Today in Toronto, Canada, at Microsoft’s annual
Worldwide Partner Conference,
Windows Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller
spoke to thousands of partners from around the world. She shared some
exciting new details regarding Windows that I wanted to pass along.
For
the first time, we provided details on Windows 8 availability. Tami
confirmed that Windows 8 is on track to Release to Manufacturing (RTM)
the first week of August. For enterprise customers with Software
Assurance benefits, they will have full access to Windows 8 bits as
early as August. Additionally, she noted that RTM is when we’ll be
turning on the commerce platform so that developers can start earning
money for their apps – we'll have more to share on the
Windows Store for developers blog soon. Of course, right now with the
Windows 8 Release Preview, all apps are still free for people to try.
Tami
went on to say that Windows 8 will reach general availability by the
end of October! This means that new Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs will be
available
to buy and upgrades will be available starting in October. She also mentioned that that Windows 8 will be available in 109 languages across 231 markets worldwide.
Finally,
Tami announced a new milestone with Windows 7. There is no question
that Windows 7 is the bestselling operating system in history – and the
number of licenses sold keeps growing. In her remarks, Tami announced
that more than 630 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold to date –
and that more than half of enterprise desktops today are running Windows
7.