The Microsoft event held on Oct 25 included a number of announcements. In bullet points:

  • Info: 670 million licenses of Windows 7
  • Info: Microsoft’s consumer cloud, Skydrive, has 200 million users
  • Info: 16 million installs of pre-releases of Windows 8
  • Product: Windows Store announced, a store of Windows 8 apps
  • Product: Windows 8 versions: Windows RT (ARM), Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Enterprise
  • Product: Windows RT is the “Windows 8 experience optimized for PCs built with the ARM processor”
  • Product: Battery life, boot time, memory usage said to be improved on PCs that are updated with Windows 8
  • Product: Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and Microsoft will make Windows RT (ARM) tablets
  • Product: Wi-Fi reconnect is improved, from 15 seconds to around 1 second
  • Product: Windows 8 PCs begin under $300