Windows 8 — The Windows That Bet on Tablets and Dropped the Start Button

Windows 8 was released on Friday 26 October 2012. Microsoft held its launch event in New York the day before, and from 12:01 a.m. local time on the 26th Windows 8 could be bought as a download in more than 140 markets and 37 languages, as well as in shops and on new PCs. Japan was in the first wave: Microsoft's release named Yamada among the retailers, and in Akihabara thirteen shops opened their doors for midnight sales on 26 October.

Development had finished on 1 August 2012, when Microsoft released Windows 8 to manufacturing and told PC makers to prepare machines for general availability on 26 October.

Launch at a glance

A Windows for tablets

Windows 8 was Microsoft's answer to the tablet. Its centrepiece was the Start screen — a touch-friendly grid of live tiles that replaced the Start menu as the place where you began — and the Windows Store, which opened the same day for the new full-screen apps. Internet Explorer 10 was rebuilt for touch, and SkyDrive cloud storage was built in.

Launching at the same time was a new member of the family, Windows RT. It ran on tablets with ARM processors rather than the x86 chips from Intel and AMD found in mainstream PCs — the two instruction-set families are compared in the glossary under ARM vs x86. Windows RT came only pre-installed on new devices, included Office 2013, and otherwise ran only apps from the Windows Store. Microsoft's own Surface tablet was among the devices at launch. Steve Ballmer put it as Windows 8 bringing together the best of the PC and the tablet.

Upgrade prices

For existing PCs Microsoft priced the move low:

• PCs running Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 could download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for an estimated retail price of $39.99 until the end of January 2013
• Eligible Windows 7 PCs bought between 2 June 2012 and 31 January 2013 could upgrade for $14.99

In Japan, AKIBA PC Hotline! reported that the download upgrade sold for 3,300 yen to anyone holding an XP, Vista or 7 licence.

Midnight in Akihabara

AKIBA PC Hotline! described Windows 8 as the first new version in three years, since Windows 7, and reported that it went on sale at 00:00 on 26 October. Thirteen shops in Akihabara held midnight sales; the larger ones reportedly saw more than two hundred customers each, and during the countdown the main street was too crowded to walk along, even though it was a weeknight. The article's summary of what had changed led with the touch interface and the new apps, and noted that the most visible difference from Windows 7 was the removal of the Start button.

The Start button

That removal became the story of Windows 8. Computerworld wrote in May 2013 that the missing Start button — central to Windows since Windows 95 — had become the flash point around which much of the criticism of Windows 8 coalesced, with complaints running since before the first public preview. Users who mainly worked in desktop programs, including Microsoft's own Office, found themselves landing on the tile screen every time they started up.

Microsoft's first sales figure was strong on paper. A month after launch Tami Reller, who ran finance and marketing for Windows, said 40 million licences had been sold and that Windows 8 was outpacing Windows 7 at the same stage. As Reuters noted, most of those licences went to PC makers and did not mean 40 million people were using it.

At its Build conference in June 2013 Microsoft showed Windows 8.1, and Ballmer said the company had "pushed too boldly with Windows 8." The Start button was coming back — though it opened the Start screen, not the old menu. Windows 8.1 was released as a free update through the Windows Store on 17 October 2013, and Microsoft's announcement said it simply: the Start button is back. It also let users choose to start at the desktop instead of the Start screen.

Support

Microsoft's lifecycle data shows support for Windows 8 itself ending on 12 January 2016; Windows 8.1 was supported separately. Windows 8.1's extended support ended on 10 January 2023.

Windows 8's successor was Windows 10, released in 2015; its end of support is covered in Windows 10 end of support. For the wider story see the Microsoft timeline, the operating systems timeline and Microsoft.