When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Microsoft: XP-Vista PC businesses should start Windows 8 planning now

It's a big day for Microsoft as the Windows 8 is officially finished. While the OS is not supposed to be made available for general consumers until October 26th, OEM partners and other businesses will be able to download versions of Windows 8 much earlier.

In a new post on the official Windows Business blog, Microsoft talks about how enterprise customers that are running earlier versions of Windows should evaluate Windows 8. As we have reported a number of times over the past year, Microsoft has been urging the many businesses that are still using Windows XP on their PCs to upgrade to the current version, Windows 7, as soon as possible. Microsoft will end its official support of Windows XP on April 8, 2014.

Microsoft's Erwin Visser writes:

While evaluating Windows 8, we recommend enterprise customers in the process of deploying Windows 7 continue with these deployments. There is great compatibility between Windows 7 and Windows 8, and this will make it easier for customers to start adopting Windows 8 side-by-side with Windows 7. For customers running Windows XP or Windows Vista, and still early in your deployment process, we recommend you start your Windows 8 deployment planning.

IT professionals with Microsoft TechNet subscriptions can download the Windows 8 RTM release on August 15th and businesses that have signed up with Microsoft Software Assurance for can download the Windows 8 Enterprise SKU on August 16th. Businesses without Volume License sign ups will be able to buy Windows 8 through Microsoft Volume License Resellers on September 1st.

Source: Windows Business blog

Report a problem with article
Next Article

Intel: 40 Windows 8 Ultrabooks with touch screens by end of 2012

Previous Article

Lenovo: Nokia buyout rumors are a "joke"

Join the conversation!

Login or Sign Up to read and post a comment.

36 Comments - Add comment