Hasta La Gadget!

After spending what seems like eons with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Microsoft has finally given us a release date for Windows 8. We already knew that the next version of Microsoft’s famous OS was going to be hitting shelves in October, but now, thanks today’s announcement from Steven Sinofsky during the company’s annual sales meeting, we have the actual day: October 26, 2012.

So, if you’ve loved what you’ve seen of Windows 8 so far, you don’t have that much longer to wait until you can finally get your hands on the full version. How many different versions of Windows 8 Microsoft will be offering seems to be up in the air at the moment, with recent rumors claiming that Microsoft may be looking to axe the retail version of Windows 8 entirely. If it does that, there’s a chance that Microsoft may choose to only offer the Windows 8 upgrade and an OEM version of the OS.

The good news is that the upgrade to Windows 8 will only cost $40 through January 31, 2013, so long as you’re upgrading from Windows XP or later. This means that the Windows 8 upgrade will cost significantly less than past Windows upgrades, but you’ll have to be fast if you want to take advantage of the low price.

Now that we have a firm release date, more details about Windows 8 will likely start pouring out soon, so keep it tuned to SlashGear for more Windows 8 news.

[via Windows Blog]

Windows 8 release date finally announced is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve known that Windows 8 will be out some time in October for a while now, but Steven Sinofsky just announced in a sales meeting that it would be available to customers on October 26th. More »

If you think that there are too many tablets on the market to choose from right now, wait until later this year. According to reports online, it looks like there’s going to be a whole bunch of Windows 8 tablet to join the already crowded tablet market. At a recent investor call, Intel’s chief executive, Paul Otellini, announced that the company is tracking more than 20 Windows 8 tablet designs based on its low-power and low-cost Clover Trail Atom SoC in addition to a number of Core-based tablets. There are also a dozen convertible and touch enabled devices based on Ivy Bridge, which suggest hybrid laptop and tablet devices like the Microsoft Surface and ASUS 600.

Windows 8 is scheduled to be released this October, so it won’t be long until we start seeing the market flooded with new tablets running the operating system. It’s going to be interesting to see how well it performs vs. the iPad. Anybody thinking of picking up a Windows 8 tablet this year?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Wintel tablets rumored to be pricey, Windows 8 ARM notebooks arriving in 2013?,

Yesterday saw Microsoft publicly unpack Office 15. Part of the deal was the forthcoming dedicated OneNote MX Metro-styled app. While we knew it was coming, it was one of the few things we didn’t manage to get much time with. It looks like we might not have to wait that long though, as it’s the first of new gang to be up for grabs. It’s available to download now, from the Windows Store in Windows 8 Release Preview, just set a final reminder in your current note taking app to go get it.

Filed under: Software

OneNote MX Metro-styled app for Windows 8 now available for download originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The importance of Office 2013 to Microsoft’s bottom line can’t be understated, and yet the company faces no small amount of ridicule amid questions of whether the productivity suite is “relevant” any longer. With Windows 8 fast approaching, and long-standing arguments over whether tablets are for content creation or merely consumption, Office or its Metro-styled MX variant for Windows RT slates hasn’t necessarily proved the selling point Microsoft may have hoped it might. The company already has that wildcard, though, and it’s been fermenting away under Microsoft’s nose for a decade.

The reaction to Office 2013 – perhaps best described as “a necessary evil” – has been muted if only because it’s tough to get especially excited over word processing, spreadsheet, email and (take a deep breath) presentation software. Microsoft’s Metro UI is a nice touch, and in fact it’s been responsible (along with Office 365 and its cloud ambitions) for most of the positive chatter around the suite. Still, it’s tough to be too enthused when even Microsoft’s attention is elsewhere.

Microsoft is obviously more excited about tablets running Windows 8 than it is about regular desktops or notebooks. Slates may be expected to contribute to a minority of sales overall, but they’re attention-grabbing and – many assume – the future of computing, and so they get over-emphasized in Microsoft’s strategy. That’s already prompted the company to challenge its own OEMs with Surface, no less.

What it needs is the perfect software foil to go with that; something which not only demonstrates how ambitiously segment-stealing Surface is, but how Microsoft is pushing tableteering into segments iOS (and, to a lesser extent, Android) has only partially catered for.

“The sliding panes of Metro make perfect sense for a digital notebook”

OneNote MX could well be that “killer app”. Microsoft’s digital notetaking tool has been bubbling away since the Windows XP days, but it’s with tablets broaching the mainstream that it’s finally ready for primetime. The preview that arrived in the Windows Store today is a good example of why. The sliding panes of Metro make perfect sense for leaves in a digital notebook, as does the Snap View split-screen layout that will allow, Courier-style, two apps to share Windows tablet screen-space simultaneously. (In fact, OneNote MX is crying out for a forward-thinking OEM to slap a couple of 7-inch screens together and do what Microsoft proved too gutless to attempt: give all those Courier enthusiasts the dual-display folding slate they were begging for.)

The radial pop-up menu is a perfect example of a UI that’s been percolating away in some third-party iOS apps, but which could tip over into the mainstream if Microsoft plays OneNote right. Sized to suit both fingertip and stylus control, it’s a simple and convenient hub for common controls and takes a welcome step away from the long, narrow strips of traditional Microsoft toolbars. Less sweeping sideways movement in favor of smaller, more contained button options.

If reaction to Office 2013 has proved anything, it’s that people don’t really care if their content creation tools are in the cloud, or local, or some hybrid of the two. What prompts enthusiasm is when the tools on offer are usable and intuitive: when they suit the device and the way it’s used. Microsoft has woefully underutilized OneNote in the past, but the time is ripe for the app to take its place as the hub of Windows content creation.

OneNote MX should be Microsoft’s Windows 8 content creation hub is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.