Bill Gates: Windows 8 operating system ‘very exciting’ and will be ‘a very big deal’

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates told the media in an interview related to his efforts to eliminate polio, Thursday, September 27, 2012, in New York.Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Thursday called the new Windows 8 operating system scheduled for release next month “a very exciting new product” and “a very big deal” for the world’s largest software maker.

Gates said in an interview with The Associated Press that he is already using Windows 8 “and I’m very pleased with it". Windows 8 is the biggest overhaul of Microsoft Windows for over a decade and the company's efforts relevant and interesting in a world of mobile gadgets have begun to overshadow the personal computer.

“Hardware partners are doing great things to take advantage of the features,” Gates added. “It’ll be a big deal.”

Microsoft will release Windows 8 on the 26th along with a new version of Internet Explorer.

Gates answered a question about Windows 8 during an AP interview about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s key role in a new global campaign to eradicate polio.

Windows 8 will replace Windows 7 on practically all personal computers sold to consumers.

Although Microsoft has grown into much more than a maker of computer operating systems — providing computer services to corporations and Xbox gaming machines to game enthusiasts — Windows still accounts for a significant chunk of the company’s annual revenue.