Microsoft to release Windows 8 in late October

Microsoft yesterday announced that it would publicly release Windows 8 in late October and also stated that Windows 8 will reach release to manufacturing (RTM) status in early August. The October release was long rumored by Microsoft watchers, but for the first time the company came clean with schedule cycle for Windows 8. Additionally, the company also announced that both Windows 8 and Windows RT would meet the late October timeline along with upgrade packages. Windows 8 and Windows RT will be available in 109 languages, in over 231 markets worldwide.
Finally, Microsoft’s Tami Reller also slipped an interesting nugget about the continued growth of Windows 7 as the software maker had sold 630 million licenses of its flagship product. Furthermore, she revealed that Windows 7 was now powering half of the machines in the enterprise, though she also admitted most of these installs were migrations from the ancient Windows XP.