With Apple's widely-rumored release of its new iPad Mini fast approaching this fall, the importance of the likely simultaneous launch of Microsoft's Surface tablet and Windows 8 software on Oct. 25 is at an all-time high. If Microsoft wants to jump into the tablet game, this first impression means everything. Much of the company's future rests in the hands of its gamble with Windows 8.

Unlike most gambles though, Microsoft's roll of the dice with Windows 8 is a direly necessary one if the company wants to stay relevant in a multi-screen world, say analysts at Gartner.

The software giant has been flooded with criticism over its new operating system's touch-based focus, which ostensibly pushes aside the typical desktop user that has fed it millions for decades. Even Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer has admitted the importance of this launch, calling 2012 the company's most epic year, and comparing the launch of Windows 8 to the importance of Windows 95.

Making radical changes to Windows certainly poses a risk for Microsoft. Organizations typically like to reduce technology risk by deploying mature, stable, well-supported products, Gartner said. There's also the controversy surrounding the Modern UI - it looks appropriate on new form factors like tablets, hybrids and convertibles, but people are questioning its appropriateness for traditional desktop and notebook machines, which comprise the majority of the existing PC market.

Gartner believes that if Windows 8 is successful on tablets, it will have diverse impacts on organizations. It may well also force IT to establish additional "bring your own device" programs, as it will be harder for IT to buy and support PCs the way they have for the past 20 years. Many workers will still want to use an iPad and a traditional notebook and others may want different, new devices.

As Michael Silver, vice president and analyst at Gartner, points out, Windows was once a powerhouse for Microsoft when the PC platform dominated personal computing. However, smartphones and tablets, led by the iPhone and iPad, have vastly changed the way people work over the past twenty years.

The PC is now just one of many computing devices.  And considering an infographic created by OnlineClasses.org that pulls together data from a number of sources to show just what a titan the tablet is vs. PCs, the market is clearly vulnerable and constantly changing.

Indeed, one in four tablet owners now say that their slate has become their primary computer. And the world's adoption of tablet technology has happened at an unprecedented rate. It's been so rapid that within 18 months, tablets have found their way into 11 percent of U.S. homes, making their adoption faster than any other piece of technology in history.

Windows 8 is Microsoft's attempt at playing on that new level, a swing at feeding off the excitement of the tablet market by designing its operating system specifically with tablet-friendly features in mind.

"Microsoft's approach is very different from Apple's and Google's, where phones and tablets have much more commonality than PCs and tablets," said Silver. "This plays to Microsoft's strength in PCs, leveraging it not only to enter the tablet market, but also to improve its share of the smartphone market."

The tablet market is only continuing to grow. With three out of four American enterprises utilizing the devices in some way, tablets are gaining huge traction with businesses. The adoption of tablets is increasing at such a pace, it is now estimated that their sales will surpass that of PCs by as early as 2016.

"Windows 8 has been released to manufacturing and will be formally launched in October, but the reality is that most organizations are still working on eliminating Windows XP and deploying Windows 7," Silver said. "Organizations will need to decide whether they continue with Windows 7 and or consider Windows 8."

Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner, said the release of Windows 8 isn't your normal low or even high impact major release of Microsoft flagship platform. Instead, it's the start of a whole new era for the company. An era that may largely depend on the public's reception of Microsoft's new non-x86 platform: Windows RT. This ARM-based OS follows the NT era which began in 1993 and is just now starting to fade out. That said, Microsoft "eras" seem to last 20 years, so the foundation of Windows 8 should last for a long time.

Analysts surveyed by Oppenheimer are anticipating that Microsoft's Windows 8 will pave the way for a competitive debut for the Surface tablet. Microsoft is also hoping its debut of Surface Pro and Surface RT tablets at the launch day will make its offering more attractive to consumers.

Analyst Shaul Eyal said that he thinks Microsoft's Windows 8 along with its Surface tablets will help the company to compete against its rivals, including Apple's iPad, and Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD.

Microsoft CEO Ballmer has suggested that Microsoft's Surface tablet will be priced to compete with Apple's iPad, starting somewhere around $300 for the basic Windows-RT model, and likely around $800 for the Windows 8 version.