as incredible as Microsoft is claiming it to be.
