Windows 8 Demo Likely On Today's CES 2011 Keynote

Update: Microsoft made the decision to use the codename Windows 8 as the final name of the operating system as well.

Windows 8; That's the unofficial name of Microsoft's next operating system. It is not clear yet if Microsoft will keep the name or get a vistaesque name instead. It would make sense to keep the name considering the favorable reviews that Windows 7 gets, and that the whole world is already using Windows 8 to refer to the next version of Windows.

The rumor mill was very active in the last couple weeks. A persistent rumor was that Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer would demonstrate Windows 8 during his keynote. There is apparently some truth to that rumor, albeit in a form not expected by most tech enthusiasts.

Steve Ballmer will begin his keynote today at 6:30 p.m. PST and while he won't show off Windows 8 in full he will demonstrate the operating system's ARM support. Windows 8 has passed milestone 2 just recently which means that it is still in an early stage of development. ARM support on the other hand is something that Microsoft wants to improve to get a foothold in the lucrative market.

Showing manufacturers and developers publicly that Windows 8 will support ARM processors fully may convince them to produce Windows 8 based ARM devices. ARM processors open the market for energy efficient devices.

Is that all? Windows 8 related it seems that way, even though we have our hopes set high that Steve Ballmer will provide use with additional information and maybe some footage of the operating system.

Tech enthusiasts can watch the keynote of Steve Ballmer at this year's CES live at the Microsoft News Site.

What's your take on Windows 8 so far? I think it will be interesting to see how the OS evolves in the next 18 months until its release, especially if Microsoft manages to add enough interesting features that will convince users to upgrade to it.

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