Windows 8: everything you need to know

With only nine days remaining before an October 26th launch, Microsoft's Windows 8 marketing campaign is approaching full force. With an estimated $1.5 billion budget, Redmond is plastering subway stations, spraying walls and sidewalks, erecting website banners and planning holiday pop-up stores, not to mention running expensive commercials on national television. So far, Microsoft is focusing much of that effort on promoting its flagship Surface tablet, which went on pre-order yesterday.

There's only one problem: Microsoft's Surface RT doesn't actually run Windows 8.

If you thought changes to the Windows formula introduced in Windows 8 like the loss of the start button and the addition of the previously-known-as Metro interface were difficult for consumers to get a grasp on, keep in mind how much more challenging it is for businesses to get on board with the alterations. According to a Wall Street Journal report based on findings from Forrester Research, only 33 percent of companies plan or expect to transition to Windows 8 at some point, with 10 percent planning to skip it and 47 percent saying they haven't yet considered the new OS. Compared to the same questions asked at the same time before Windows 7's launch in 2009, 66 percent expected to transition, while only 27 percent hadn't looked yet and 1 percent planned to skip.

There's no doubt that there is quite a large gulf between the two from the research results, but there is one major factor that's weighing into those results: Windows Vista. Many businesses opted to pass on Vista, leaving them primed to upgrade to Windows 7 when it was released. It's not surprising that companies that have just upgraded to Windows 7 at high cost might be considering skipping Windows 8, especially when there are fears of steep learning curves for employees.

Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system doesn't officially go on sale until October 26th, but at least one Walmart store has copies ready for customers. The Verge reader Aaron sent us a tip that his local Walmart store has several boxed copies on display, with a price of $69.99 for the Windows 8 Pro upgrade. Aaron didn't purchase a copy, but Walmart employees informed him the copies were available to purchase and that the store just wasn't fully promoting them yet — despite them being on display fully.

Microsoft officially unveiled its final box art for Windows 8 last week, alongside pre-orders for the operating system and associated hardware. It's not clear if anyone has managed to purchase a copy of Windows 8 copy early, but the fact they're on display in stores means it's more than likely that a retailer will break the street date on Microsoft's new operating system.

Microsoft revealed its final Windows 8 pricing earlier today, alongside the start of pre-orders for laptops, tablets, and PCs at a number of retailers. Best Buy has started to put Windows 8 kit out on its shop floor and there's some interesting additions to the standard built-in apps. We spotted a Skype and Netflix app on some HP machines on display. Skype, marked as an app preview, works as you'd expect with video calling that will continue in the background if you switch to another Windows 8 app.

Netflix, which was previously announced by Microsoft, also worked seamlessly with app switching — pausing and resuming the video automatically. We understand that both applications will be featured at Microsoft's October 25th launch event for Windows 8, and that they'll likely be available in the Windows Store ready for when the new operating system starts to go on sale to consumers on October 26th.

We're just a few weeks away from the long-awaited launch of Windows 8 and online retailer Newegg has just tipped its hand and revealed a variety of new pricing details. For the first time, we're seeing prices for the "OEM system builder" versions of Windows 8 — the standard version of the OS will cost $99.99, while the Pro version will cost $139.99. Both 32- and 64-bit versions are currently available for preorder. As we heard a few months ago, the Windows 8 Professional upgrade (with physical media) will cost $69.99, but that's only an introductory price — its full price will be $199.99. Lastly, there's a Windows 8 "Pro Pack" for $69.99, with no physical media. This upgrade lets you move your Windows 8 standard software to Pro and adds Media Center capabilities (including DVD playback, which isn't included by default in Windows 8).

To coincide with more software pricing details, we're seeing some Windows 8 hardware start to hit the market for pre-sale — Dell announced this morning that pre-orders were open for three new PCs. The XPS 12 convertible tablet / laptop hybrid starts at $1,199, the touch-capable XPS One 27 all-in-one desktop starts at $1,599, and the Inspiron One 23 all-in-one starts at $999. There's also an updated version of the XPS 13 ultrabook with Windows 8 onboard (but no touchscreen) that also starts at $999. Dell's not the only one ramping up hardware pre-sales — Staples has a dedicated Windows 8 section of its site with a wide variety of pre-orders for machines from Asus, Sony, Samsung, HP, and more. With the new OS launch drawing ever-closer, we expect we'll see a lot more Windows 8-compatible hardware coming our way in the coming weeks.

Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system will be available from retailers on October 26th, but up until now we haven't known exactly how. Amazon has several listings today for Windows 8 upgrades, including a European N edition that is marked as "not with Windows Media Player." We exclusively revealed the box art for Windows 8 earlier this year, and Amazon's imagery matches it.

