Microsoft on Wednesday announced a release date of Oct. 26 for the consumer release of Windows 8.
The company had previously announced a “late October” launch date for the new OS, but Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live unit at Microsoft announced the more specific date at the company’s annual sales meeting.
The date was updated on Windows 8′s Wikipedia page within minutes of the announcement.
Meanwhile, the “RTM” (Release to Manufacturing) version of Win 8 is set to hit the first week of August. The dates are not particularly surprising, since the Redmond software giant typically delivers operating system updates in October. Still, there was always the worry, especially among Microsoft partners that are anxious to bundle the latest OS in their new computers and tablets, that the Metro-design-sporting update could ship too late for inclusion in holiday-buying-season systems. Microsoft revealed its schedule during its annual Windows Partner conference in Toronto.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced an aggressive upgrade pricing model. Users running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 can upgrade to Windows 8 Professional for just $39.99 via an online download. Some earlier reports indicated that Microsoft would no longer provide retail box copies of Windows 8 (aside from some upgrade DVDs), but Microsoft didn’t address store availability in its blog post on the subject.
Not only will Windows 8 ship on partner devices in late October, but the company revealed that Windows 8 will, at the same time, ship in 109 countries and 231 languages. (Source: Mashable)
