Windows 8 RTM To Be Released By Microsoft In April 2012

A trusted source has reported that Microsoft is planning a Windows 8 RTM  release in April 2012. There is a strong possibility of this rumor coming true as microsoft wants to grab a piece of the fast growing tablet market as soon as possible with Windows 8 based tablets. In a recent conference, Microsoft has already unveiled the new WIndows 8 UI,

Switched On: As Windows loses its windows

You say you want a revolution? Well, you know... . you might get one if you're a patient Windows user. With Windows' eighth major release (at least according to Microsoft's math), its name is becoming metaphorical. Taking on a default look that is rooted in Windows Phone 7 -- the first "Windows" to eschew windows -- with a smattering of Media Center, the next major version of Windows marks an overhaul of the initial user interface. Indeed, it is even a more radical departure than Apple made between Mac OS X and iOS, which preserved a scaled-down dock and icons, or between Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.

Windows logo planted on upcoming Apple Store in Germany (video)

A quick glance at the above photo might have you believing that's the site of a Microsoft Store being constructed; actually, it's an Apple Store.

Windows 8 Brings Entirely New Look And Feel, Unifies Touch And PC Interfaces

Microsoft has just given a demonstration of what they’re calling Windows 8. It appears to be a complete revamp of the Windows interface, designed around a tile system like that of Windows Phone 7, and focused on being equally accessible via touchscreen interface or mouse and keyboard.
Windows president Steven Sinofsky says that Microsoft has “colored outside the lines” on this release, and while they’re retaining support for all the major applications and enterprise features, the new interface is meant to be fresh, fast, and accessible.
There are multiple influences based on the interfaces we’ve seen, pulling from many of Microsoft’s newer projects. Zune and Metro show through prominently, as well as Live web interfaces and Media Center. Perhaps as a truly user-facing OS layer, these rich interfaces will prove more popular than they have as disparate apps and semi-isolated ecosystems.
Sinofsky suggested that even the iconic Start button would be left behind, though during the demo, launching Excel bounced the interface back into a more traditional Windows desktop environment, Start button and all. He most likely means that in the new interface, the Start-style UI metaphor is no longer necessary. However, the Explorer and file browsers appear to have been totally revamped to be far less “folder within a folder,” which has been the storage style for going on three decades now.

Applications will be of two types: traditional Windows apps built using existing APIs, and new apps built on Javascript and HTML5. APIs and guidelines for these will be released a little further down the line. There is a big focus on making applications friendly to both touch and mouse/keyboard. Not an easy task, but when you have only a single OS that must go on tablets, notebooks, and desktops, it’s an essential one. Microsoft’s Julie Larson-Green insisted that it wasn’t “two shelves” but one single OS, when questioned about similarities to touch overlays like TouchSmart.
There’s also a new multitasking interface that’s more or less pane-based, allowing you to swipe in live apps from the side of the screen. It looks useful, though how the panes might interact (i.e. dragging a picture from the file browser to an image editor) wasn’t demonstrated.
System requirements weren’t discussed in specific, but Sinofsky said that “hundreds of millions” of PCs would run Windows 8, and that it wouldn’t require any more “oomph” than Windows 7. I assume that with ARM compatibility (and reduced power and clock speeds) comes a responsibility to slim down the OS, not relying on the huge computing overhead available in modern PCs. Hopefully this full-on Windows environment will be neither too stripped-down for power users, nor too clunky for people expecting a simple tablet interface.
You can watch a video of all this in action on YouTube (they’ve disabled embeds). I’ve put some screenshots below for those of you who don’t have time:

Release date is undetermined; Sinofsky said that traditionally OS releases are every two to three years, but it wouldn’t be coming out this fall (i.e. two years after Windows 7 was released). That says to me “Spring 2012″ for actually getting it into the hands of consumers. A more complete demonstration and rundown of features will be forthcoming, and they’re showing off devices and the OS at Computex later today, including ARM-based ones (presumably tablets), so there will be plenty more news breaking over the next few hours and days.
For a complete live blog of the announcement and Q&A session, head over to All Things D (the video is now up as well). Microsoft has a blog post and press release, as well.
Update: Microsoft has also held a “partner preview” showing off ARM and x86 hardware from Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments, though there didn’t appear to be anything new demonstrated. The devices are new (or prototypes) but nothing groundbreaking; it’s too early for Kal-El and using next-generation hardware to show off a system that ostensibly has low requirements would be cheating. Update 2: Nope, I was wrong, it’s Kal-El. Engadget has a hands-on with Nvidia’s tablet development platform.