One listing for a Windows 8 Standard Edition to Windows 8 Pro Edition shows that Microsoft will be offering product keys in retail packaging at launch, with no disc required to upgrade to the Pro edition for Windows 8 users. The online retailer hasn't listed any pricing against the Windows 8 listings, but Microsoft has previously said that existing Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 users can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99 online or $69.99 in stores.

A set of ads that appear to be the first for Windows 8 have appeared online at the video sharing site YouTube. Matching a similar style to the Windows 8 Release Preview video, Israeli site TechIt has posted four separate ads that focus on various parts of the new OS. "Work hard, play hard" shows off Windows 8 on a tablet with snap views and across a desktop using Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud to sync settings and data.

Other ads focus on the customization aspects of Windows 8, and an "all about the apps" one shows off the built-in apps available alongside the new Windows Store. A common theme throughout all of them is Microsoft's focus on training the world to use its new OS and Windows branding rather than just Windows 8. The first example of this appeared in the final build of Windows 8, with a usability guide shown at initial launch. Microsoft is clearly preparing users for the inevitable confusion that comes with such a big change like Windows 8.

Of all the crazy convertible tablets we've seen in the last year, one has stayed near and dear to our hearts: Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga, the 13-inch Windows 8 ultrabook with the clever 360-degree hinge that lets you prop up that screen or flip around the keyboard to practically any angle you want. Now, with Windows 8 less than three weeks away, Lenovo has revealed how much the 3.4-pound, 17mm thick laptop will cost: $1,099 for the Intel Core i5 version. That doesn't sound bad for a premium ultrabook with a 10-point multitouch panel, a 1600 x 900 IPS display and 128GB of solid state storage — particularly one that feels this good, with a supple textured back, a leathery palmrest, a smooth glass touchpad and a comfortable keyboard. Pre-orders begin at Best Buy on October 12th, and the laptop will be on sale on October 26th.

If that's still a little bit out of your price range, though, you'll be happy to hear that the rumors were true: The IdeaPad Yoga will indeed come in a Windows RT version with twice the battery life. The IdeaPad Yoga 11 will arrive this December for $799. That includes an Nvidia Tegra 3 chip and 2GB of DDR3 memory powering its 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 display, with five-point multitouch and up to 64GB of storage in a 2.8-pound, 15.6mm thin package.

Earlier this week The Verge reported that Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system now defaults to local currency for music and video downloads or rentals. The software giant has now confirmed the change to us, revealing that local currency will be the primary method in Windows 8 to purchase and access Xbox content. "Current Xbox Live customers may also make a purchase using points," says a Microsoft spokesperson.

"Microsoft Points continue to be the currency for purchasing content for the Xbox 360 console," a spokesperson tells us. The company has nothing to announce regarding future plans for Microsoft Points, but it's clear its points system is in the early stages of being phased out fully in favor of a local currency one. Unfortunately, this disconnect between Xbox 360 and Windows 8 means that consumers wishing to purchase Xbox Video or Xbox Music content will need to do so on a Windows 8 machine to avoid Microsoft Points. The same content will be available on the Xbox 360 console, but it will require Points currency rather than a local rate. It seems like a confusing move for end users, but the end of Microsoft Points is certainly closer than ever before.

Microsoft is releasing a cumulative update for its Windows 8 operating system today ahead of the general availability on October 26th. The update, around 170MB, includes power and performance improvements, alongside some fixes for audio and video playback in Windows 8 and the usual application and driver compatibility updates.

"During the final months of Windows 8 we challenged ourselves to create the tools and processes to be able to deliver these "post-RTM" updates sooner than a service pack," says Windows chief Steven Sinofsky. The updates are being delivered today via Windows Update to existing Windows 8 users. Microsoft is also rolling out a number of updates to its built-in Metro style apps for Windows 8, including improvements for the Mail app for conversation view and an update to support Xbox Music in Windows 8.

Windows 8 won't be formally available until October 26th, but over the last week or so we've had a chance to test out one of the first round of devices optimized for the new operating system, the Acer Iconia W510. The convertible, laptop / tablet hybrid will be on sale November 9th starting at $499, and is a pretty good indication of the Windows 8 devices we're going to see this fall.

Since the software on the W510 isn't yet complete — Microsoft and its partners are evidently using every available day to fine-tune the new OS — we couldn't give the W510 the full review treatment, but we did finally get to spend time using Windows 8 with a device that's designed specifically for it. Read on to see how it all went down.

