According to sources close to Microsoft, the first beta edition of Windows 8 is to be expected to be released in February of 2012. The Next Web claims to have received information to that effect. Microsoft released the developer preview edition of Windows 8 this September so it would make sense to see the first beta of Windows 8 around February next year.

Alternatively, Winrumors claims that the first stable beta build of Windows 8  will be released in late January, a few weeks earlier, according to their anonymous sources. This would coincide with the Consumer Electronics Show which runs from January 10 to 13.

So I guess we can be pretty certain that we will get to see a stable beta build of Windows 8 in the first two months of 2012. And if the speed at which Windows 7 was developed is to go by, then I’d see we could expect to see the full RTM version around September, which would leave Microsoft with enough time to get to the market for the Christmas period.

Microsoft stressed that the Windows 8 developer preview edition had a lot of features excluded and plenty more that were not finished. They’ve used it more so to judge the feedback from people about the new Metro UI. There’s been several concerns over how user friendly this interface is for people who don’t have touchscreens and there’s also some difficulty with navigating around. Microsoft will hopefully take all this into mind when developing the beta and RTM versions of Windows 8.

So far we don’t know a whole lot about the beta, but it seems that Microsoft will allow users to change the Start Screen colour and background image. Users will also have the ability to create, name and arrange Start Screen groups as well as navigate through the apps in a better fashion. We can also expect to see the Windows Media Center making a return in the beta, alongside Windows Games, DVD Creator etc…

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Today I was getting curious as to when Microsoft would release Windows 8. I was wishing they would just hurry up and get on with it. Microsoft employ nearly 100,000 worldwide,surely it can’t take them too long to put together a new OS? Microsoft proved that they can get a good OS together in no time with Windows 7. They released that several months earlier than they had previously scheduled it. There’s plenty of people out there who are wishing that Microsoft would release Windows 8 tomorrow, so why don’t they just hurry up already and get Windows 8 out there?

Of course we know that that isn’t going to happen, but it also won’t happen this year, and probably not until well into next year. Many people want Windows 8 because they just want to play with something new, however the majority of consumers and certainly businesses are more than happy with Windows 7. They don’t want to go through all the hassle of updating their operating systems again. There’s no need to either. Windows 7 is doing pretty much everything it says on the tin and more. The vast majority of users are more than happy with it, and you know the old saying “if it ain’t broke,don’t fix it”

And that’s exactly what Microsoft are thinking as well. Let’s face it, it’s only the limited tech minority who are eager to get their hands on Windows 8 so soon. There’s always going to be a group of hardcore enthusiasts looking to get their hands on the next edition of something as soon as the current one is released. But I’m sure Microsoft have identified that their largest market is the general consumer and corporate enterprises. They know that these people aren’t shouting out looking for something new. This wasn’t the case with Vista. Everyone was complaining about it so Microsoft had to get their act together quickly and get Windows 7 out there. Now that people have it they are more than content, and so are Microsoft. It’s got constant steady growth and good stable sales figures and is closing in on finally putting Windows XP to bed. At the moment there is no real reason that Microsoft need to rush and get a new OS out there to put things right.

Or is there?

If you look at the other side of the coin there’s a different story. While Windows 7 sales figures are going strong, some enterprises are going to put off upgrading to Windows 7 in anticipation of Windows 8. It takes nearly a year for large organisations to roll out a new operating system so they might as well just wait for Windows 8 before updating all their systems. Even some consumers are thinking like this as well.

But the other main reason is because of the rapidly evolving tablet market. Apple, even with Steve Jobs gone from the helm of their ship, are still the dominant player in this market and will be for quite some time unless somebody big like Microsoft comes up with a viable option for consumers. The one thing lacking from Windows 7 is it’s tablet support – while it is there, it just isn’t good enough. A whole host of manufacturers have got plans to release Windows 8 tablets, but what’s the point in promising releases for late 2012 when we all want tablets now?

