Windows 8: Product Name Confirmed and Four Windows Editions Announced
Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc has formally confirmed on the Windows Team Blog,
that “Windows 8” will be the official product name for the forthcoming version of Windows. At the same time, he also announced the various editions it comes in and this time the list is refreshingly short: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise and Windows RT.
Windows 8 will be the standard one for home use; Windows 8 Pro will be the full featured version, equivalent to today’s Windows 7 Ultimate. Windows Media Centre will be available as an “economical ‘media pack’ add-on to Windows 8 Pro”. The Enterprise will be aimed at businesses. These editions will come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, too. Finally, there’s Windows RT, which will be the ARM-based one. This will only come preinstalled on ARM-based computers and won’t be available at retail. The link below shows a comparison of the full list of features between the different versions.
Windows RT is the newest member of the Windows family also known as Windows on ARM or WOA, as weve referred to it previously. This single edition will only be available pre-installed on PCs and tablets powered by ARM processors and will help enable new thin and lightweight form factors with impressive battery life. Windows RT will include touch-optimized desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. For new apps, the focus for Windows RT is development on the new Windows runtime, or WinRT, which we unveiled in September and forms the foundation of a new generation of cloud-enabled, touch-enabled, web-connected apps of all kinds.
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