When Windows 8 and Windows RT arrive on October 26th, there's going to be a practically unprecedented array of devices to consider, each with their own tradeoffs in performance and battery life. If you're interested in tablet computing, three stand out, though. ARM chips like Nvidia's Tegra 3 will bring flashy Windows RT designs to the fore like the Microsoft Surface and the Asus Vivo Tab RT, while Intel's Clover Trail Atom chip will try to do the same for Windows 8 with a whole host of new modular slates. What's the third, you ask? AMD's Hondo processor. Today, AMD is formally announcing its Z-60 "Hondo" APU, which has a rather different claim to fame. AMD claims that the Z-60's integrated Radeon HD 6250 graphics have five to six times the performance of Intel's last-gen Atom chips, such that a Z-60 system can play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at 1024 x 768 resolution at 30 frames per second.

The secret is the strategy: shrink, rather than grow. While Intel's Clover Trail is a more powerful version of its Medfield smartphone silicon, AMD's Hondo is a more power-efficient version of its low-end laptop processor. Just like the AMD C-60 "Ontario" processor you'd find in netbooks last year, the Z-60 is a dual-core 1GHz chip with 80 graphics cores for light video and gaming duties. But, at a comparatively power-efficient 4.5W TDP (compared to the C-60's 9W TDP) it requires even less cooling. Still, it may trail behind Intel a bit: Intel's promising 8.5mm thin tablets, while AMD is targeting a more conservative 10mm at present.

The Windows 8 Photos app will include crop and rotate options and new slideshow options. Microsoft is also updating its Maps app, providing access to the Bing Bird's eye view and over 3,000 indoor venue maps. SkyDrive, Bing, Finance, News, Sports, Travel, Weather, Video, Music, and Games will all also be updated before October 26th.

We understand the Music and Video app updates will include full support for Xbox Music, which will launch on October 26th. This round of Windows 8 app updates will be welcomed by existing users, and arrive just before a broader set of consumers start to use the new operating system. Microsoft says the Bing app will be the first to be updated on October 5th, and the additional updates to other apps will follow over the coming weeks.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is a busy man this month and next. After helping to unveil Nokia and HTC Windows Phone 8 devices, he's back on the road again visiting Silicon Valley-based tech startup accelerator RocketSpace. In a rare private event, Ballmer and Windows CFO Tami Reller discussed the Windows 8 developer opportunity and a variety of hardware options for end users. Wired reports that Ballmer briefly demonstrated a Surface RT tablet, highlighting the Touch Cover — which he threw to a developer in the crowd — and kickstand options.

Talking to a person present at the event, we understand the Surface RT was Ballmer's personal device and was quickly ushered into a bag at the conclusion of his talk — not available for attendees to get a look and feel. RocketSpace founder and CEO Duncan Logan questioned Ballmer about Surface pricing, but much like earlier this month he remained tight lipped. "We’ll release pricing before we ship. We’ve been clear that’s in the not too distant future, but not today," he said. Ballmer revealed earlier this month that "probably $300 to about $700 or $800" is the "sweet spot" for pricing. Microsoft is understood to be planning a midnight launch event for Surface on the evening of October 25th.

If you were thinking of picking up the ThinkPad Tablet 2, you better have some funds saved up. Lenovo recently told WPCentral that the Windows 8 device and the optional keyboard attachment will cost a total of $799. Despite the considerably high price tag, the Tablet 2 still deserves at least some of your attention. During our time with it last month, we were generally impressed with the Intel-powered tablet's build quality, along with its 10.1-inch 1366 x 768 display and estimated 10 hours of battery life.

While priced well above the $300 Windows RT models that Lenovo plans to release, the ThinkPad Tablet 2 is right in line with the rumored price of the Asus Vivo Tab, as well as the high-end of Microsoft's Surface line. Regardless, the enterprise tablet's premium price may be difficult for some to accept when it launches on October 26th, especially when compared to more affordable Windows RT devices or Apple's iPad.

As we approach the consumer release of Windows 8, Microsoft has made one final push to bring in developers by opening the Windows Store in 82 additional markets, including Argentina and Vietnam. Now developers from a total of 120 markets can submit and publish "Modern UI" apps created for the soon-to-be-released operating system. The company also introduced additional subscription programs: eligible MSDN members will get their Windows Store developer account fee waived for a year, students can enroll in the free Dreamspark program, while businesses are able to sign up for a BizSpark account.

With the release of Windows 8 set for October 26th, time is running short for developers who want to get in on the ground level. For those looking to get their apps ready for the big launch, the Windows Store developer tools and the SDKs are patiently waiting to be downloaded.

