Forget Windows 7, Windows 8 is already on its way
We’re still all eagerly awaiting the release of Windows 7, yet Microsoft is officially already working on Windows 8. Two recent job postings indicate the next operating system will be much-improved in many areas and due for release in 2012. Are you excited yet?
It feels like we’ve been waiting for Windows 7 for ages now. We haven’t, it’s only been two-and-a-half years since Vista arrived. Maybe that’s why it feels like a lifetime, because Vista was so damn disappointing and many people haven’t given it the credit it now deserves.
It looks as though Windows 7 is finally finished though. The Release Candidate has already leaked on torrent sites, and the official version is due around May 5. So let’s forget it and focus on the next-but-one Microsoft OS, Windows 8. It’s coming, and probably sooner than most people would expect.
According to ZDNet, Microsoft is already hiring developers specifically to work on Windows 8, despite Windows 7 not yet being out the door. Job postings from April 14 and April 16 seek people for “cluster support and support for one-way replication,” and “the next version of [File Server Management].”
Job postings mentioning Windows 8 have been spotted as far back as 2007 but these are the first which actually mention specific roles and define what element of the future OS an applicant would be working on.
Windows 8 could be with us as early as 2011 although Microsoft is officially claiming 2012 as more likely. As with Vista to Windows 7, this 3-year development plan will likely change depending on how the preceding product is received and how well it ages.
With the increase in use of cloud computing, there has been speculation that Windows 7 will be the last major traditional OS Microsoft releases. But it seems not. Despite looking like having a complete overhaul of the filing system, little is known about what form Windows 8 will ultimately take. It could be just an extension of Windows 7, a leap forward in operating systems, or something straddling the cloud computing service role.
What do you think? What would you like to see in Windows 8? Do you really not care right now, at least until Windows 7 is released and installed on your PC?
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April 25th, 2009
I bought a copy of Vista on 29 June 2007 and finally installed on my supposed HP “Vista Capable” laptop in January 2009, roughly 18 months later. Why? Because there were too many problems identified by the Vista Update software until then. I started using Vista Ultimate about 12 months earlier on a desktop that I purchased. I have no problems with Vista, per se. It is actually quite a nice OS. I do, however, have great problems with MS. In terms of Vista, they promised high and delivered low; the perfect recipe for marketing disaster. Quite simply, they treated customers contemptibly. Take VU for example, where are the promised extras and specials? MS got what it deserved with Vista!
April 25th, 2009
I have been using Vista since July 2007. The only problems I have had have not been with Vista, but with crappy hardware that burns up every 2 weeks. In my opinion Vista is great, and Windows 7 was totally unnecessary at least until 2011 or so.
I run Vista Problem free on:
AMD Athlon 64 x2 2.1 ghz
160 GB HDD
3.5 GB RAM
April 25th, 2009
im using win 7 beta build 7000 now.. i m looking forward to test the win 8 but.. hope to find my files that on linux os on same hard disc while using win 8…
ubuntu makes this possible.. win 7 should do but .. it cant.. anyway.. hope .. the management system will be REALLY different (i hope)
April 27th, 2009
> What would you like to see in Windows 8?
Open source.
April 28th, 2009
Yeah Vista was dissapointing for Dave so it must for everyone
Maybe blogger is still using dos 6.22 and Win 3.11 and refuses to upgrade to win95 because it just sucks?
April 29th, 2009
Dave Vista was simply as O/S ahead of its time.
People where expecting what Windows 2000 did to there mechines out of vista.
When people moved from Windows 98/ME to Windows 2000 on the same hardware it was like giving your PC turbo button. It atualy improved you system,
People expected the same from vista. and it didnt happen.
Your tittle “Forget Windows 7, Windows 8 is already on its way” Is a little poxy ?
Windows 7 is well worth the wait. people should be keeping there eyes on the shelf for this OS and not worriing about a OS that is not even in alfa yet ?
April 30th, 2009
Vista wasn’t ahead of anything. It’s not as horrible as the press made it seem, but there was certainly nothing to recommend it. It was shoved out stripped of most of the reasons to upgrade when Gates did his trusted computing initiative.
You could rattle off a list of improvements from 95 through XP without too much effort, ME and Bob excepted.
The ham handed idiotic way the product was rolled out will be a classic used in Marketing courses illustrating the wrong way to go about it.
It’s amazing they lost so little of the Desktop share. Windows still has all the drawbacks it’s had for years. You saw a nice improvement from XP SP2, but there is nothing in Vista that justifies the resources needed. Backward comparability will remain the main reason Windows is so sluggish, and the revenue from licensing and service agreements forces it.
7 seems to have corrected the biggest bitches and will bring Microsoft a lot of money. But it’s not a major move forward from a technical standpoint. You’d have to dump the horribly dated Registry model and get rid of NTFS. You shouldn’t need to require antivirus and malware removal software.
May 27th, 2009
I find it funny to see people saying a lot of bullshit on things they don’t understand.
“But it’s not a major move forward from a technical standpoint.”
May 29th, 2009
Yes why not get rid of what other corporations want to license, NTFS, DirectX, etc. Stuff that costed hundreds of millions to develop. Chuck it all out the window. Im sure that the comon computer user knows better. Hey how about that new/hacked up to run on BSD Apple OS. People who want a problem free experience should stick with their toasters, tv’s, and washing machines, of course those too might at some point have problems. Best to stick with just a spoon for your food and cut out all of that extra stuff that might cause problems.
May 30th, 2009
Very inaccurate article.
PS, Microsoft releases an OS usually ever 2-3 years if you haven’t noticed. Vista was an exception, sheesh.
July 9th, 2009
“Are you excited yet?”
Not really Dave. Are you 13 yet?
“It feels like we’ve been waiting for Windows 7 for ages now.”
Here we are in July, and Windows 7 is “literally” just around the corner (you really should look that word up in a dictionary, Dave). Anyway, you must be in raptures that it’s just a few more sleeps until Windows 7 will be with us.
September 7th, 2009
Cloud computing suck my Johnson.