Windows 8 is nearing completion, and it looks like hardware manufacturers will be getting their copies of the OS next month.
Nicole Kobie, PC Pro:
Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 8 is on track to be released to manufacturers (RTM) in the first week of August, with general availability at the end of October. The release schedule isn’t a surprise, confirming speculation over the arrival date of the next generation OS. Business customers with Software Assurance subscriptions will be given access to the OS in August, Microsoft added, while Windows Server 2012 will RTM in August and head to customers in September.
Good news for the folks using Windows, but even better news for web developers. With Windows 8 comes Internet Explorer 10. While Microsoft is incessantly behind in the browser game, IE 10 is by far the least obnoxious version of the browser to date.
While nerds are happy to see Microsoft leave the traditional desktop in the dust, regular people are going to flail at the new interface, and switch back to the old interface as much as possible. Users resist change, and Windows users seem to be an exaggerated example of that. I still see people using the old grey blocky interface from the 1990s. While the devs and designers at Microsoft are undoubtedly proud of their new OS, they must cry themselves to sleep every night knowing that most of their customers will bellyache incessantly for months about it.
Source: PC Pro
