Cnet: Windows 8. It sounds so innocent.
The name of Microsoft's coming operating system, updated today to Windows 8 Release Preview, implies just another version of an OS once much loved and now much maligned. But Windows 8 means much more to Microsoft: It's a bold attempt to build an Apple-proof operating system with modern visual elements via the risky Metro design language. It's a salvo in the war for tablet relevance. It insists that touch screens matter, and it sets the stage for upcoming versions of Windows Mobile.
The cloud storage platform will drop support for older versions of Windows in early 2022.
Microsoft responded with Windows 8 and its Surface RT tablet.
In the earliest days of the Surface, it was hard to shake the notion that the line was something of a reference design for Windows 8.
