Attention Windows OS Users: expect Windows 8 to go on sale in October. No specific date has been set yet by Microsoft (News - Alert), and they have yet to announce a price for the new OS.

The word is finally out that the Windows operating system, version 8, will be released in the fall as planned; Microsoft confirmed that the operating system is now in its final phase of development, set for release to manufacturing (RTM) the first week of August.

Microsoft's new operating system will be available for PCs and existing Windows Phone (News - Alert) devices, or for touch-based tablet computers, such as the ARM-friendly Windows RT tablet. It is the company’s objective to push Windows 8 on desktops, laptops and ultrabooks as well, in order to have a greater impact in the enterprise market.

The release of Windows 8 will likely increase Microsoft’s stock and might make it the dominant OS on servers and PCs; however, Windows might still have a hard time, at least for this year, in trying to be the operating system of choice for laptops and other mobile devices when competing against Google (News - Alert) Android, Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X on a laptop and iOS for the iPad or smartphone.

Due to the late release of Windows 8, Microsoft will be playing catch-up with Apple (News - Alert) and Google for dominance in the market.

Users can expect Windows 8 will be one of the most important overhauls of the software since 1995. Microsoft’s new system will also naturally have the same great performance, speed, security and reliability present in Windows 7.

Windows 8 will have a new developer platform, based on HTML5 and JavaScript, including new apps, a Metro-style user interface optimized for touchscreens, and an application programming interface (API) to support near field communication (NFC), used for sharing information between devices.

Individuals can preview the latest on Microsoft’s website; look for the pre-release software available to download.

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