will the new windows be released this year FOR SURE?

[taxico]

is there any certainty that the new windows (8?) will be released THIS year?

i'm asking as i badly want to replace my laptop but i only want to purchase a new one with the latest version of windows.

anyone in the IT industry able to shed some light...?

becqause if it won't be released this year i may just buy one soon instead of waiting.

[Strong Eagle]

Allegedly to be released in October, 2012, but don't hold your breath. A 2 or 3 month slippage could easily occur, although I expect that MS will work hard to ensure all those new Christmas PC's that are going to be bought come with Win 8.

[aster]

is there any certainty that the new windows (8?) will be released THIS year?

W-H-O C-A-R-E-S ?

You should already be using Mac OS by now...

[nakatago]

Personally, I'd get this if they deliver to Singapore: https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/gazp7

[durain]

how about a chromebook?

anyway, if windows 8 slip form it's release date, what microsoft can do is to give you a free upgrade from windows 7. that's what they did when windows 7 wasnt ready.

[taxico]

i understand this time MS is charging a small fee to upgrade from 7 to 8, unlike before.

i've got a model in mind but i wonder if the specs will improve much come Q4 2012...

[Mi Amigo]

FWIW my advice would be to not go for the latest and 'greatest' Windows version too soon. I managed to stick with Windows XP for long enough to completely avoid using their lousy Vista OS. I eventually moved most of my PCs to Windows 7 after it had matured a bit (to Service Pack 1) and it works fine for me.

Windows 8 looks interesting, particularly the mobile version. But it could turn out to be another Vista for all we know, so I'll certainly be playing the waiting game.

As Aster points out, MACs work well too - the new MacBook Pros that are due imminently promise to be very good. So it's good to have lots of options. For example, I love my new Asus Transformer Prime (it runs Android 4.x); it works great for me when I'm on the road. Asus are going to make Win8 versions of these later in the year:

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/45924/a ... putex-2012

[aster]

I managed to stick with Windows XP for long enough to completely avoid using their lousy Vista OS. I eventually moved most of my PCs to Windows 7 after it had matured a bit (to Service Pack 1) and it works fine for me.

As Aster points out, MACs work well too - the new MacBook Pros that are due imminently promise to be very good.

I have to say I would probably have never switched to a Mac if it wasn't for Windows Visa. I had a nice Sony laptop running XP at the time and needed some new hardware with a bigger screen, better specs, and all I could see was Vista everywhere.

Didn't like it so I bought a Mac and got used to it within a month.

Are there any major changes coming up in the new Macs?

[Strong Eagle]

Release date announced as October 26.

[nakatago]

Release date announced as October 26.

And a digital download upgrade would only cost 39.95 USD...tempted to get on my old Vista* multimedia machine. I just need to check if the manufacturer will release drivers for it.

(I still have my ubuntu ASUS as my daily driver though. )

*For those wondering, I replaced the OS with ubuntu when I got that machine. Then I got a new machine (which I put ubuntu on) just recently and restored the original OS so that I can again fully use the proprietary multimedia features (e.g. 5.1 sound, dedicated MM hardware panel, fingerprint scanner, etc) which I gave up when I was using it with ubuntu.

[x9200]

Judging from the development history so far every even version was an extraordinary pile of rubbish as compared to an ordinary one so I would not rush and upgrade with the 8th version.
Yeah, I also have a multimedia pc but it is windowsized because of the software reasons - I use pegasys/tmpeg and Vegas for HD movies processing.
I know it can be pretty hardware specific but already back 4 years ago there were some drivers for fingerprint readers under linux and 5+1 sound should be not a problem at all. MM panel, never tried so not sure
What do you need the fingerprint reader for?

[nakatago]

Judging from the development history so far every even version was an extraordinary pile of rubbish as compared to an ordinary one so I would not rush and upgrade with the 8th version.
Yeah, I also have a multimedia pc but it is windowsized because of the software reasons - I use pegasys/tmpeg and Vegas for HD movies processing.
I know it can be pretty hardware specific but already back 4 years ago there were some drivers for fingerprint readers under linux and 5+1 sound should be not a problem at all. MM panel, never tried so not sure
What do you need the fingerprint reader for?

Yup; I managed 5.1 to work in PulseAudio once but everytime I upgrade I got tired of making the 5.1 sound work in linux (besides, I didn't have enough 5.1 media files anyway) and the fingerprint scanner's just for logging in. BTW, it's a laptop. Not really bothered by what OS I put in there now since I already have another machine for my daily driver, I'm free to play around with this one.

In any case, Windows 8's gotta be better than Vista. The only thing worse than Vista is Windows ME.

[x9200]

Probably 95 - bad, 98 - better, ME - bad, XP - better, Vista - bad, 7 - better, 8?

[nakatago]

Probably 95 - bad, 98 - better, ME - bad, XP - better, Vista - bad, 7 - better, 8?

Well, from what I gather the thing people complain about are the touch interface and other usability/customization decisions they made. Under the hood, people aren't complaining.

[Alisonfh]

Well... this article sums it up pretty well.

UI-wise, I think most people are just too used to what Apple has done with how multi-touch UIs work, so the Windows 8 UI is either going to take a while (adoption) or be a complete flop (rejection)...