Windows 8 - News, Features, and Slideshows

Microsoft has begun the final push in its upgrade offensive against consumers and businesses running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

If you’re going for an immediate upgrade to Windows 10 from your Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 computer, this guide will get you up to speed as quickly as possible.

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 now power more personal computers than the still-strong, senior-citizen Windows XP, according to the latest statistics from analytics vendor Net Applications.

Enterprises who are running Windows 7 can upgrade directly to Windows 10 when it gets released in 2015, says Windows infrastructure technical evangelist Jeff Alexander.

Microsoft launched its "largest-ever open collaborative development effort" at the start of October to try to ensure that Windows 10, its next operating system, is a success.

As I wrote for Computerworld, Windows 10 has a lot to answer for – and it sets itself up for answering these questions in a big way by skipping a version number and jumping straight to 10 from 8.

Steve Ballmer isn't necessarily a bad CEO. After all, Microsoft's on strong financial footing. But Ballmer made enough bad product decisions - Zune, Kin, Vista and perhaps Surface - to suggest that Microsoft employees, swayed by a forced-ranking employee rating system, told him what he wanted to hear, not what he needed to hear. If that culture doesn't change, Ballmer's replacement will fare even worse than he did.

Smart in design and stingy on power, HP's Envy convertible works well as a laptop or a tablet.

Windows 8 won't be adopted as a standard at your business anytime soon, according to a new Forrester report. But that doesn't mean IT shouldn't prepare for it to sneak through the BYOD side door. Here are five ways to be ready for Windows 8.

For a variety of reasons, some businesses are looking to downgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 7. The good news is that Microsoft's business licenses come with downgrade rights, but the catch is that the rules can be tricky and compliance could become an issue. Here are some clarifications on your rights when downgrading from Windows 8 or standardising on earlier Microsoft operating systems.