Microsoft to release another Windows 8 beta this month

Microsoft will release a Windows 8 Consumer Preview later this month, which is expected to be a more fleshed-out version than the skeletal Developer Preview of last fall. The Developer Preview (which we ran on a Mac with VMware Fusion), was a radical departure from current Windows OS. eWeek reported that the Consumer Preview will contain even more big changes:

Chief among these, possibly, is the loss of the Start button that long occupied the left-bottom corner of the Windows desktop. According to The Verge, which cited anonymous sources "close to Microsoft's Windows 8 development," the Start button that first appeared in Windows 95 is gone, having been replaced by a "hot corner" and a "thumbnail-like user interface" that offers previews of "where you will navigate to after clicking on the new visual element.

Either touch or mouse input will activate this new interface. In contrast to past versions of the operating system, Windows 8 will feature a start-screen of large, colorful tiles linked to applications-the better to touch, in the case of tablets. Users will also have the option of flipping to a more traditional desktop interface.

Microsoft plans to rollout Windows 8 and both PCs and tablet computers. Some analysts expect Windows 8 running on tablets with ARM processors to be a challenger to Apple's iPad. But Windows 8 on ARM (or WOA) won't run Intel-PC applications. PCworld's article "Windows on ARM vs. iPad: the New Mac/PC War?" describes Microsoft's hurdles:

WOA tablets won't run the hundreds of thousands of apps that currently run on Windows PCs. Because those apps are compiled for Intel's chips, they'll have to be rewritten for the new tablets.

For a while, that means we'll have two incompatible sets of computers running "Windows 8": Intel-based computers that can run all the old Windows 7 apps, and WOA tablets that may be lighter and cheaper, but can only run new apps, and only those downloaded through the Windows Store....

WOA promises great peripheral support and plenty of products coming from mainstream PC manufacturers. But by the time WOA tablets arrive later this year, they'll face up against a very established iPad ecosystem and an Android tablet ecosystem that may finally be finding its footing.

Microsoft has not announced a ship date for the final release, but rumors around the web put it at no earlier than the end of 2012.