Rumor: Windows 8 Launching August 2012; Win 9 in 2014
Windows 8 may see a commercial release in August 2012 followed by Windows 9 in November 2014.
Monday brought reports of a leaked Microsoft road map revealing an August 2012 commercial launch schedule for Windows 8. Prior to that, the beta will reportedly arrive during CES 2012 this coming January along with the WinStore Beta, an online market <ONM> community technology preview (CTP), and the first "Tango" update for Windows Phone. Windows 9 is even slated for a late 2014 reveal.
According to the roadmap, the Release Candidate for Windows 8 (RC) will roll out at MIX 2012 along with the online market beta and the Kinect commercial SDK -- "Apollo" for Windows Phone is also expected to be revealed. By the time E3 2012 rolls around, Microsoft will reportedly unveil the Xbox 360 SDK for creating apps, the Apollo SDK for Windows Phone and third-generation Kinect games. The Windows 8 RTM build is also expected to be released in June 2012.
Once August 2012 arrives, Windows 8, the online market, Windows Phone 8 and the Xbox (App) Store will launch if all goes according to plan. Then in September during BUILD 2012 Microsoft will offer a Windows 8 product upgrade developer preview and announce something called <OSN> along with the XAML+XDE platform.
On the Windows 9 front, a developer preview is expected to go live during BUILD 2013 followed by a Beta during CES 2014. A Release Candidate is slated to arrive during MIX 2014 followed by the RTM build with Internet Explorer 12 during BUILD 2014. It also looks like Windows 9 Mobile will also make its debut, as both the desktop and mobile versions will go commercial in November 2014.
To see the full roadmap, head here. As always, take this forecast with a grain of salt because (1) things change and (2) there's no official confirmation from Microsoft.
- Windows 8 Features Slick Search from Start Screen
- Sony to Put PlayStation Suite On Third Party Devices
- VIDEO: It's One Hour of Counter-Strike GO Footage
- Blizzard Discusses StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
- BioWare Talks Mass Effect 3 Demo Plans
- Microsoft Patents Self-Sterilizing Touch Screen
- Nvidia's Tegra Cost So Far: $2 Billion
- WoW Annual Pass Subscribers Get Diablo III for Free
- Sony Announces External 100 GB Blu-ray Burner
- AMD's Deccan, Kerala Slated for Ultrabooks
- MacBook Pro Line Gets Spec Bump; New CPUs & GPUs
- TSMC's 28nm Technology Now in Volume Production
- Deals Oct 24: Kinect (Xbox 360) w/ Games for $99 FS
- New Nvidia Drivers Improve Performance in RAGE, BF3
- AMD Releases New Preview Driver for Battlefield 3, Rage
- Next Portal 2 DLC Featuring "Photoshop-Like" Editor
- Linux 3.1 With Wii Controller Support Published
- Researchers Control Thermoelectric Voltages in CPU, Storage
windows 9?
jeez, lets focus on supporting 8 for a few months first eh?
I agree!
Wonder if they will have a pre-order special for Windows 8 like they did 7.
Whoa MS, new isn't better if it isn't reliable and just plain good.
It is just a roadmap, but I am a little surprised to see windows phone 8.hopefully the win phones can upgrade to it. Looks good though. Lots of stuff going to devs.
I could care less about Win 8 or Win 9.
Win 7 is on may machine and it's staying there until the PC industry dies.
ill stick with window 7 TY!!!
Who freaking cares, new versions of Winblows do nothing for the gaming community. We are still stuck on XP DX9 because of the kiddie consoles. Win7 DX 11 will be on the 720 and then we will be stuck with that for another decade.
If MS could think of a way to force upgrades on us they would.
Long Live Linux
Win XP to Win7 was worth it, but this is just trying to cash in on people's money. I wish they only release a new OS when there's new major features.
Who freaking cares, new versions of Winblows do nothing for the gaming community. We are still stuck on XP DX9 because of the kiddie consoles. Win7 DX 11 will be on the 720 and then we will be stuck with that for another decade.
Actually quite a few good games are released with DX11 and are pretty graphically intense. Battlefield Bad Company 2, DiRT2, DiRT3, Total War: Shogun 2, Civilization V, Crysis 2, Metro 2033, WoW: Cataclysm, Homefront, and F1 2010 and 2011 to name a few.
Oh and did I forget to mention that Battlefield 3 only supports DX10, 10.1 and 11.
Think before you speak and make yourself look like a moron.
I am still sticking to my windows xp !
