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Similar to the rumors we had reported about months ago, Microsoft has announced 4 main release versions of the upcoming Windows 8 OS along with their subversions of 32bit and 64bit processors.

Windows 8 To Come In Four Flavors: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro Windows 8 Enterprise & Windows 8 RT

Windows 8 for x86 will come in four different flavors, which is exactly half as many versions as the versions pushed out for Windows 7 back in 2009. As of Monday this week, the name Windows 8 has been announced as the official name of the OS. Two of the versions will be used for pre-loading PC’s at retails level — Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro.

The Windows 8 version will be De Facto for consumers, said Microsoft and Windows 8 Pro will aimed at professionals with more sophisticated technological needs. This also goes for advanced users and businesses. So as Microsoft puts it, the second version is good for enthusiasts and those who want to use it for their business.

The third kind will be given to corporate clients who pay something called the Software Assurance fee. This is a set licensing fee that allows a company to upgrade through a multi-year period in its exchange. This version will be called Windows Enterprise. That makes it 3 SKU’s (Stock Keeping Units) versus the 6 SKUs that Windows 7 currently has.

Out of those six, four are in regular use – Home, Premium, Professional and Ultimate. The Starter Edition is a limited edition where users cannot customize their machines and cannot open more than 3 applications at a time and the Home Basic edition is used only in developing markets. Windows 7 also has an Enterprise version that is used for volume sales.

Microsoft made another interesting statement within this announcement — the company will be offering a local-language only version in certain parts of the world. This sounds like something akin to the Starter Edition or Home Basic.

The Windows 8 RT version is a special case because it won’t available to the masses in general. This is the ARM version that will be chipped directly to manufacturers who will then implement it on their hardware, such as tablets and ultraportables.