Today Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky in Microsoft’s annual sales meeting finally announced that Windows 8 will launch on October 26th, 2012. We’ve been waiting for this a while, and there was already speculation that the launch would be coming sometime this October so it's great to finally have a specific date nailed down. That is the date you’ll be able to get your hands on either an upgrade, or a new PC preloaded with the new operating system.
If you’ve been following the progress of Windows 8 you’ll know that the Consumer Preview is already available for use at no cost so you can take the software for a spin and see a sneak peek at some of the changes. Right now everything is on track for the software to be released to manufacturing in early August, and it should be smooth sailing from there for Microsoft.
This new build of Windows promises lots of changes too. For starters it supports both x86 devices (mainly PCs) ARM devices (mainly tablets). That means you will be able to run the same software whether you’re using a desktop PC, notebook computer, or tablet. You can swap between a full spectrum of devices from a desktop workstation to a tiny ultra-portable tablet with all day battery and not have to worry about compatibility or switching software. The choice is yours.
Right now you may be wondering if your current hardware is up to running this new operating system. If you’re already able to run Windows 7 fine, you should have no problems upgrading to this new build. Everything ought to run just as well or even better on Windows 8. for the Consumer Preview Microsoft recommends a 1 GHz CPU, 1GB RAM (32-bit), 2GB RAM (64-bit) and a Direct X 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. Those aren’t the final minimum system requirements for Windows 8 but it gives you a good idea what to expect.