If Microsoft want to get a foothold in the tablet market before it’s too late, they need to get onto to it now. This is really the only reason why Microsoft would need to rush along Windows 8. Apple have a much higher refresh rate with their iOS operating system and it’s letting them increase their lead a bit more every day.

Personally I’d just be happy with a beta edition of Windows 8 for the moment to play around with as I’m not really into owning tablets myself. However I know plenty of you guys are itching to get Windows 8 now.

So tell me, should Microsoft rush Windows 8? If so, why? Is it not better that they take their time and do it properly to avoid another Vista disaster?

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This weekend I was just casually browsing up and down the aisles at one of my local computer stores. All the usual  array of  promotional banners and offers were on, but there was one in particular that caught my eye. It was a Windows 7 banner, (no surprise there) but what caught my attention is that it was advertising Windows 7 as a “NEW” just released operating system. Of course it was followed with the usual “quicker, securer, etc..” marketing, but it got me thinking. If stores are still advertising Windows  7 as “new”, do we really need Windows 8 so soon?

I know you’re going to argue that Windows 8 isn’t due to be released until early 2012 at the earliest, but realistically the average consumer wont be ready for it. Windows 7 has been out for just over 18 months at this stage, and while it is making good progress in terms of market share, I still don’t feel that the vast majority of people have even upgraded to it yet.

Microsoft had a fairly valid case for getting Windows 7 out as quick as they could (to make up for Windows Vista). Not only the average home user, but also many businesses and enterprises around the world were shouting for an update, so if Microsoft wanted to keep them, they had to deliver. And they did, Windows 7 has received the thumbs up from pretty much everyone and they all seem quite content with it. At the moment there is nothing more that they want than an operating system that’s quick, clean and reliable.

Realistically the average consumer isn’t going to buy a new computer every 2 years. You’re probably looking at more 3-5 years. Of course the more techy ones will upgrade their operating system without updating their hardware, but for the most part people don’t update their OS until they get a new computer that’s running it. Windows 7 came out at the end of 2009 so by the time Windows 8 comes out in 2012, barely 2 years will have elapsed. Consumers won’t be willing to update their systems then, especially if they buy them between now and then.

Look at the enterprise scene too. For large enterprise’s it’s taking nearly 12 months to roll out Windows 7 and update their current systems. It’s costly and expensive for them to do it, generally you won’t find them updating again for at least another 5 years. If you look at it, Windows XP can still be found in many businesses, and that’s been on the go nearly 10 years now. Many of them haven’t even started the roll out yet, but plan on starting it during this year. They’ll have barely got Windows 7 running and staff trained by the time Windows 8 comes out, do you think that they’re going to go through the costly upgrade and training process so soon? If they’ve any sense they wont.

Of course there is a smaller minority of users like ourselves who are always keen to keep up to date with all the latest technology and who are gasping for something new all the time. But I’m afraid we’re not where the vast majority of Microsoft’s sales go to.

I’m interested to hear your views on this, feel free to express them in the comments below…

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Yesterday I reported on a story that the recent software update from Microsoft was prepping Windows 7 machines for the update to Windows 7 SP1. Then earlier today Martin covered the news that the Windows 7 SP1 RTM was in fact finished. Now there’s a third piece of news. If we are to go by the Russian Microsoft Technet site it’s ready to be released in the next 24 hours …

Now since it’s in Russian we cannot be entirely sure of its translation, but once you run it through a couple of translation sites, the general idea is that the “pack will 2be publicly available tomorrow” and that a more detailed description with download links are set to follow “tomorrow”. This post was written yesterday so in fact it’s referring to today, but as of yet we haven’t seen anything.

In the comments section of the post however, it’s added that the service pack will be released on January 15th “Redmond Time”

The post goes on to discuss virtualization improvements in Windwos 7 SP1 and Server 2008 R2 SP1.

We’re all still a bit unsure about things at this stage, it’s odd that it would just appear up on the Russian Microsoft Technet site. But the post also admits that an internal announcement has been made marking the completion of the service pack.

