Microsoft has announced that it’s upcoming flagship operating system, Windows 8, will only have four versions of the software compared to it’s current OS, Windows 7, which has 6 versions (More if you count the upgrade / sub-editions).
Windows 8 will be released with the following versions;
- Windows 8 – Will include an updated Windows Explorer, Task Manager, Multi-monitor support, ability to switch languages on the fly.
- Windows 8 Pro – Will include everything from Windows 8, plus Encryption, Virtualization (Think Hyper-V), A better layoput of management tools and the ability to connect to domains.
- Windows RT – Is the ARM-only version and will only ship on PC’s / Tablets that are powered with an ARM processor. For you gamers you can simply ignore this version.
- Windows 8 Enterprise – The mutha of all Window 8 releases. This version will contain everything from Windows 8 Pro and add enterprise level management tools.
There are currently no pricing on the Windows 8 versions but we’re sure Microsoft will let us know in good time. For more information of the differences of the OS hit up the Official Windows 8 Team Blog at – http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx
That said I’ve been running the Windows 8 RC1 on my spare PC and I’m not 100% sold on it, sure I like the direction that the OS is heading but there are changes that really don’t make anyt sense and I truly hate the Metro UI. C’mon Microsoft, we all don’t like that Metro UI garbage you’re attempting to force down or throats, didn’t you hear up complain about the recent XboX 360 Dashboard changes? Yuck!
Source – Windows Team Blog
