Microsoft has revealed that it will be releasing the much awaited and anticipated Windows 8 operating system, along with the first Surface tablet(s) that Microsoft manufactures, by the end of October 2012. It isn’t immediately clear if October will see a global release of the products or if they will be released in select markets only.

As I’m sure most people know by now, Windows 8 comes with the most major user interface revamp that Windows has come up within the last two decades. The metro style interface of Windows 8 concentrates on touch-screen computers, bringing about some quite drastic changes which some users have found to be hard to get along with on traditional computers while others welcome the change.

Though Microsoft announced that Windows 8 and Surface tablets will be available to the public by October, it hasn’t yet announced the prices of Windows 8 or Surface tablets. However, we did get a hint from some sources that Windows RT tablets will be priced just like the iPad (US$499) and Windows 8 Pro tablets will be priced around that of ultrabooks (around US$1000), and we already know Windows 8 upgrades will be provided for $40 for Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 users until January 2013. In addition to that, Microsoft has revealed that users who buy Windows 7 notebooks between now and Windows 8 release will be provided an option upgrade to Windows 8 for $15.

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[via CNN Money]