Windows 8 will be available to users in late October as part of Microsoft’s effort to ramp up its operating system for a variety of devices.
Communications manager Brandon LeBlanc said the company “confirmed that Windows 8 is on track to release to manufacturing (RTM) the first week of August” and “will reach general availability by the end of October”.
Windows 8 will be available in 109 languages across 231 markets worldwide, he noted.
It “is simply the biggest deal for this company in at least 17 years,” Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer told the Toronto gathering, referring to the launch of the game-changing Windows 95 operating system.
“It’s the glue, it’s the foundation of everything Microsoft is built on.”
Windows 8 allows users readily to store and share personal data among various devices under the “SkyDrive” cloud computing service. Rivals Apple and Google offer such services.
The new Microsoft system will support a wider range of devices, including touch- and stylus-based smartphones and tablet PCs as well as desktop and laptop machines.
The software giant has been trying to expand its presence in the booming software market for smartphones and tablets, which is currently dominated by Apple and Google.
Cloud computing refers to the popular trend of using software as a service hosted online at data centres instead of downloading and maintaining programs in personal machines.
Web-based email services such as Gmail are common examples of cloud computing.
Microsoft said separately it would release a new version of its popular Office software suite called Office 365 Open, which allows its partners to resell and get additional revenue from the product.
Microsoft also said it would acquire Perceptive Pixel, which makes large-scale, multi-touch displays.
The company makes what it calls “the world’s largest projected capacitive, optically bonded multi-touch display,” which is 82 inches (two metres) in size.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
