The prevailing consensus about Windows 8 is that it will be launched in 2012, 3 years from now. The second rumor is that it will be a 128 bit operating system.
Now it seems that both notions are not true, at least Microsoft is not confirming them.
Here is how the rumors started. Back in October 2009, a Microsoft Spokesman, Robert Morgan, who was a “senior member of Microsoft’s Research & Development team,” stated that his current projects included, “128-bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan.” This information appeared in the social website LinkedIn.com. LinkedIn is a social organizing website that allows business users to connect with other business users.
Well now it turns out that there may not be any Robert Morgan. What makes us say that? Two things. First the Linkedin page has been removed, although the cached version can be seen here. So the LinkedIn page does not exist. Secondly, Microsoft, when asked about Robert Morgan the reply was that “Microsoft has no comment regarding Robert Morgan.” Obviously Microsoft does not intend to condone the process of information given out by one of its employees, bypassing its official press outlet. So you can quash rumors with a “no comment” style reply even if it is about one of their employees.
So then, if the LinkedIn page was a fake, and there is no Robert Morgan, then the comments about the launch date, 2012, and the size of the OS kernel, 128 bits, are suspect; at worse they are false.
Steve Balmer has been emphatic about releasing information about Windows8, basically disclosing nothing except that it is under development. For Balmer, all of the public attention is on Windows7 and its deployment.
Where then does this leave Windows8 development? At this point rumors and speculation may be greater than the existence of actual facts. Yet while this may be the case, one can infer what kind of information may be under development by looking at its competitors.
Google, for one, is interested in presenting the next generation of Chrome as a cloud based OS. Whether it is 128 or not is not verified, and the actual launch date. But the competition that it may be presenting to Microsoft may force it to respond in kind.
