Report: Public Windows 8 Beta Coming in February

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Rumors point to a February release for Microsoft's public beta of Windows 8.

Microsoft may have released a developer preview of Windows 8 a few months back, but Redmond has still given little indication as to when the non-developing public will get a chance to play around with the next iteration of Windows. With 2011 drawing to a close, we'll soon enter Windows 8's launch year, and it appears the beginning of 2012 could shape up to be quite Windows 8-centric.

We've already heard the reports that say Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will talk a lot about Windows 8 during his CES keynote in January. However, the latest scuttlebutt says Microsoft will release the public Windows 8 beta will be released shortly after CES. Read Write Web cites sources close to Microsoft in reporting that the public beta will hit in late February of next year. The site's sources couldn't confirm the feature set, saying that this has yet to be nailed down and will be decided by the Windows 8 engineers based on which components are ready for public consumption.

Earlier this month we heard that the Windows 8 install process had been streamlined by Microsoft. The company said that users will be able to install Windows 8 in as few as 11 clicks, depending on their existing OS, migration choices, install method, and the number of blocking issues needed to be resolved before the PC is ready for installation.

Jane McEntegart
57 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jhansonxi
    I sure it will be leaked long before February.
    Reply
  • cheemster
    Windows 7 was good, Windows 8 will be an improved version if Windows 7. Will be using the beta most likely.
    Reply
  • SirGCal
    I'm not holding my breath. Vista was soooo bad... 7 finally fixed it. But there's a ton of major changes to 8 that I'm very concerned about and not a simple way to make it differently... At least not unless they have a bunch of differences between the current developer's preview and the released beta. But right now, I'm not even considering 8... But we'll see. It'll likely take a year or more to see release anyhow but...
    Reply
  • soccerdocks
    SirGCalI'm not holding my breath. Vista was soooo bad... 7 finally fixed it. But there's a ton of major changes to 8 that I'm very concerned about and not a simple way to make it differently... At least not unless they have a bunch of differences between the current developer's preview and the released beta. But right now, I'm not even considering 8... But we'll see. It'll likely take a year or more to see release anyhow but...
    I disagree. Ignoring the metor UI and assuming that at release it will be able to be completely disabled. Window 8 will be an improvement on 7. Its got a lot of new features and tweaks, like the file transfer manager and multi-core boot, that will make it better. I am looking forward to its release.
    Reply
  • megasamsung
    Everyone always hates Vista but I loved it. The biggest reason was the searchbar in the start menu. I also liked the introduction of gadgets. Stickynotes and cpu meter were great. The only program I ever had problems with was KOTOR II and with one download that problem was fixed.
    Reply
  • bison88
    SirGCalI'm not holding my breath. Vista was soooo bad... 7 finally fixed it. But there's a ton of major changes to 8 that I'm very concerned about and not a simple way to make it differently... At least not unless they have a bunch of differences between the current developer's preview and the released beta. But right now, I'm not even considering 8... But we'll see. It'll likely take a year or more to see release anyhow but...

    Vista wasn't nearly as bad as people made it seem. Initially it had very little support from the industry, Microsoft has learned the lesson to keep the industry close especially when you plan to do a radical overhaul. They're working very close with the right people both hardware and software based, to keep that from happening again.

    As far as whatever problems are currently wrong with Windows 8, well that's what a Public Beta is for. To get as many willing participants to test out the software, use it in thousands of different ways and run into and report any problems, bugs, or issues they have. You can't knock Windows 8 before it's technically even in Beta.
    Reply
  • cronik93
    Just seems too early... I love Win7 so much.
    Reply
  • mugiebahar
    Vista was fine if you had the right hardware. Yeah it was new but i bought it day 2 of release and never had 1 problem. Its funny my whole family and friends are "techies", but I always asked whats so bad about vista to them. They all said "well I heard", not very good especailly coming from from people who should know whats going on. But I always said try it then criticise. They ALL said they were wrong. Vista was good as long as you had the right hardware. Windows 8 will be different too, but im so looking forward to the ecosystem that windows has coming together. It will be a big relief from the segmented system that is going on now.
    Reply
  • Vista was perfectly fine if you weren't running 1 gb of ram and a P4, I see no difference with Windows 8. It just got bashed so badly mainly because of under powered hardware and Apple commercials.
    Reply
  • 11796pcs
    I agree that Windows Vista was good as well. The problem was that it required so much more from PCs, and buying the cheapest out there (like so many do) didn't cut it. People with 1 GB of RAM in their PCs and poor GPUs just couldn't do very much. And also, the average consumer keeps their PC looking like trash with all the bloatware that they install which didn't help the problem. Microsoft could have averted problems if they had worked with the industry better, streamlined the OS hardware consumption a bit more, and bumbed up the requirements (like 2 GB instead of 1 and a 1.5 GHz processor instead of 1.0)
    Reply