Windows 8 Details Emerge

A carefully staged debutante ball for Windows 8 demonstrated the next Windows client OS version in May 2011. A new “tailored” user interface will enable new applications to run unchanged on all systems running Windows 8, regardless of processor architecture, while existing applications and drivers may work on at least some Windows 8 systems. The updated OS should prove a better platform for tablets while preserving companies’ existing investments in software. Even with the lack of specifics, organizations should not derail Windows 7 PC deployments, but might want to defer some application development projects until after Sept. 2011.

What’s Known About Windows 8

As first announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Jan. 2011, the next version of Windows, now code-named Windows 8 by Microsoft, will run on existing processor architectures (x86 and x64) as well as system on a chip (SoC), including those using the ARM architecture. Steven Sinofsky, the president of the Windows and Windows Live Division, indicated that the “next milestone for us is the developer’s conference in September,” and that the Windows client release cycle is “every two to three years.” Based on Sinofsky’s rule of thumb, Windows 8 will likely be generally available in the fourth quarter of 2012 or the first quarter of 2013, despite some speculation that it might ship in late 2011. (See the sidebar “Estimating the Windows 8 Availability Date“.)