The reason I’m so unsure of this is because Microsoft have never released a service pack on a weekend, it’s normally either a Monday or Tuesday, and other sources believe that this update is only being released to OEM’s and not the general public.

So if the blog post is official or not remains to be seen, but I think it’s pretty definite that the first service pack for Windows 7 is imminent

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We’ve just celebrated Windows 7′s first birthday, and with it came record sales figures and a very happy Microsoft CEO. But lets cast out eyes towards the future, Windows 7 has now got a firm foothold in the market, but what have Microsoft got planned for us next?

To date, Microsoft have been fairly silent on the future of their operating system, but Microsoft Netherlands seem to have let something slip. While celebrating the 1st birthday of Windows 7 on their official news site, they accidentally let slip that Windows 8 will hit the market in about 2 years time, 2012.

You’ll want to translate the page unless you’re fluent in Dutch, but at the very end it’s quite clear to understand what it means when it’s been translated

The first update of Windows 7 is the new version of Windows Live Essentials (explore.live.com) became available in mid-June. Furthermore, Microsoft is of course the next version of Windows. But it will take about two years before “Windows 8 ‘on the market.

So even with this badly translated passage I think it’s quite clear what the message is.

If Windows 8 was released in 2012, that would mean that it’s about a 3 year gap between Windows 7 and the next version of the OS. I wonder if maybe that gap is too short, I know Microsoft released Windows 7 earlier than anticipated to try and get people back on their side after Windows Vista. But Windows 7 has been a major success all around, will it have enough time to saturate the market by 2012? Should Microsoft not give it an extra year or two and really put a lot into developing Windows 8 so it’s even better than Windows 7?

What do you think, do we need Windows 8 to come along so soon? Or should Windows 7 have more time to saturate the market?

Let us know in the comments

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Microsoft is pretty tight lipped when it comes to the release of the next version of Windows, which for now is known as Windows 8. Many experts have predicted that Windows 8 will be released in three year’s time after the release of Windows 7, which would suggest a release in the last quarter of 2012 in the most important markets.

A news post on Microsoft Netherlands has accidentally leaked the release date, or shall we say period, of Windows 8. The article, which for the most part dealt with the first birthday of Windows 7, looked at the future of Windows in the last paragraph.

Please note that this is a translation of the text from Dutch to English using Google Translate:

The phasing out of Windows XP, Microsoft is nearing completion. In July 2010, the support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 stops. Today Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP to PC manufacturers and the aftermarket sales of Windows Vista. For Windows 7, Microsoft Service Pack 1. This service pack is still in the testing phase and is expected in the first half of next year available. The first update of Windows 7 is the new version of Windows Live Essentials (explore.live.com) became available in mid-June. Furthermore, Microsoft is of course the next version of Windows. But it will take about two years before “Windows 8 ‘on the market

The last sentence is the important one. The post, published on October 22, 2010 reveals that it will take another two years before Windows 8 will ship, which would fall directly in line with the predictions that Windows 8 will be released in the end of 2012. (via)

If all things go as planned, we will likely see a similar to Windows 7 development schedule, with a Windows 8 beta release in January of 2012, a Windows 8 release candidate in April 2012 and a Windows 8 RTM release in July.

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There’s almost a constant flow of rumors floating around the web as to when the next service pack from Microsoft will be released, not to mention what it might possibly include. We’ve heard news that it may include support for USB 3.0 and improved bluetooth support as well as several other things.

However we have still been left in the dark over a release date for SP1 and we’ve also been wondering, Does Windows 7 really need a Service Pack?

Well according to some good old speculation from Malaysian Site TechARP.com and some “reliable sources” Microsoft will send out 7 SP1 by Q4 of 2010.

Now in case you think that TechARP is just pulling our leg here, it would appear not. It seems there not too bad when it comes to figuring out when service packs from Microsoft are coming out. They were bang on target when it came to release dates for Windows XP and Vista service packs, so lets not doubt them too much here.

