It’s D-Day for Microsoft today, as Windows 8 is finally launched by the Redmond-based computing giant. And it has been a long time coming, as Microsoft’s omnipresent operating system is getting a major lick of paint and rolling out to the masses tomorrow.
However, Windows 8 has already been available in various pre-launch guises, with the Developer Preview version rolling out in September last year, followed by the Consumer Preview (February 2012), and Release Preview (May 2012). Then, on August 1, Windows 8 was released to manufacturing (RTM), with all the major creases ironed out. In theory, at least.
But it’s not giving up the ghost on the previous operating system – Windows 7. Indeed, at a launch event in New York today, Steven Sinofsky, President of Windows, announced that Windows 7 has shifted 670m licenses to both consumers and businesses since launch three years ago, up from 630m in July this year. He also noted that its cloud-based SkyDrive service has 200m customers storing data, including 11 billion photos.
As for the darling of the day, Windows 8, well over the course of its long pre-release period, it saw 16m installs in the past year. We can expect this figure to jump considerably after today, though as I’ve previous argued, it won’t be for everyone.
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Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll start seeing a slew of Windows 8 machines shipping, but to get the full benefit of the hybrid touch-focused interface, you’ll likely want to hold out for a hybrid machine.
The company also announced that in Windows 8, WiFi reconnection will require about 1 second, as compared to 15 seconds in Windows 7
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