Ballmer spills the beans - Windows 8 coming in 2012

At a developer conference in Tokyo, the Microsoft CEO told the audience that Windows 8 will ship in 2012. He said: "As we progress though the year, you ought to expect to hear a lot about Windows 8. Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors." That distinction between slates and tablets is an odd one but Ballmer has been known to garble his words on occasion.

Besides confirmation that Windows 8 is dropping in 2012, very little else is known about what we can expect from the new OS besides promised support for ARM processors (Microsoft's big hope in getting some traction in tablets), an overhaul of the UI, possible Kinect integration and a Windows app store.

Expect to hear more on Windows 8 next week when the boss of the Window division, Steven Sinofsky, appears at the D: All Things Digital conference.

Story here.

Im not sure how its gonna run on desktops as i feel it is designed more for the tablet and mobile market. But this is just my opinion, we'll have to wait and see

Wonder if it will be skipped like Vista. The majority of people are just moving from XP to Win7, and they won't be moving again for a while.C_Rule

I'm with you - I think it will be skipped, as Windows 7 runs fairly decent to me.

Im not sure how its gonna run on desktops as i feel it is designed more for the tablet and mobile market. But this is just my opinion, we'll have to wait and see

Tim_Millington

I will stay with Windows 7 myself. I see little reason so far to upgrade, and I don't care for Kinect on a PC.:P

Bring on Windows 8, just like the good old days of W95, 98, 2000, released every couple of years.

See no need to upgrade yet, xp lasted like forever and 7 seems to be working well still.SirDigby84

Yeah, and XP SP3 will be supported until 2014, March I believe is the end month.

Tablet support, Kinect support and an integrated Windows App store?

Eeeeeeeew.

I am not upgrading unless its a huge difference. I don't think a lot of people will upgrade.

This is a stupid decision from Microsoft. Windows 7 is still fresh and it still has some backward compatibility issues with older and even some newer programs/drivers. Microsoft has to give users and developers more time to adapt. Besides I don't see what else could they add to their OS - remember Windows 7 is in reality only a Vista v1.1. So all in all it's pretty clear that it's not yet time to release another Windows!

fudgin MS...first they release vista in 06, win 7 in 09, now win 8 in 2012. That is exactly 3 years per operating system. Whatever happened to the 6 years gap between XP and windows vista?

fudgin MS...first they release vista in 06, win 7 in 09, now win 8 in 2012. That is exactly 3 years per operating system. Whatever happened to the 6 years gap between XP and windows vista?

blaznwiipspman1

Vista was delayed because Microsoft placed a priority on fixing the security vulnerabilities and buffer overflows in XP.

I also feel if ms were to half the price of windows (not those glass things), this would encourage more people to upgrade to the lastest os and reduce the number of pirates.

But i agree with the majority, i wont be upgrading, as win7 works perfectly for me

It's too soon imo. Most people havenn't even upgraded to Windows 7 yet...

Not sure what the writer's confusion is. A tablet has a keyboard; a slate doesn't. There is a notable distinction. Of course, most people are incorrectly using the word "tablet" when they actually describing "slates"

Having said, that, im perfectly happy with a 3 year cycle for Windows, even if the upgrades are only incremental. As a tablet owner, Windows could use some serious support for touch-based devices. Im glad Windows 8 is providing a focus on it.

fudgin MS...first they release vista in 06, win 7 in 09, now win 8 in 2012. That is exactly 3 years per operating system. Whatever happened to the 6 years gap between XP and windows vista?

blaznwiipspman1

Hmm, I will be building a new pc over the next year and a half, and this is and intriguing thing...

Although one of the main reasons I am building it is to have a lot less limitation in composing and recording music... (I just wonder if the OS will be as widely supported {by the time I finish building the rig} as far as drivers and ASIO drivers and such go for the Hardware, and Software on the music side of things..)

Meaning I don't want to get win8, and find out half of my stuff isn't supported on it yet!

I know that Windows7 is widely supported by all the stuff I need. Vista is too, (which is what I am running, GF running Win7)

I know it takes a while for a OS to get support and drivers for such things. I will have to wait and see though, I have my hopes.

Tablet support, Kinect support and an integrated Windows App store?

Eeeeeeeew.

