Windows 8 could be ready for its public beta launch for its regular x86 version sometime in late February. However, the release date for the promised version of Microsoft's next operating system for ARM-based processors has been up in the air. Now News.com reports via unnamed sources that the ARM port for Windows 8 is now considered to be stable enough so that developers could get their hands on it as soon as February.
The same article also states from one source that the final release date for the ARM version could happen at the same time as the x86 port. Previously it was thought that the ARM version could be launched later than the x86 port.
The article also claims from another source that an unnamed Windows 8 device that was running on Intel-based processors at CES 2012 a few weeks ago is running on a "cosmetically identical" ARM-based device that could be priced at hundreds of dollars less than the Intel version. That would seem to set up some interesting competition in the Windows 8 hardware space.
In any case, it looks like the ARM port of Windows 8 is further along in development than first believed and that we can perhaps expect ARM-based Windows 8 products around the same time as the Intel-x86 versions.
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