In January, a tech blogger discovered a Windows Registry Key that pointed to SP1 of the operating system. As a result some people concluded that Microsoft was planning to push out a service pack for Windows 7 soon.

But of course, we got a textbook response from Microsoft;

There is currently no news around this at the moment.”

However if we look at Microsoft’s past, we see that they didn’t release the first service pack for Windows Vista until 14 months after it was released, and lets admit it, there was a lot more bugs in Vista than in Windows 7. Windows 7 was released in October 2009, so Q4 of 2010 is right around the mark for releasing a service pack.

Source:

The Register

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Microsoft announced today that Office 2010, the latest version of its flagship productivity suite, would go on sale to business customers on May 12. While an exact release date for the general public has not been announced, Microsoft has said that it intends to release the product in June.

Windows 7 was also released to businesses a few months before it was released to the general public in an effort to spur corporate adoption of the new software.

This news was posted to the Microsoft Technet blog by of Microsoft’s Jared Fark, who is the senior marketing manager for Microsoft Office:

For businesses, we will launch the 2010 set of products, including Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010, and Project 2010 worldwide on May 12. To find out more about the Worldwide Business Launch, visit http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/proof/pages/2010-launch-events.aspx.

Fark also officially announced the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee program, which will allow most users who purchase Office 2007 to download a free copy of Office 2010 when it becomes available. To obtain the upgrade, users must do the following;

• Purchase Office 2007, or a new PC with Office 2007, and activate it between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010.
• Have, or create a Windows Live ID.
• Redeem your Tech Guarantee before October 31, 2010 by visiting www.office.com/techg.

Again, Microsoft pursued an identical strategy with its Windows 7 Technology Guarantee program, which was designed to encourage users to buy Windows Vista PCs as that operating system neared the end of its retail life.

We’ve reported previously on the official pricing of Office 2010 in both the US and the UK – given the heavy discounts at which Office 2007 is being sold on e-tail Web sites like Amazon.com, this could be a great opportunity for early adopters and tech enthusiasts to get a hold of the new product on the cheap.

Do you plan on purchasing Office 2010? Do you have thoughts about the beta or release candidate versions of the program? Let us know in the comments!

Sources: eWeek, Microsoft Technet

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Microsoft had originally confirmed that Windows 7 wouldn’t be released till 2010. We then started hearing rumours that it could come along in time for the holiday season. And finally on the 2^nd June, Microsoft announced Windows 7 would be available from the 22^nd October. So why did they bring forward the release date?
I’ll be interested in hearing your opinions on this but I thought I’d let you know mine first.

Snow Leopard

We all know that Apple is Microsoft’s biggest competition. Apple were and still are taking some of Microsoft’s market share as people were favoring the more stable Leopard OS. Snow Leopard was then announced for the 28th August. Microsoft needed to get in as soon as possible to compete and prevent losing even more market share to Apple.

Beta Builds & RC1

Microsoft also received good feedback from its beta build which was released on 9^th January 2009 it was remarkably stable and finished for a first beta release. The 1^st Release Candidate on May 5^th was a step above that again. I’ve been using it as my main OS since it was released without any problems. Microsoft’s team of developers and all those who gave feedback must have played an important role in having such a finished and stable RC. I’m sure this gave Microsoft confidence in their new OS and all the positive feedback made them realise that people wanted this sooner than 2010. They didn’t feel the need for a RC2 either which possibly would have pushed back the release date. I don’t think they needed one either.

Make Up For Vista

Windows 7 is without doubt one of the best OS’s I have ever used. It is my favourite OS at the moment and I congratulate Microsoft for finally getting it right. Don’t get me wrong, Windows XP was one of the best OS’s of its time and was a great leap forward for Microsoft, but that was way back in 2001. Things change and advance rapidly in this market and Microsoft’s solution to this with Windows Vista wasn’t their best so I won’t go on about it. They were eager to make up for their mistakes, And as I said earlier they were losing market share to Apple fairly quickly as users were heading to the more stable OS at the time. They were under pressure to produce an excellent OS fast! It’s no easy task creating a new OS with a huge amount of code that can have bugs hidden left, right and center in it. Thousands of hours must have been put into developing and testing it. And all credit to Microsoft and its testers, they really put in a good effort to make it as stable and polished as possible.