Filthybastrd

+1

And I just upgraded from Vista this weekend to 7. There's even compatibility issues and now 8. It seems like this company never learns, money is all they think about even when their products are successful (presuming 7 is successful atm). Its sad that they don't see the patterns from the win 2000 and XP days, outside of the industry looking in, its more logical to stick with a solid OS for a long period. At least its easier on the consumer. I'm sure there are numbers behind their decision of releasing 8 that suggest large amount of money no matter product quality.brownwhale

[QUOTE="brownwhale"]And I just upgraded from Vista this weekend to 7. There's even compatibility issues and now 8. It seems like this company never learns, money is all they think about even when their products are successful (presuming 7 is successful atm). Its sad that they don't see the patterns from the win 2000 and XP days, outside of the industry looking in, its more logical to stick with a solid OS for a long period. At least its easier on the consumer. I'm sure there are numbers behind their decision of releasing 8 that suggest large amount of money no matter product quality.gmaster456

[QUOTE="gmaster456"][QUOTE="brownwhale"]And I just upgraded from Vista this weekend to 7. There's even compatibility issues and now 8. It seems like this company never learns, money is all they think about even when their products are successful (presuming 7 is successful atm). Its sad that they don't see the patterns from the win 2000 and XP days, outside of the industry looking in, its more logical to stick with a solid OS for a long period. At least its easier on the consumer. I'm sure there are numbers behind their decision of releasing 8 that suggest large amount of money no matter product quality.brownwhale

I really wish they would stop with the new OS every 2.5 to 3 years crap. Every 4-5 years seems more reasonable.

[QUOTE="Filthybastrd"]

Tablet support, Kinect support and an integrated Windows App store?

Eeeeeeeew.

RareMonkey

+1

[QUOTE="gmaster456"] Well anybody here on this site could and would have told you to stick with vista, there are only minor differences between the two. markop2003

Nah. Win7 is Vista with a few relatively minor tweaks and a new paintjob. I have one on my laptop and the other on my desktop. They're virtually the same for most tasks that I've run into.

In the 2 -3 year life cycle for Windows there are about 6 or 7 different hardware/software cycles for smartphones. A new OS every 2 or 3 years seems absolutely ancient by cellphone advancement standards.

Personally, i think even 2 - 3 years is too slow, but i can live with that.

Gotta laugh at the whining. 3 years is fine. your not forced to in any shape or form, but those of us that actually want progressive operating systems should be able to do so.... not wait for people who arnt willing to pay because they feel insecure if they are not up to date. people still using XP? enthusiasts still using XP? really? Windows App Store support is nothing but a good thing..... Tablet Support is nothing but a good thing. I refuse to buy an iPad due to its limitations but I fully acknowledge that unless I have a job which requires a good laptop I will never buy another laptop ... will stick to Desktop + Tablet ...... a windows 8 level functionality tablet would be amazing. Kinect support - well this is just another enthusiast thing isnt it? I wouldnt mind just looking at the screen to login without having to enter passwords ... thats one of the many things this support will offer, along with more reliable voice commands. Kinect will eventually drop in price. having a facial recognition and motion controlled PC is a bad thing now? I dont know what you lot are smoking, only technologuy advancements you want to see is TEH MHZZZZ?Birdy09

Does Kinect have official support for Vista and Windows 7?

Gotta laugh at the whining. 3 years is fine. your not forced to in any shape or form, but those of us that actually want progressive operating systems should be able to do so.... not wait for people who arnt willing to pay because they feel insecure if they are not up to date. people still using XP? enthusiasts still using XP? really? Windows App Store support is nothing but a good thing..... Tablet Support is nothing but a good thing. I refuse to buy an iPad due to its limitations but I fully acknowledge that unless I have a job which requires a good laptop I will never buy another laptop ... will stick to Desktop + Tablet ...... a windows 8 level functionality tablet would be amazing. Kinect support - well this is just another enthusiast thing isnt it? I wouldnt mind just looking at the screen to login without having to enter passwords ... thats one of the many things this support will offer, along with more reliable voice commands. Kinect will eventually drop in price. having a facial recognition and motion controlled PC is a bad thing now? I dont know what you lot are smoking, only technologuy advancements you want to see is TEH MHZZZZ?Birdy09

note to self birdy09 works for microsoft or has stock in microsoft end note

I personally would still be using XP if it werent for the fact that microsoft pulled dx support after 9. What makes you people think they wont pull the same stunt with windows 7? Eg...only windows 8 gets dx 12 everybody else is screwed. This kinda bs is what makes me wanna give MS the finger.

Does Kinect have official support for Vista and Windows 7?

hartsickdiscipl

Not official but through hacked drivers somewhere on the net.

I personally would still be using XP if it werent for the fact that microsoft pulled dx support after 9.

blaznwiipspman1

Are you sure? I know DX 9.0c was updated when Drakensang was released, because my DirectSound wasn't current. I had to install updates then, so the game would boot.

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

Does Kinect have official support for Vista and Windows 7?

GTR12

Not official but through hacked drivers somewhere on the net.

I'd like to know Microsoft's excuse for not having full Kinect support on Vista and Win 7.

Hope that new windows 8 have a backward compatibility for some older programs including compatibility for directx versions. Planning to build windows 8 on ARM-based processors is a great idea, but unfortunately, most windows programs are based from traditional x86 architectures, so the software developers also need to build a softwares for ARM-based cpus. If possible, maybe there would be some software devs try to build an x86 emulation software that enables most windows programs running on most traditional cpus able to run on ARM cpus.amirzaim