Windows 8 edition names announced

Brian Ambrozy 16 Apr, 2012 at 11:21pm ET Article published in Tech

Today on the Windows team blog, they announced the official product names for the upcoming Windows 8.

The official name is, of course, Windows 8 for the x86/64 editions. There are two editions; Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. Much like the Windows 7 editions, Windows 8 will contain most everything a normal user needs, with the exception of domain connectivity, virtualization, encryption, and management tools, which all come with 8 Pro. Neither edition comes with Windows Media Center—that will be an “inexpensive” add-on.

Windows on ARM, however, will have a new name that will help alleviate any confusion as to what platform you’re working on: Windows RT. Windows RT will not be directly available to consumers; it will only be available pre-installed on ARM-based devices. RT includes touch-optimized Office apps such as Word and Excel and will be optimized for apps built on the WinRT (Windows Runtime) development framework. You can think of it as something similar to the Mac OS/iOS paradigm.

Windows 8 is available in the form of a public preview right now.

Comments

17 Apr 2012 ~ 10:01am ardichoke Seriously? They FINALLY figured out that people don't want a half dozen different Windows versions? It's about freaking time.

Also, LOL Windows RT. First thing I thought was "wait, Windows Request Tracker? Huh?"
17 Apr 2012 ~ 11:12am Bandrik I'm going to pronounce it "Windows RAT". Especially since it'll be for rat-sized mobile devices.
17 Apr 2012 ~ 11:16am Thrax Those are very, very large rats.
17 Apr 2012 ~ 1:47pm Linc Windows Retweeted. It's the 10's version of "Reloaded".
17 Apr 2012 ~ 1:56pm Thrax Smart of Microsoft to separate the ARM and x86 builds of Windows in name, so the differences do not cross-pollinate search results via reviews and other media.
17 Apr 2012 ~ 6:32pm Straight_Man Agreed to all the above, but for some enterprise folks there will also be a Windows 8 Enterprise version (that info courtesy of Information Week, quoting LeBlanc of Microsoft).
17 Apr 2012 ~ 6:46pm Tushon
Agreed to all the above, but for some enterprise folks there will also be a Windows 8 Enterprise version (that info courtesy of Information Week, quoting LeBlanc of Microsoft).
I am curious as to what the difference will be, save just being a VLK vs single license name change, since most of the "special features" that differentiated the versions before are available in the Pro version of 8
17 Apr 2012 ~ 6:49pm Straight_Man http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operating_systems/232900407?cid=nl_IW_smb_2012-02-07_html&elq=d7bce1767e874bae87a007f0f2f4738f

There is the article, it discusses more fromLeBlanc.
17 Apr 2012 ~ 11:39pm Garg Windows RT is a stupid name.
Those are very, very large rats.
Rodents of unusual size?
21 Apr 2012 ~ 9:12pm Tim Windows RT is named after Dodge's R/T designation for high performance car models.

I haven't gone out of my way to read all the details on Windows 8, But aside from the touch screen stuff, what can it do that 7 can't? Not much, I suspect.
21 Apr 2012 ~ 9:33pm fatcat Windows Road/Track

love it!