Driver Support

One of the biggest problems with Windows Vista was its lack of driver support which really put people off migrating to it. Manufacturers just didn’t want to make drivers for Windows Vista. The first few years for Vista were a nightmare for drivers. Eventually manufacturers realised that they had to make drivers for Windows Vista as it was still one of the most popular OS’s. Luckily, most drivers for Windows Vista will work with Windows 7 as well. Also manufacturers are more excited about Windows 7 than Vista, and those that didn’t make drivers for Vista are now doing so for Windows 7. This again will give consumers and businesses the confidence to upgrade to Windows 7, and it means Microsoft doesn’t have to wait for everyone to catch up and make drivers for Windows 7.

Key Market Opportunity

And finally, during one of the worst economic downturns we have ever experienced, Microsoft still had the ambition to release a new product. Obviously the best time for any business to release a new product is in time for the Christmas holidays. Microsoft’s original release date for 2010 would have been too late. If Microsoft had missed this opportunity to get their new product out there on new laptops and computers bought for Christmas, they would have missed a key opportunity to get back some of its market share and make some revenue.

So what do you think Microsoft’s reasoning was for releasing Windows 7 on the 22^nd October 2009 instead of 2010? Let us know in the comments.

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Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is an anti-malware product that works via the cloud, a successor to OneCare, and contains quite a bit of promise. The beta versions had a strong ability to detect and remove malware, and as the product grows, its strength will only increase as more and more users automatically submit telemetry to the cloud. Even so, MSE already has a strong base, with 400,000 testers during the beta release.

MSE will also be completely free (assuming that your operating system passing the WGA test), matching the company’s belief in anti-virus software. The program is mainly being marketed as a lightweight, effective solution especially meant for those who do not currently have existing protection (estimated at 50-60% of users) or consumers whose anti-virus suite has expired, leaving them open to attacks by malware.

As for the release date, according to a message sent to participants of the beta, Microsoft plans to release the final version of MSE soon: “the final version of Microsoft Security Essentials will be released to the public in the coming weeks.” In the meantime, feel free to give the beta a try, and potentially helping to improve the product:

Just make sure that you meet the system requirements, as outlined by the Redmond giant on the official page for Security Essentials:

• Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3); Windows Vista; Windows 7 (Beta or Release Candidate)
• For Windows XP, a Personal Computer with a:
  • CPU with clock speed of 500 MHz or higher
  • Memory: 256 MB RAM or higher
• For Windows Vista and Windows 7, a Personal Computer with a:
  • CPU with clock speed of 1.0 GHz or higher
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM or higher
• VGA (Display): 800 x 600 or higher
• Storage: 140 MB of available hard-disk space
• An Internet connection.
• Internet Browser:
  • Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
  • Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later

Feel free to leave a comment below describing your experiences with the software.

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Windows 7 isn’t out the door yet, but Microsoft seem to be making good progress with Windows 8.  A roadmap slide from Microsoft’s Italian subsidiary has Windows 8 penciled in for a 2012 release:

Note though that Windows 8 is down as approximately 2012.  Even still, it looks like Microsoft are sticking to their 2.5-3 year release cycle, with Windows Vista launching Jan 2007 (it was late), Windows 7 in October 2009 and Windows 8 in 2012.

Windows 8 is also denoted as ‘codemane Windows 8′ – does this mean that ‘Windows 8‘ will not be called Windows 8?

I’m expecting big things from Windows 8.  Although Windows 7 is a great release and adds several much needed improvements to Windows Vista, it’s still too familiar for me and doesn’t feel ‘new’ enough and I’m looking forward to getting a new OS to get my teeth into!