The final version of Windows Server 2012 is now available, bringing with it app development for connected devices, Microsoft's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), and the company's new Resilient File System (ReFS). There are four tiers of the server version of Windows 8 available, ranging from small business solutions to highly virtualized cloud environments; pricing and licensing specifics will vary depending on a business's needs.

The launch of Server 2012 is essential to Microsoft's goal to provide a truly cloud-enabled infrastructure, and should be just the thing to get those involved with IT excited about working with Windows 8 in the workplace. Those looking to get their hands on the consumer version of Windows 8 only have to wait until next month.

With the deluge of Windows 8 tablets, convertibles, and touchscreen desktops on the horizon, you might think the world's forgotten all about the regular old laptop. But Acer hasn't. Persisting with its ultrathin Aspire S line, the company has brought the Aspire S7 to IFA 2012 and my first encounter with it has been nothing short of a revelation. The S7 is slim to the extreme yet still has a rigid build thanks to a mix of aluminum and magnesium construction. It also includes the requisite capacitive touchscreen to make the most of Windows 8, but most importantly, it's the prettiest laptop I've come across since first laying eyes on Apple's 2010 MacBook Air redesign.

To appreciate how much of a departure from normality this is for Acer, you have to go back to last year's IFA. That's when Acer's W4 Windows Phone handset ended up on the receiving end of the most withering assessment Paul Miller has ever delivered on The Verge. To go, in the span of one year, from producing drably generic mass market junk to a cutting-edge design is, in my judgment, a great leap in the right direction for Acer. The Aspire S7 looks like something you'd expect the ultra-talented design minds at Nokia or Apple to produce, not the usually budget-minded crew from Taiwan. Of course, the S7 isn't quite perfect, as I found it rather unwieldy to open due to the rather stiff hinge (usually a good thing) and weirdly cut incision at the front of its top lid for opening. Beyond that and the slightly tepid 1366 x 768 resolution, the 11-inch Aspire S7 is close to an ideal ultraportable.

Dell has announced the addition of a 10-point touchscreen to its XPS One 27 all-in-one desktop computer, augmenting the unit's existing 27-inch quad-HD display. Demoing the new version at IFA in Berlin, the company has also shown off a reclining stand, allowing users to view and interact with the device from a number of angles.

While we already know how much it will cost users to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro in some markets, today Microsoft has finally revealed the price for those in the UK. Anyone who purchased a Windows 7 PC since June 2nd of this year will be able to download the upgrade for £14.99 through windowsupgradeoffer.com. Meanwhile, starting October 26th, those with older Windows machines can expect to pay an estimated retail price of £24.99 to download the upgrade. If you're unsure about making the jump to Windows 8, be sure to check out our preview of Microsoft's latest operating system.

Nadim Kobeissi, a Canadian security researcher, has outlined some privacy concerns with Microsoft's Windows 8 SmartScreen technology this week. Kobeissi claims that Microsoft's filter technology, designed to prevent users from downloading or installing malicious software, sends data to Microsoft about each application that is installed within Windows 8. Microsoft's latest operating system is configured, by default, to send information about every app that is downloaded and installed — something that "Kobeissi" claims is a "big problem."

"This is a very serious privacy problem," he adds, detailing how Microsoft is the central point for data collection / retention. While the data is covered by Microsoft's privacy policy, and many users would trust the software maker to safe guard such data, Kobeissi says that "it may be possible to intercept SmartScreen’s communications to Microsoft and thus learn about every single application downloaded and installed by a target." The potential interception, which could exploit insecurities in the SSLv2 protocol used on Microsoft's SmartScreen servers, may allow a third party user to target a Windows 8 installation and discover which applications are being used.

Unity licenses are available for almost all other modern gaming platforms — including iOS, Android, Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3 — and the engine has been used to create popular mobile games such as Shadowgun. Helgason claims that 53 percent of mobile developers have made Unity titles. While there's no guarantee that developers will take the time to bring their games to the new versions of Windows, there is at least now another accessible path beyond Microsoft's own XNA and Silverlight platforms.

Dell just announced a 22 percent drop in consumer sales as part of its Q2 earnings report, so with Windows 8 set to shake up the PC market in a matter of months you'd hope the company would have a solid strategy. Worry not, stressed CFO and senior VP Brian Gladden in the investors call, as there'll be a comprehensive lineup of Dell products running Microsoft's latest OS towards the end of the year.

We're not exactly sure what Gladden might mean by "all-in-one tablets," or for that matter what Dell's take on a "converged device" would look like, but it seems a safe bet that we'll see both traditional slates and Surface-style hybrid devices from the company. Then again, anything's possible considering the variety of Windows 8 devices seen so far, not to mention Dell's unorthodox approach to the ultrabook.