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Mar 20, 2012

Windows 8 reportedly set for October debut

Windows 8 Start screen

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft reportedly will finish work on Windows 8 by summer, setting the stage to release the next version of its flagship operating system sometime around October.

Bloomberg, citing "people with knowledge of the schedule," also reports that there will be fewer than five devices running the ARM system-on-a-chip architecture at launch. Those ARM chips allow for thinner, lighter tablet devices, something that Microsoft hopes will help it cut intoApple's iPad's huge lead in the tablet market. The Cupertino rival just disclosed that it sold more than 3 million of its latest iPad since the third-generation gadget debuted Friday.

The report confirms the timing that most analysts have been expecting. Bloomberg notes that Microsoft will lay out the details of the release schedule at an industry event in early April.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined comment on the report.

Last month, Microsoft said it planned to release a version of Windows 8 on ARM chips at the same time it launched Windows for the x86 chips that power traditional PCs. In a blog post at the time, Windows President Steven Sinofsky said "our collective goal is for PC makers to ship [Windows on ARM devices] the same time" as more conventional Windows PCs debut.

Having fewer than five devices, though, would offer consumers only slight alternatives to Apple's hugely popular iPad. That said, some Microsoft partner may also make tablets running x86 chips, though those devices would likely be bulkier than iPads and the ARM-powered Windows 8 gadgets.

Bloomberg also reported that more than 40 computers running the x86 architecture will be ready for the Windows 8 launch.

An early look at Microsoft Office 15

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Microsoft Office 15 will come built for the desktop but offer a huge touch of the Metro flair, according to a description posted by Supersite for Windows author Paul Thurrott, who obtained a copy of an early preview version.

Accord to Thurrott, the technical preview of Office 15 kicks off like the current version, letting you choose which applications to install.

But after a full installation, you'll find your Metro start screen cluttered with a huge number of live tiles for each application. That's an inherent flaw in the Metro UI, which doesn't allow tiles to be organized into folders. Install enough apps, and your Metro screen can easily be inundated by dozens, if not hundreds, of individual tiles stretching across your screen.

Thurrott even asks the question: "Will Microsoft clean this up? I would bet so." Microsoft clearly needs to offer users a better way to manage the vast number of apps destined to take up space on the start screen. So I also have to believe this must be on the company's to-do list for Windows 8.

Looking at a specific Office application, namely Microsoft Word, it displays a split view with a list of recent documents on the left and a stack of Word templates to choose from on the right. From the screenshot provided by Thurrott, this resembles the split screen you see when you run two Metro apps side by side.

As part of the clean screen approach seen in other Windows 8 apps, such as Internet Explorer 10, Word keeps its infamous ribbon minimized by default, available only when you want it. A new full-screen view hides the ribbon and all other elements, letting you focus just on your document.

Office 15 also taps into the integration between Windows 8 and your Windows Live ID account. By signing into the new OS with your Live ID, you can access your online Photo Gallery, SkyDrive, and other Live services.

The SkyDrive access should prove convenient for people who store their documents online. I use SkyDrive to sync my local files so they're available both in the cloud and across other PCs. Office 15 will let you work directly with your documents on SkyDrive just as if they were stored locally.

The other applications in the suite, such as Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, carry on with the same visual style and clean screen approach.

Since this is a technical preview, which Microsoft only made available to a select few customers, the company likely still has more changes in store for the new Office suite. But at first glance, Office 15 seems like a step in the right direction, offering some of the simplicity of the Metro style but keeping its roots firmly as a desktop program.

The technical preview of the new Office is expected to blossom into a full beta sometime this summer, available for everyone to try out.