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Russian Twitter user Deeper2k recently tweeted a picture of an official mailing from Microsoft to Russian reseller partners, saying that business users with Software Assurance contracts before 31 August will be able to:

“have the rights to upgrade to Windows 7 on PCs they purchased starting on August 1, 2008”, with 15 per cent off”.

This is a significant change of strategy for Microsoft, as unlike the launch of Vista where business users were able to buy Windows Vista 2 months earlier than consumers, the original plan for the business and consumer launches of Windows 7 were for them to occur at the same time.

Microsoft are clearly desperate to cash in on the success and popularity of Windows 7 as quickly as possible.  All the signs are pointing to the fact that Windows 7 will be a major success for Microsoft, and well thought out features like Windows 7 XP mode will surely convince many businesses who decided not to upgrade to Vista, to make the leap to Windows 7.

I certainly hope my firm does, as it’s getting to the point were I’m struggling to use Windows XP as it’s so unfamiliar!

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Microsoft have confirmed the rumour that it has decided to give a much longer span of time for businesses to choose whether or not they want to downgrade their computers from Windows 7 to Windows XP after purchase.   The original deadline was only 6 months, which would have been a disaster for many corporates who haven’t even upgraded to Vista yet, or don’t plan to upgrade to Windows 7 within that period.

The new deadline for companies to roll back their purchases to XP is April 23, 2011. However, if one attempts to downgrade after the April 23 release date, they can scale down only to Vista. It was an unexpected, yet considerable move by the corporate giant to give businesses and consumers a chance to test drive their new operating system with the ability to return to one which they know is stable.

The downgrade only applies to Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate purchases, which is a bit sneaky as corporates will be paying a huge price premium for an OS they won’t be using.

Could this be a bad move by Microsoft? If they do happen to release a version of Windows 7 that is covered in bugs, then this could lose new users right off the bat. The public in general does not want to pay for patience, and the arrival of a service pack to fix the problems that could arise wouldn’t come for months. It seems Microsoft is trying to prepare for the worst by offering this, but they could easily be shooting themselves in the foot. Luckily, however, Windows 7 does appear stable enough for release. But as we all learned from Bill Gates, anything can happen.

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Microsoft announced today that Windows 7 will be released October 22nd.   Although Microsoft said Windows 7 would be out in time for the holiday period, I doubt many people expected such an early date.  A Windows 7 RTM build should hit the streets around August.

Users who purchase a Windows Vista based system from the summer should expect to be offered an upgrade offer, rather than having to pay the full price to buy Windows 7.

Manufacturers already seem to be licking their lips in anticipation of Windows 7′s release, so expect to be bombarded with Windows 7 promotions this Christmas:

“We’re locked and loaded for the launch,” McKinney said. “The quality of code is just absolutely stellar.” Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of Hewlett-Packard’s computer unit.

Will you be upgrading to Windows 7 on launch day?  Will you wait until Windows 7 SP1 or continue runinng Windows 7 RC/RTM for as long as possible?

Update: Interested users can check out the official Microsoft Press release that is mentioned October 22 as the release data.

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It seems that Microsoft tried to ignore all the speculations and rumors about a soon to be published Windows Vista successor for as long as they could until they finally gave in and confirmed to Softpedia that the official release year for Windows 7 will be 2010, not 2009 and not 2011 as some other blogs and magazines have suggested.

Microsoft explained that it would deliver Windows 7 three years after the consumers launch of Vista. “We are currently in the planning stages for Windows 7 and development is scoped to three years from Windows Vista Consumer GA. The specific release date will be determined once the company meets its quality bar for release,” a Microsoft spokesperson revealed to Softpedia via email.

What does it mean for the consumer ? 2010 is still two years ahead which will give consumers enough time to switch to Windows Vista or sit it out with Windows XP until Windows 7 arrives. If you want my personal opinion, I don’t think it’s very smart from a consumer standpoint to release the new operating system in 2010 which feels awfully early.

Microsoft might think otherwise and analyst might prove them right again.

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