Windows 8 Release Preview Due in First Week of June
by Andrew Cunningham on April 24, 2012 3:00 PM ESTMicrosoft has announced that the Windows 8 Release Preview, a near-final build of the upcoming operating system, will be available to the public in the first week of June. The announcement, made onstage at Microsoft's Windows 8 Developer Days conference in Japan, confirms that Microsoft is sticking to the schedule it established during the Windows 7 development cycle: a public beta early in the year, a public release candidate in the middle of the year, and a public release in the fall.
How close the build will be to the release version of Windows 8 is unclear, though it's probable that the core OS and most important Metro apps will be more or less finalized by this point - WIndows 7 was actually released to manufacturing in July of 2009 and made available to OEMs and volume license customers not long after that, meaning that final code for Windows 7 was in some customers' hands much earlier than the October public launch. An RTM build won't be far behind the Release Preview, and as such it will be Microsoft's last opportunity to make changes in response to feedback elicited by the Consumer Preview.
We'll continue to deliver new details about Windows 8 as they are made public. In the meantime, be sure to catch up on our extensive coverage of the new operating system and its changes.
Source: Microsoft
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Arsynic - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
So a "full time linux user" thinks Windows 8 will fail? KTHX, BYE!jibbles - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Much as I decry the average Linux user's prejudice against all things Microsoft and their constant championing of their favourite almost unusable operating system, I do find it remarkably stupid of Microsoft to have broken Windows 8 - as far as a great many desktop users are concerned - by trying to foist their ghastly Metro interface on the unsuspecting public. Even worse, they have stopped us from getting rid of Metro and reverting to the start button in the recent customer preview version.This is outrageous.
They have handed the Linux bores a victory they so don't deserve. Somebody must have told the big nobs ( translation = head honchos ) at Microsoft that it was an asinine idea. It's almost as if they don't care what we desktop users think anymore. You know who I mean, those of us who have given all that money to MS over the years to use their products and who have made Microsoft and their founders so very very rich.
TGressus - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
The desktop is changing. Metro is the start for MS.Eventually you will be typing/multi-touch gesturing/pen digitizing on a single flat touch panel HID, or directly on the screen of a docked tablet displaying to a separate monitor. By then the windows experience will have shed the "desktop" entirely and will be something born of the gesture oriented Metro foundation.
aguilpa1 - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
You'll likely see warp drives and transporters before that happens. Unless you live in a world created by hollywood, most regular people have real work to do on their computers and not just sit around flicking and gesturing to floating panels and spouting nonsense.Now if "metro" is just a layer UI, why can't they offer a replacement custom UI that simply replicates some prior functions like your start buttons and older application controls. It doesn't seem like a stretch to do that and make everyone happy.
crispbp04 - Thursday, April 26, 2012 - link
aguilpa, you'll get it soon. Metro is the future, and unfortunately some people don't have the vision to see it.SlyNine - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
I've used Metro, and hate it. Give people a choice and see what they choose, dont force them to use something.Besides, tell me, what is so intutive about Metro that makes it so much better, if any at all, over Windows.
IBM650 - Saturday, April 28, 2012 - link
Metro is the future like Vista was the future, not for anyone who actually has work to do.damianrobertjones - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
" I do find it remarkably stupid of Microsoft to have broken Windows 8"How can they break something that's not even been released yet?
The start button has moved from the bottom left to the middle right... WoooOoOoOOOoo EeeEeee scream and throw your toys out of the cot.
ZzzZzZ
B3an - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
Are you talking about the Charms bar? Thats not the Start Menu replacement.The Start Menu replacement is... the Metro UI. Why do you think it has "Start" in big letters on it? It does everything the old Start Menu does and a lot more. I dont know why some idiots are bitching about it. It's for more customisable and powerful than the old Start menu ever was, and is far better and easier at searching for things too. It's always the same, these people just cant accept change even when it's for the better, it scares their tiny little minds.
SlyNine - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
Its far easier then clicking start and typing in the search box??I think you're brain damaged.