News - Microsoft announces four Windows 8 editions

[HEXUS]

Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise and a little something called Windows RT.

Read more.

[Paragone]

Interested what the EU is going to say about the pre-installed programs, I can remember a huge fine against Microsoft for automatic installing I.E.-Explorer on their machines without giving the costumer a opportunity to choose.

[cheesemp]

Wonder how cheap Windows RT will be pitched to OEMs? Let face it, it needs to be cheap to compete with Android "couple of dollars patient protection licences" and to also ensure the tablets are competitive in price with ipads as lets face it very few people (apart from a few on here) will pay extra for a Microsoft tablet. For people anti-apple like me we already have android to choose from...

[lodore]

I like the fact that Microsoft has lowered the amount of versions available.
Im just wondering what the preorder price will be now.

[Tpyo]

Not that I'm desperate for it - but the ability to obtain OEM style licenses for the -RT version would be nice. The option to install Win8 on an existing tablet (even if only to try) rather than having to buy a new one would be convenient, even if it is something I myself am not planning to do.

[crossy]

we now know that when Microsoft's next major operating system does choose to arrive, it'll do so in four unique flavours.

Good idea - nice and simple to understand. Win8 for Home; Win8Pro for SoHo/SMB; Win8 Enterprise for the mega corps; and Win8RT for tablets. None of this "Starter" nonsense - although I suspect that there might be a Win8RT/N for Europe.

The primary edition will support 32-bit and 64-bit systems powered by x86 processors, and will offer in-place upgrades from Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Hmm, anyone going to use this? Personally I'm thinking it might be better to use the user account backup feature in my current Win7Pro and then restore that into a new installation of Win8Pro.

Named, presumably, after the new Windows runtime (WinRT), this edition will include a touch-optimised version of Microsoft Office as standard, but will not support the installation of any x86 software - relying, instead, on Metro Apps

Oooh, the EU's not going to like Office pre-installed. Plus I'm not 100% convinced - surely it's going to put the price of Win8RT devices up? Expect to see a "this is anti-competitive" statement from the EU and then a "Europeanised" version of Win8RT.

I can see the point of not being able to run x86 code on ARM devices, but I thought MS were supposed to be making it "simple" to generate an ARM version from existing source - so it wasn't supposed to be a "big deal" to get your favourite x86 programs in a compatible version. If MS don't do this then surely it's going to mean a restrictive set of apps for Win8 tablets, which in turn means that they're going to fail against Android and iOS devices?

I'll wait for some benchmarks etc of Windows8, but if PC World/Amazon/etc do a good trade-up deal (like was done for Windows7) then I'll be tempted to slap in that pre-order.

[TheAnimus]

Wonder how cheap Windows RT will be pitched to OEMs? Let face it, it needs to be cheap to compete with Android "couple of dollars patient protection licences" and to also ensure the tablets are competitive in price with ipads as lets face it very few people (apart from a few on here) will pay extra for a Microsoft tablet. For people anti-apple like me we already have android to choose from...

I don't know why, but most of the Andriod tablets I've used, with the exception of the Transformer and the Xoom feel very sluggish compared to an Ipad at simple things like the home screen, or when going in to a web browser the fact the background colour changes quickly, via an animation. I'd hazard a guess it takes little if any longer for the web page to appear, but they feel slow and sluggish, with the HTC thing been almost unusably slow.

If they are able to compete sideby side, the branding might be irrelevent, but I think MetroUI might put a lot of people off, but it might well put a lot of people on.

[crossy]

I don't know why, but most of the Andriod tablets I've used, with the exception of the Transformer and the Xoom feel very sluggish compared to an Ipad at simple things like the home screen, or when going in to a web browser the fact the background colour changes quickly, via an animation.

I blame Honeycomb - the Transformer wasn't bad, but I've used a couple of other products (e.g. the HTC Flyer you mentioned in the bit I snipped) that made me want to smack them in frustration. But then again, it seems like the manufacturer's "value add" made a "beta" OS worse.

Even the Transformer was frustrating at times. Now we've got ICS though, it's 100x better, and I've got no complaints.

Bearing that experience in mind, what's the betting that the initial tranche of Win8RT devices are going to be reviewed as "poor" - at least until MS drop a service pack or two on them? After all, it wouldn't be the first time that's happened!

[Zadock]

I don't see Media Centre or an equivalent on that list of features? Is there any other indication that it will be included? Might put HTPC users off.

Mobile broadband features could be useful particularly if it helps to manage data use with tethering as well. Last thing you want is to log on and have windows download 500mb of updates.

[cjs150]

Oooh, the EU's not going to like Office pre-installed. Plus I'm not 100% convinced - surely it's going to put the price of Win8RT devices up? Expect to see a "this is anti-competitive" statement from the EU and then a "Europeanised" version of Win8RT.

As it is based on ARM devices it will be competing with Android tablets and iPad. Windows does not have any significant market share so I think they can include any programs and features they like without running foul of EU. Even my Android phone comes with an Office clone software included.

[crossy]

As it is based on ARM devices it will be competing with Android tablets and iPad. Windows does not have any significant market share so I think they can include any programs and features they like without running foul of EU. Even my Android phone comes with an Office clone software included.

The difference is that the MobileOffice/PolarisOffice/etc is a 3rd party product bundled in by the phone manufacturer as a convenience and you're free to choose something else, whereas some may argue that bundling "real" Microsoft Office means that it's going to be impossible for anyone else to do a competing product. Last time, wasn't it argued that the OS and the browser were so intertwined that you had to have IE - this won't presumably be the case with Office/RT.

I'll be VERY surprised if MS haven't learned their lesson from the last encounter with the EU, and I'm willing to bet that any Office bundled with Win8/RT will be a restricted feature "Starter" edition. To do otherwise means that you can't then upsell customers to the full edition of Office/RT.

As to the justification of "no significant market share" - that has some truth to it. But if Win8/RT is going to be as successful as some have forecast (because of its "seamless" integration with desktop editions) then it will become a force to be reckoned with - not necessarily replacing Android and iOS at #2 and #1, but certainly stealing (appreciable numbers of?) customers from both. In which case, having a monopoly in office suites might be something that the EU would take notice of.

[J3FFW1SH]

Having played around with the Windows 8 beta I am really keen to get this installed on some virtual machines at work and see how this integrates with our domain and Server 2008 R2.

[Zeven]

I intend to make Windows 7 my last Windows operating system and will thus stick with it for a while. Linux better grow in the mean time.

[HalloweenJack]

amdroid comes bundled with open office on my tab alrleady , so whats the difference with MS doing the same win win8?

[crossy]

amdroid comes bundled with open office on my tab alrleady , so whats the difference with MS doing the same win win8?

First off, that "OpenOffice" on your device is probably the 3rd party reader application. Secondly, the difference is that with Office/RT it's the maker of the OS that's doing the bundling - so there's always going to be the suspicion that the OS team have tweaked their contribution to make sure that Office runs that little bit better than another product would. Thirdly, it's the maker of the hardware that's doing the bundling with your phone. So while Microsoft doing the bundling of an Office app may be contentious in some places, someone like Samsung doing it (I'm assuming that they're going to "do" Win/RT devices) would be a lot less so.

My view is that if the "Office/RT" app is merely a reader for Office 2007/2010/.. files then there's no problem, because there's still a market there for LibreOffice-for-RT, Office/RT Full, Doc2Go, etc.

[Major_Trouble]

I tried it on my laptop in a virtual machine and I hate the Metro interface. I won't be downgrading from Windows 7 for 8. On a tablet it might be better. Unless there is an opt-out of Metro I'll wait for 9.