Microsoft Corporation has revealed that Windows on ARM (WOA) computers are still under development, but PC manufacturing companies will ship them at the same time as PCs designed for x86 / 64. The Windows 8 ARM devices will have a built-in version of Office 15 with access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. The Office applications will be desktop versions of the software.

The Microsoft Windows 8 operating system will have a feature built in called picture password. The picture password feature lets you make touch-screen gestures on a photo in the login screen. RSA SecurID Kenneth Weiss does not take Microsoft’s idea very seriously. “I think it’s cute, I don’t think it’s serious security. It’s more like a Fisher-Price toy than a serious choice for secure computer access.” Weiss said that people can easily record someone’s motion from afar. I agree with Weiss in the sense that making photo passwords a security feature does not make sense. People are used to passwords and they have gotten used to it. Why change now? [NetworkWorld]

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced the developer terms for apps that will be going for sale on the Windows Store. Apps must be starting at a minimum of $1.49 and they can charge as much as $999. As far as revenue sharing goes, Microsoft will take 30% of every app sale initially, but will bump it down to 20% after the app hits $25,000 in sales. This should provide an incentive for developers to create high quality apps. In-app transactions also have a 70-30 split if you use the Microsoft billing system, but companies like eBay don’t have to worry about that since they have PayPal. The store will launch with free apps and a developer account costs $49. The Windows Store will be able to set-up trial versions of the app. You can buy the app and install the full upgraded version from within the app itself. [The Verge]

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced that the public Windows 8 beta will be available in late February 2012. The release date of Windows 8′s final version is unknown. The only thing we know about Windows 8 is that it will have two interfaces. The first interface will be the standard desktop user interface and the other interface will have a phone/tablet-friendly Metro user interface. [TheNextWeb]

Samsung Electronics is planning to start selling touch-screen computers that use the Windows 8 operating system in Q2 of next year. Likely the computer will be a modified version of the Series 7 computer which will have a touch screen and wireless keyboard said Samsung head of PC sales and marketing Uhm Kyu Ho at a media briefing.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows chief Steven Sinofsky has written on the Windows 8 blog about how the company is planning to keep two interfaces for Windows’ desktop user interface and the phone/tablet-friendly Metro user interface.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) previewed the Windows 8 operating system at the D9 Conference. Some of the features that are involved in Windows 8 are:

A screenshot of the Windows 8 operating system has been leaked. Icons on the taskbar will have a progress indicator for hardware installation. For example, in the screenshot above you can see a mouse getting installed. One of the best new features is “Factory Restore.”