Windows 8 Release Date: October 26, 2012
Microsoft has officially announced the release date for the long-awaited next update of the Windows operating system, Windows 8. Windows 8 is set to release on October 26, 2012.
Steven Sinofsky announced this date at Microsoft’s annual sales meeting and The Windows Blog shared the news. The Windows 8 release date is what everyone was predicting. You can mark the date on your calendars if you are waiting to upgrade to the final version of Windows 8.
From October 26, 2012, consumers will be able to either buy the operating or they can buy Windows 8 upgrade at promo price of $39.99. Earlier, Microsoft did hinted that Windows 8 is coming in the last week of October.
October 26, 2012 will also be the date, when Windows 8 will come preloaded on new PCs as OEM version. Windows 8 RT-based tablets and Surface PC’s seems to be also available from October 26, 2012, via the Microsoft Stores and select online stores. Now, the countdown can truly begin as Windows 8 release date is official.
Business users with volume-licensing contracts will get Windows 8 final bits shortly after Windows 8 RTM (Released to manufacturing) is available, which according to Microsoft is in the first week of August. No official statement about the availability of the final bits of Windows 8 for MSDN and TechNet subscriptions is released yet. Until then, we can get accustomed with the new Metro user interface and changes by playing around with the Windows 8 Release Preview.
During the announcement of the Windows 8 release date, there was no mention of full retail price of Windows 8. There are some rumors going on that Microsoft may do away with the full version of Windows which are sold at retails. The full retail version of Windows typically means a fully licensed version of Windows which is sold in a box via retailers.
Usually, the full license version is very costly and not very popular. Very few consumers actually buys the fully licensed copy of Windows. Most users either get their Windows preloaded on new PCs, or via volume-licensing deals, or as an upgrade. Microsoft’s silence on the full-retail price of Windows 8 may be a hint that the rumor may be true.
After the official announcement of the Windows 8 release date, we are now expecting release dates for Office 2013, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Phone 8.
