Recent rumors said that Microsoft will most probably have its first Windows 8 tablet UI, with a mobile-influenced design, by the middle of 2011. The first step in this redesign is supposedly scheduled for Microsoft’s fiscal year end, which happens before the end of June. The SAI tip hints that the tablet will be inspired from Apple, as well as from Windows Phone 7’s Metro interface.
However, related sources decline analyst claims which say that Microsoft wants to speed up operating system development and will surely have partners for Windows 8 tablets before 2012. The tips said that Microsoft is not yet supplying developers with any help for Windows’s ARM variant. No Professional Developers Conference has taken place, in order to bring developers together in an appropriate timeframe.
Microsoft has already put 1,000 staff working on Windows 8 and the ARM port’s development. This means that the company is still committed to its strategy. It is known that increasing staff rarely leads to accelerating development time.
Most of the observers expect Windows 8 to come out in beta version by the end of September. Microsoft usually outs one or more extra beta releases, as well as one or even more release candidates. The company almost always follows a three-year release schedule for its new operating systems. Windows 8 could reach shelves with tablets by the end of 2010 (this would make three years after the Windows 7 release date).
Windows is currently pursuing Android and iOS in market share, even if it has struggled to gain approval in the tablet space. Microsoft has recently attempted to release an anticipatory strike by creating a halo around HP’s Slate as being the tablet which would stop Apple; it was in the end delayed and transferred to niche sales. Later, Microsoft has toned down its language and tried to focus on specialized tablet uses, without any expectation of upsetting the tablet market (for example, Samsung’s Sliding PC 7).