Microsoft reveals ARM-powered Windows 8 prototypes (eyes-on)

Remember how Microsoft unveiled that whole "Windows 8" thing earlier today? It's back for more: here at Computex 2011 in Taipei, prototype ARM-based Windows 8 slates and smartbooks are coming out of the woodwork. Foxconn, Wistron and Quanta all unveiled early hardware for the new OS, with chips from Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and NVIDIA powering their live tiles -- including NVIDIA's upcoming Kal-El, which got both a tablet and a super-slim prototype notebook to call its own. Dell's also got a XPS development station up on stage, which Microsoft used to demo the UI -- it's bulky and ugly as such things are, but it suggests that Dell's also likely to have a portable Windows 8 machine at some point. For its part, Qualcomm is promising a chip that can instantly wake from sleep, and one of the devices showed that USB host support works fine and dandy. Unfortunately, none of these machines will make their way to market, but it's nice to know that the OEMs care enough to show their solidarity here.

Update: Video now added after the break.

Windows 8 devices at Computex 2011

Windows 8 ARM development devices from Qualcomm, TI and NVIDIA

source: engadget

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Live from Microsoft's Windows 8 preview event at Computex 2011!

10:52AM And that's that. Let's go and see if we can't get to handle those dev machines!

10:52AM The Build conference in September will have "everything" about Windows 8.

10:51AM Evidently, Microsoft is taking a more active role in pushing the hardware for Windows 8 devices forward.

10:51AM "We have some recommendations on bezel sizes so you can easily hold the system" while also being able to use it comfortably.

10:50AM Minimum of 1366 x 768 resolution for the best Windows 8 experience. 1024 x 768 will be the absolute minimum for the new UI fanciness and 1024 x 600 will let you run Windows 8 in the classic desktop mode.

10:49AM Supporting a whole range of new sensors as well.

10:49AM UEFI engagement will help with speeding up boot times. "I've seen systems with SSDs inside them that can go from a cold boot to the Start screen in under 6 seconds."

10:48AM OEM Activation 3.0. A seamless activation experience for end users and it'll streamline things for hardware partners.

10:47AM "From day one, we started engineering these systems with a much closer integration of hardware and software than ever."

10:47AM He's pointing out that whether you're running x86 or ARM, you'll be enjoying the same apps.

10:46AM "The same app, completely cross-platform, based on the Windows 8 application development platform."

10:46AM Hardware-accelerated HTML5 shown off on the dev Kal-El tablet.

10:45AM And now a tablet with the same super-powered chip.

10:45AM Woah, a skinny laptop running NVIDIA's quad-core Kal-El chip!

10:44AM "You can build them virtually any size and shape, all being able to run Windows."

10:44AM Showing a USB stick connected to one of the dev devices and shows that it works just as it does on the desktop.

10:42AM Mike also showed us a Snapdragon system-on-chip just so we know teeny tiny these things are.

10:42AM A new mode called "always on, always connected." It'll permit for instant wake-up from sleep and keep the ARM tablets constantly connected to the web. We're also promised great battery life.

10:40AM We saw motherboards back at CES, now dev devices. These won't ever be on sale, but it shows progress.

10:40AM Qualcomm, NVIDIA and TI developer reference systems for Windows 8 on ARM.

10:39AM "Not multiple versions of Windows, just one version of Windows running on all of them."

10:39AM "With or without touhscreens, with or without keyboards, the full Windows experience."

10:39AM Windows adapts to it by launching apps in full screen instead of side by side as on the widescreen diplays.

10:38AM Now also showing Windows 8 on a tablet that doesn't have a 16:9 display resolution.

10:38AM "The Llano processor that's coming out this quarter." We already kind of knew that, but good to have confirmation, Microsoft!