I am still sticking to my windows xp !
oops sorry for multiple posts and this one too !
*Points out that two out of three consoles don't have a DX SDk, and even on the 360, coding directly to the hardware is more common then the DX SDK due to speed reasons*
I've tested win 8 and found it seriously lacking in several aspects:
1- The unbelievably ugly and un-ergonomic design of the Metro UI; most people will want to get rid of it quickly; not only for it's design but also because it's made simple jobs like clicking an icon on a desktop easier, but the normal OS operations difficult, to nearly impossible!
Say for instance, you want to change your power scheme, or update the OS manually, you will need to do several clicks before you can finally get to update it manually.
Not to even mention it took several minutes for me to find how to turn off the OS (without touching the power button).
2- It is about as fast as Windows XP, is efficient, boots a little faster, but consumes LOTS more battery! It also has tons of annoying background activity! The stuff you DON'T WANT because it's reducing performance!
3- Currently it does not have display drivers of the most simple Intel GMA chipsets found in laptops with integrated graphics cards! I had to download a Windows 7 driver, and run it in compatibility mode, and even then it has some quirks and blits and jitters here and there!
4- Being idle it uses 3-8% of CPU constantly, with a browser and a notepad opened it uses 1.16GB of RAM constantly
5- Disabling the shitty metro UI disables a lot of vital functions of the OS, including finding wireless signals!
6- If you hated the Windows Vista's start bar, and hated 7's start bar, you will hate 8's start bar even more, because it doesn't have any! It takes you to disable metro UI to get a shitty start bar, that's not very useful!
Everything is based on the computer finding files for you, but nearly 90% of the time I don't want the computer to search anything; I want to be the one browsing through the directory structure of the start bar that I KNOW where my program is!
There are times you don't know if a program has been uninstalled, or still resides on your HD, and you don't want WIndows to waste several minutes of your time searching for something it can't find anyway!
In these cases Win 8 is a total fiasco, a disaster, a flop!!!
Although it's in a beta phase, I believe unless MS focusses on reducing automatic 'unintelligent' background activity, and focusses on reducing Win8's footprint by at least 50%, windows 8 will be a big FAIL!
Nothing more than an overglorified Windows 7!
If they're going to release a new Windows version every two years and expect people to upgrade each time, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a lower retail price.
Windows 7 is still $200 for the retail version of Home Premium (I know, $99 for OEM). If W8 and W9 are the same cost, your talking about a $100 per year OS "tax" if you're an early adopter.
Sounds like an IT nightmare too.
Actually quite a few good games are released with DX11 and are pretty graphically intense. Battlefield Bad Company 2, DiRT2, DiRT3, Total War: Shogun 2, Civilization V, Crysis 2, Metro 2033, WoW: Cataclysm, Homefront, and F1 2010 and 2011 to name a few.Oh and did I forget to mention that Battlefield 3 only supports DX10, 10.1 and 11.Think before you speak and make yourself look like a moron.
Oh you must mean adding DX11 to a PC game as an afterthought, dunkoff.
I am actually rather happy with this release schedule. I'm still on Windows XP and have been thinking about moving up to Windows 7 for the DX11 (building a new system along with it). As Windows 8 doesn't really offer much beyond UI changes, this means I can be on Win 7 for 3-4 years before upgrading my OS. 4 years is roughly the lifespan of a computer build, so when Win 9 rolls out it will coincide with a new hardware upgrade.
Microsoft milking its monopoly....
I am getting tired of this. What a bunch of greedy pigs. Two years, a new OS is released? Why don't they take time to make a quality, innovative OS instead of re-hashes with minor upgrades?
Windows XP came out in 2001, then Windows Vista came out in 2007. It was completely different for the most part. WHY can't it be like it used to be, like six years in between OSes? This is getting ridiculous.
I've tested win 8 and found it seriously lacking in several aspects:1- The unbelievably ugly and un-ergonomic design of the Metro UI; most people will want to get rid of it quickly;
You should still keep in mind that this is a pre-beta version and it is far from finished. It's just a preview of some new features. But your points are valid and I doubt that MS will be able to finish this in 10 months, as they plan to make such huge changes to the system.
Windows was never really any good. Only people who know nothing else think that Windows is cool. It always sucked. Windows 7 is just the same huge pile of garbage as any version before it.
