Switch to Windows 8 From October 26

All anxiety and excitement will now dry up as Microsoft has finally announced the launch of its new OS, Windows 8. The much awaited operating system would be unveiled on October 26, 2012 almost three years after the launch of Windows 7.

The latest in the Windows series, the new OS would be available from the releasing date onwards for the users of Windows XP, Vista, or 7 as upgradable software. The company would also let the PC makers start selling computers with Windows 8 the same day.

As an upgrade, the OS costs $ 40, much lesser compared to all the previous versions launched by Microsoft. Users who bought Windows 7 PC on or after June 2 can upgrade the OS for $ 15.

The new, touch-friendly Windows 8, as the company claims, would revamp the entire series with its hallmark features. It is designed to run on tablets in addition to the traditional desktops.

Microsoft will also be launching Windows RT, the version exclusively designed to run on tablets alone, along with Windows 8. RT would run on those tablets that are powered by processors similar to that of iPad.

Moreover, Microsoft Corp plans to release its own tablet “Surface”, which would support Windows RT OS. The company has launched the new version of Office and has planned for renewed phone software. It also looks forward for new versions of Windows OS in every three years.

Windows 8 in 2 years: Is it justified to wait?

A week ago Microsoft celebrated the first birthday Windows 7’s release. And now Microsoft is working on the next version of Windows, the blog says in Dutch, but it will be about two years before Windows 8 is on the market. If you look at the journey so far – in early 2008, more than a year after Microsoft launched Windows Vista, Windows users had emphatically rejected that upgrade. Fewer than 10 percent of Windows users had switched, and nearly 5 percent of all Windows PCs in use were running Windows versions older than XP. The Windows 7 story is very different.

One year after the release of Windows 7, it has made a significant dent in the Windows user base, and those diehards holding on to pre-XP versions have mostly surrendered. XP’s share of actual usage has declined more than 20 percent in two years, and that trend is accelerating.

Microsoft managed to sustain an overwhelming competitive advantage, even after a decade’s worth of antitrust action and now the situation is different. The presence of Apple and Google as direct competitors suggests that maybe Microsoft is overdue to take a tumble. Is Apple really making a dent in Microsoft’s long-standing Windows monopoly? A presentation leaked in June says that the next version of Windows will include, among other things, an app store similar to ones offered by Apple and other mobile device makers. Apple announced this week that it will bring an app store to the Mac within 90 days.

The presentation also said that Microsoft wanted to improve startup times and the time it takes to resume from sleep, improve power efficiency, as well as work more closely with computer makers to better differentiate their respective computers. While these are all needed things, it’s going to be a very long two years for Microsoft if it can’t better addresses Apple’s moves in the tablet and notebook models before Windows 8. In such a situation is it justified to wait for two years?