10:37AM Showing an HP dv6 will AMD Llano inside. Hah!

10:37AM PageUp and PageDown buttons will allow you to move between tiles on non-touchscreen devices.

10:36AM "Windows 8 will be able to run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same system requirements or lower."

10:36AM "Windows 8 is an upgrade for the entire ecosystem of PCs."

10:36AM "How is this going to work on all the other systems?"

10:35AM 1366 x 768 resolution on that Dell system.

10:35AM You can also do a split-screen interface, where you see both the new and the old UI side by side.

10:35AM The big difference with Windows 8 is that when you get into the apps, they're all optimized for touch.

10:34AM Switching between the live-tile UI and the usual desktop is instantaneous. We're seeing some seriously impressive performance here. And it's all done on that Dell XPS proto system.

10:34AM Now he brought us back out into the familiar Windows desktop. It looks identical to the current Windows 7 desktop UI.

10:33AM There's a look at the onscreen keyboard, which is identical to the nice one in WP7. Also a split version that we saw earlier at d9.

10:32AM "A browser optimized for touch. Optimized for panning and zooming."

10:32AM "With Windows 8, we're gonna be introducing IE 10."

10:32AM "Real multitasking" demonstrated, where a video plays back while you negotiate your way around other apps. Frankly, Windows has always been able to do that, but this is indeed pretty swanky when it comes to tablets.

10:31AM The full screen experience is designed for 16:9 widescreens.

10:30AM And if you're holding a tablet, all the controls are right under your thumb.

10:30AM Woah, you can switch between apps by just dragging them in from the side.

10:29AM Swiping in from the side brings in a sub-menu that looks equivalent to the taskbar in the current Windows.

10:29AM "On day one, when Windows 8 ships, hundreds of millions of developers will already know" how to develop for it.

10:29AM Created on Windows' new application development platform. Based on HTML5, JavaScript and CSS.

10:28AM "The first thing you notice is that the apps are chromeless, they immediately take up the whole screen."

10:28AM Notifications, new tweets, new email, "it's all presented to you immediately without having to take that extra step."

10:28AM The tiles that you see on the Start screen are live. "They represent your apps, your people, your contacts, the things that you care most about."

10:27AM Ridiculously smooth scrolling.

10:27AM Log in by swiping up on the lock screen and you're right into the Start screen.

10:27AM A Dell XPS development station.

10:27AM Here comes a look at the hardware on stage.

10:26AM The devices we use to connect to the web have changed. "Thinner and lighter, resume from sleep immediately... some of them have batteries that run for weeks on end."

10:26AM Today, we're facing trends to do with immersive experiences, touchscreens, and the web.

10:25AM When Windows 7 was being designed, the trends were around ultra-portable notebooks, which is why it was made to run so efficiently.

10:25AM "Windows has continuously adapted" to new trends and development in the industry.

10:24AM Mike: "I'll begin with a little bit of background on some of the decisions behind Windows 8."

10:24AM Here comes Mike Angulo, who is responsible for Windows planning and Microsoft hardware.

10:23AM Big thanks expressed to the hardware manufacturers working with Microsoft.

10:22AM "We refer to the next version of Windows internally as Windows 8."

10:22AM "An update on the next version of Windows."

10:20AM The event will begin in one minute.

10:19AM Yes, there are some extremely skinny notbooks on show too.

10:15AM It seems we're on the brink of being shown the first Windows 8 ARM devices.

10:14AM Intel and AMD placards are joined by Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and NVIDIA!

10:10AM We're seeing tablets and monitors up on the stage, both featuring the new tile UI of Windows 8.

10:08AM And yay, the doors have opened, we're in!

9:56AM We're just about to be let into the event venue, high up in the swanky W Hotel.

Microsoft finally debuted the next version of its Windows operating system, codenamed Windows 8, at D9 earlier today, and now it's hitting up Computex over in Taipei with a partner preview event. We don't know quite what will be revealed here, but the new Win 8 UI has a touch-friendly look designed specifically to make tablet users feel more at home, so a peek at new slate hardware might not be completely out of the question. Join us after the break for all the live updates from the event.