I've tested win 8 and found it seriously lacking in several aspects:1- The unbelievably ugly and un-ergonomic design of the Metro UI; most people will want to get rid of it quickly; not only for it's design but also because it's made simple jobs like clicking an icon on a desktop easier, but the normal OS operations difficult, to nearly impossible!Say for instance, you want to change your power scheme, or update the OS manually, you will need to do several clicks before you can finally get to update it manually.Not to even mention it took several minutes for me to find how to turn off the OS (without touching the power button).2- It is about as fast as Windows XP, is efficient, boots a little faster, but consumes LOTS more battery! It also has tons of annoying background activity! The stuff you DON'T WANT because it's reducing performance!3- Currently it does not have display drivers of the most simple Intel GMA chipsets found in laptops with integrated graphics cards! I had to download a Windows 7 driver, and run it in compatibility mode, and even then it has some quirks and blits and jitters here and there!4- Being idle it uses 3-8% of CPU constantly, with a browser and a notepad opened it uses 1.16GB of RAM constantly5- Disabling the shitty metro UI disables a lot of vital functions of the OS, including finding wireless signals!6- If you hated the Windows Vista's start bar, and hated 7's start bar, you will hate 8's start bar even more, because it doesn't have any! It takes you to disable metro UI to get a shitty start bar, that's not very useful!Everything is based on the computer finding files for you, but nearly 90% of the time I don't want the computer to search anything; I want to be the one browsing through the directory structure of the start bar that I KNOW where my program is!There are times you don't know if a program has been uninstalled, or still resides on your HD, and you don't want WIndows to waste several minutes of your time searching for something it can't find anyway!In these cases Win 8 is a total fiasco, a disaster, a flop!!!Although it's in a beta phase, I believe unless MS focusses on reducing automatic 'unintelligent' background activity, and focusses on reducing Win8's footprint by at least 50%, windows 8 will be a big FAIL!Nothing more than an overglorified Windows 7!
Remember, that's the developers build. Changes will be done, so it's not smart to judge yet.
I've tested win 8 and found it seriously lacking in several aspects:1- The unbelievably ugly and un-ergonomic design of the Metro UI; most people will want to get rid of it quickly; not only for it's design but also because it's made simple jobs like clicking an icon on a desktop easier, but the normal OS operations difficult, to nearly impossible!Say for instance, you want to change your power scheme, or update the OS manually, you will need to do several clicks before you can finally get to update it manually.Not to even mention it took several minutes for me to find how to turn off the OS (without touching the power button).2- It is about as fast as Windows XP, is efficient, boots a little faster, but consumes LOTS more battery! It also has tons of annoying background activity! The stuff you DON'T WANT because it's reducing performance!3- Currently it does not have display drivers of the most simple Intel GMA chipsets found in laptops with integrated graphics cards! I had to download a Windows 7 driver, and run it in compatibility mode, and even then it has some quirks and blits and jitters here and there!4- Being idle it uses 3-8% of CPU constantly, with a browser and a notepad opened it uses 1.16GB of RAM constantly5- Disabling the shitty metro UI disables a lot of vital functions of the OS, including finding wireless signals!6- If you hated the Windows Vista's start bar, and hated 7's start bar, you will hate 8's start bar even more, because it doesn't have any! It takes you to disable metro UI to get a shitty start bar, that's not very useful!Everything is based on the computer finding files for you, but nearly 90% of the time I don't want the computer to search anything; I want to be the one browsing through the directory structure of the start bar that I KNOW where my program is!There are times you don't know if a program has been uninstalled, or still resides on your HD, and you don't want WIndows to waste several minutes of your time searching for something it can't find anyway!In these cases Win 8 is a total fiasco, a disaster, a flop!!!Although it's in a beta phase, I believe unless MS focusses on reducing automatic 'unintelligent' background activity, and focusses on reducing Win8's footprint by at least 50%, windows 8 will be a big FAIL!Nothing more than an overglorified Windows 7!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
wow...some of you acted like MS forced you to update. I don't update to every version of Window...usually I skip a version or two before I update the OS...same for all software & games.
Got xp
Skipped Vista
Got W7
Skip W8
Get W9 (?)
I could care less about Win 8 or Win 9.Win 7 is on may machine and it's staying there until the PC industry dies.
I still have xp on my main work computer
Bring on Windows 8.
Got xpSkipped VistaGot W7Skip W8Get W9 (?)
for me it went:
DOS w/automenu
3.11
98SE
XP
vista
XP
I know, I know, I went backwards on the last one. When 98SE was being phased out I swore I'd go to linux rather than another windows product. I'm still threatening to go linux.
what is xbox"loop"?