Microsoft May Release Windows 8 Beta in September

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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ZDNet reports that Microsoft may be planning on releasing the completed Windows 8 as early as next spring. In keeping with this accelerated timetable, Microsoft would be rolling out the beta version of Windows 8 sometime in the fall, possibly as early as September.

We also know from previous Office and Windows disclosure patterns that if/when the team does offer a target delivery date, there will likely be several months of padding built in to make sure there will be no publicly measurable slippage.
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Maybe Mary Jo Foley will hold her breath in April for her trusted Windows 8 release date rumor. That'd solve one big problem. :p She's a moron.
 
That's real fast. This cycle has been quick, and not because Win 7 is a piece of shit like WinME was.
 
I think it's too soon for another release. 7 is so good and so popular that they really should give it a little more time in the market before tossing it for something else.
 
this is dumb.. most corporations dont even have fucking 7 deployed.

Im tired of the new Microsoft.. trying to be too much like apple.
 
The new Microsoft? All versions of Windows used to be only a couple years apart. The extended gap between XP and Vista was unlike Microsoft.

Consumer versions were put out quite frequently. 95 -> 98 -> 98SE -> ME
 
Is it sad that the first thing I want to do with it is hack it onto my XOOM?
 
no interest in win8 and that metro ui, Windows7 is a fine os, That metro/win8 is a tablet OS and should be sold as such.
 
Microsoft was on a ~3 year release schedule till XP came out, then it was nearly 7 years till Vista appeared, then 2+ years till Windows 7, and by April of 2012 Windows 7 will have been out for 3+ years itself. I got no beef with any of it, but then again, I don't typically leave an installation of Windows running for more than a month or two at a time, and that's pushing it. ;)

As for Metro, it's there for a reason since touch-based/controlled PCs, most especially tablets, are moving in whether you like it or not, whoever you happen to be. Personally I love using touch-based devices. It's not like Metro is the ONLY UI in Windows 8, yanno... as most people believe in error. Not touch capable device? No reason to really use it, but you can if you want: it works with mouse/keyboard input just fine.

Can't wait to get a proper beta up and running, I would muck around with the current leak (the Milestone 3 build) but it's lacking some stuff I'm waiting on so, I'll be patient for a bit longer.
 
I wish they'd focus/mention more of the stuff unrelated to GUI/touch junk. Would be nice to know some of the background processes/changes which they seem less intent on publishing, and any new features which werent GUI based... Then I would become a whole lot more intrested, but as of now its all just "touch" "metro" yay! :confused:
 
If touch screen and all that is the main thrust of Windows 8, then I will have no problem waiting until Windows 9. I'm happy with 7.
 
Kenjiwing said:
this is dumb.. most corporations dont even have fucking 7 deployed.

Im tired of the new Microsoft.. trying to be too much like apple.
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This has nothing to do with 7 for corporations. If you had follow the 8 news, you would have known they're preparing this for tablets/other associated types of devices which also will already be prepared for the desktop. Now, 7 is steadily taking time towards implementation towards the majority peeling off of XP computers. Large implementation is expensive and replacing computers over time is something Microsoft has the patience for.
 
September is like tomorrow, there can't be a real beta with all core apps upgraded to support both standard desktop interface, touch interface and all planned ARM processors yet, so it could only be the desktop+part touchscreen version, or one also including limited support for one type of ARM processor. It would make more sense for Microsoft to release the first beta for January's CES, with a target RTM for end of 2012.

A release date before October 22, 2012 would mean less than 3 years since Windows 7. It's everybody's guess game of course, but 3 years seems to be a psychological barrier. On the other hand, Microsoft lost a lot of sales by releasing so late in the student year. They may also release ARM support in staged versions, after the official RTM. In short, we know nothing... ^-^
 
Joe Average said:
but then again, I don't typically leave an installation of Windows running for more than a month or two at a time, and that's pushing it. ;)
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That is so utterly unnecessary these days. What possible reason could you have to reinstall windows every two months?
 
Spiko said:
That is so utterly unnecessary these days. What possible reason could you have to reinstall windows every two months?
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I'm a software tester, have been for decades now, and a beta tester (no, they're not actually the same thing) for several dozen organizations as well, so believe me, I can wreck a machine with the type of stuff I do on a daily basis. And yes, I do use my own machine for all the testing, no sense ruining a few at a time.

Most every app that matters to me is in a "portable" format of one kind or another, so even if I decided to wipe this machine I'm on right now, it would take me about 2 minutes to back up those apps to an external hard drive, grab my True Image CD, reboot this laptop off that CD and restore my base Windows 7 Pro installation in about 4 more minutes, then restore the portable apps as required.

