New York - Microsoft has launched Windows 8, the new operating system designed to bridge the gap between personal computers and fast-growing tablets with its touch-enabled interface. Microsoft head of Windows, Steven Sinofsky, said: "Windows 8 is simply the best release of Windows ever," hailing it as a major milestone in the evolution of computing. Designed to run on PCs, tablets and a yet-to-be released line of smartphones, Windows 8 heralds the biggest change to the industry's dominant operating system since the emergence of Windows 95. Mr Sinofsky said Windows 8 had an improved battery life, quicker boot time and had been subject to 1.2bn hours of testing. At the same time as launching the new Windows operating system, Microsoft is also introducing its Surface tablet - its first venture into making computer devices. Meanwhile, most analysts believe companies and governments will hold off on upgrading to Windows 8 for at least another year. About half of business users still have not upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows XP, which came out in 2001. XP also marked the last time Microsoft had a huge launch campaign for Windows. Releases of Windows Vista and 7 since then have been more subdued. (FA)
