Introducing Windows 8
Introducing Windows 8
26/10/2012 13:12 | By MSN Tech team
Windows 8 launch around the world

Windows 8 launch in London

Windows 8 launch in London (© Jon Bushell)
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Windows 8 officially went on sale at one minute past midnight on Friday morning at an event in central London. Several hundred people queued around the block at the Currys/PC World store on Tottenham Court Road to be the first official owners of the new operating system software, which is spearheading Microsoft's assault on the new touch screen and mobile computer world.

Eager fans waited to get their hands on heavily discounted Windows 8 hardware from HP, as well as offers of free £150 Beats headphones for the first 300 customers.

Video: watch the Windows 8 crowd in London

The new product was officially launched yesterday at an event in New York. Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer described the Windows 8 experience as "magical... All of your photos will just appear, all of your documents will be available on SkyDrive. It will all be there. Everything and everybody you care about."

He described the product as "perfect for touch... a re-imagined software experience that shatters perceptions of what a PC really is".

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103Comments
Stuart Evans (Stu Ro Ro)
26/10/2012 10:03
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Why queue up as you could download it from MS moments after midnight.
p b (pint6x)
26/10/2012 10:37
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Those geeks are going to keep their virginity for a looooooooong time
Jim Watkin (Jinker)
26/10/2012 10:18
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It was the headphones this lot were after.  My god talk about media manipulation.  Give away free headphones worth £150 and then say wow look at the queue for Win 8.  You couldn't make this up.
andy brannon (markintime)
26/10/2012 10:33
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and then came windows 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 etc etc im still on xp and its more than adequate for my needs queing around the block for the latest gadget is sad to me it will be old next week and touch screen has been with us for a while now just find what suits your needs and keep it far to mutch of this got to have better than someone else got to be the first the race is long and in the end its only with yourself just wait for windows 10 to come out then you will pick up windows 8 for a song beats standing outside a shop all night in the cold just so you can tell your grandkids i was there one of the first to get windows 8 and they will look blankly at you and say what was windows 8 grandad ? :)
Minislim1 (sir nicolas digby)
26/10/2012 10:58
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@
 
"hahahaha, looks more like the queue @ heathrows 'illegal immigrant' terminal 1 !!!!"
 
and the same sort of queues where reported on when the iphone 5 came out.
 
and still some say there is no problem with immigration in this country!
Neil Swindlehurst (Beady Eye)
26/10/2012 11:09
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Recession? What recession? Still, all these people always wanting the latest of everything will help fuel the economy; the USA economy that is, plus all the Far East companies and countries where these new gadgets and gizmos are made.
david lucas
26/10/2012 10:33
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Amazing, computer shop here in Kent has Windows 8 in stock and not one que.
yorkshire lassie (jdbod)
26/10/2012 11:55
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this country is full of gullible idiots . Believe anything anybody tells them

shaun collinson (Coll83)
26/10/2012 10:36
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I like this big apple logo in the back ground on image 6. Has the photographer been sacked yet??
Rupert Kirby
26/10/2012 12:03
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I bet 99% of people here dont do any useful or serious work with their computers other than social networking, watching movies/music 24-7 etc etc. Anyone who do scientific/engineeri​ng work knows that how difficult it was to move into even windows 7. I still prefer xp. probably after 2 years I would consider win 8 as it give enough time to compatible software and drivers to appear.  
david knight (monkeybrain)
26/10/2012 11:47
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What a bunch of losers, get a real life.
Someone
26/10/2012 11:25
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CONSUME CONSUME CONSUME AND WHEN YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH, CONSUME SOME MORE, AS THIS IS THE PUPOSE OF LIFE.
minty dog (Mintydog)
26/10/2012 10:13
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9, look at the mess they have left
Keith massetti
26/10/2012 12:15
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Why get windows 8 anyhow? Its only great for touch pad screens. The main reason why they are releasing it and ofc also to make huge money!
I am sticking with Windows 7 64-bit perfectly well performing and solid.
If its not broke dont fix it!
captain beard (Captainbeard)
26/10/2012 14:37
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Anybody that queues at midnight for something IT related (or the latest Harry Potter novel) deserves to be punched in the face. The only thing worth queueing for at midnight is if it was 1944 and for a ration of butter or bread.

 

"Steve Ballmer described the Windows 8 experience as magical".......then he woke up, cleaned up his trousers and pondered why he was sleeping alone....again.

ian hoban (ruddiger)
26/10/2012 12:57
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I wonder if anyone forgot there wallet,,wouldnt that be funny,,lol
Stevie Bell
26/10/2012 10:51
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Not believing theres a queue for win 8, NO WAY
L Slater (Situation Normal)
26/10/2012 12:16
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Midnight...London...​.that bloke in the hat. I can see a brick in his pocket!
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