12-15 minutes I'm right back where I started from, with everything in place, except a brand new "fresh" installation ready for more testing.

Sounds like a bitch but I've refined it over the years, 15 minutes top to start over again with everything ready to go - most people take that long just to get Windows reinstalled and then spend hours doing the rest.
 
I don't see a problem with the current release schedule, im still rocking vista (love it enough not to upgrade all my boxes). I can't wait to get the arm varient on my transformer.
 
"Im tired of the new Microsoft.. trying to be too much like apple."

That is in no way "new", they've been at it for years. We know what they will be doing in Redmond next week.
 
If touch screen and all that is the main thrust of Windows 8, then I will have no problem waiting until Windows 9. I'm happy with 7.
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QFT

There has to be a very compelling reason to switch to Windows 8 and I haven't seen it. I started switching from XP to Win 7 because of TRIM and DirectX 11 support which I believed were compelling enough reasons. But I haven't seen much reason why I should or will switch to Win 8 on desktops. I don't think there will be DirectX 12 on it and, even if it does, not many current games support DirectX11 and none require it.. and that is after Win 7 has been out over 1.5 years. And if the past is any indication of what Microsoft will do, am sure shortly after Win 8 is released MS will be touting how awesome Win 9!!

I doubt Microsoft originally wanted to be on a 3 year OS cycle.. am sure MS would have been happy if Vista lasted 5 or 6 years.. but they had to bring out Win 7 quickly since Vista wasn't a compelling enough upgrade of XP for most people. And market forces with the advent of smart phones and tablets have forced Microsoft to play catch-up since their OS's hardly have a presence in those markets.

No one is forcing you to change your OS. Use the one that best suits your purpose since there are now many choices even within Windows. I have an HTPC rig in the guest bedroom that is using an old nVidia GeForce2 MX400 XTASY Everything video card (on board TV tuner with remote and green plastic breakout box) that has drivers that ended with Windows 2000. It works fine when using it as a computer on a old tube TV, only thing I had to get use to was using Opera as the browser as it was the only one I could get to work with Windows 2000.
 
At the time of Vista, Microsoft decided to release both client and server major versions every 4 years, with an intermediate "R2" version in between. Of course, the best laid plans etc.
Windows 7 is basically what was supposed to be Windows Vista R2, and while it was marketed as "Windows 7" probably because of the bad Vista press, it is numbered v. 6.1 internally. It also took exactly 3 years to release it, not 2 or 4 as originally planned.

I wonder if Windows 8 will be numbered v. 7.0 or if they will upgrade the major internal version number to match the commercial version number. They should, "7" is a bad luck number like "13"! ^-^
 
Parmenides said:
If touch screen and all that is the main thrust of Windows 8, then I will have no problem waiting until Windows 9. I'm happy with 7.
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If that is all this is, then I have no idea why they release it as a "new" OS. It's extremely misleading if that is the case. Especially as OCD will compell some people to upgrade :D Should just called it windows 7:touch edition.
 
DeathPrincess said:
If that is all this is, then I have no idea why they release it as a "new" OS. It's extremely misleading if that is the case. Especially as OCD will compell some people to upgrade :D Should just called it windows 7:touch edition.
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But that's the point so many of you people keep missing: that's NOT all there is to Windows 8 - that's all you folks "see" at the moment because that's all the media and blogs and tech websites are focusing on: the Metro UI and the touch aspects.

There's a shitload of stuff under the hood that's changing, finally, we just haven't seen most of it from a public perspective yet. And they're just barely getting out of milestone status right now, there's still a few proper alpha builds to go and then perhaps if we're lucky we'll see a beta later this year.

September? That seems a bit early to me but, if they're fast-tracking the whole development program, it just might happen. But there's a lot more to Windows 8 than some sliding tiles, that's for damned sure.
 
Possibly Windows 8 will be pushed more as a domestic/mobile OS while 7 will continue as the more mainstream/business OS for a few years yet?
 
Bring it on! Hopefully touchscreens become popular around that time too.
 
Joe Average said:
But that's the point so many of you people keep missing: that's NOT all there is to Windows 8 - that's all you folks "see" at the moment because that's all the media and blogs and tech websites are focusing on: the Metro UI and the touch aspects.

There's a shitload of stuff under the hood that's changing, finally, we just haven't seen most of it from a public perspective yet. And they're just barely getting out of milestone status right now, there's still a few proper alpha builds to go and then perhaps if we're lucky we'll see a beta later this year.

September? That seems a bit early to me but, if they're fast-tracking the whole development program, it just might happen. But there's a lot more to Windows 8 than some sliding tiles, that's for damned sure.
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I don't think Sept is early, we are talking about a beta not RC, Beta are not feature complete, they have enough for a beta. Beta =/= RC
 
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