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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overstitch - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
You still do that with the Metro UI Start Screen.Step 1: Click the Windows key or click in the lower left corner to bring it up.
Step 2: Start typing the name of the program or menu
File search is a little more complicated since you just need to type it in then change the search type by clicking the option on the right side of the screen.
Are you sure you've used it?
Einy0 - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
I'm not big on Windows 8 thus far. I think it will be nice for tablets and touch screens but using it with a mouse is counter productive. I will more than likely stick with Windows 7 for the time being unless I jump on the tablet band wagon. I do think in the business space, all tablets will be Windows 8 based within a few years. MS knows that Enterprise IT Managers want to be able to control the content and experience offered to their users. For some reason Apple still hasn't grasped this concept and Android is too open to easily support on a large scale... That may change but it may be too late. The other thing MS can do is allow business users to use the same software they already use for their PCs on their new Windows 8 tablets.hglazm - Thursday, April 26, 2012 - link
Metro is absolutely, inexcusably BAD for a desktop environment. I don't care what stupid reasoning you try and come up with, it is flat out shit for a mouse and keyboard setup. Tablet? Looks like it'll be damn amazing. PC? What in the name of seven hells are you doing, microsoft?It's huge, it's clunky, its IN THE WAY which your application menu should never be.
Can you still use a desktop environment? Yes.
But you'll never excuse the start screen and the abomination that it is. Its baffling to me why microsoft refuses to just incorporate the regular start menu back into the desktop environment.
B3an - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
Cool story bro.SlyNine - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
Agreed. you know what. If these people want the new one, fine make it an option. But why force it on people for NO reason.I guess too many people do nothing with there computer other then surf facebook, google, and send IMs.
overstitch - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
A good chunk of the population only does do that. Remember, more people who don't think technically use computers than those who do are buying and using PCs today.BehindEnemyLines - Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - link
And I would agree with you. Look at the gen Y. It's all text messaging, IM, email, facebook, etc... The way of computing is changing. And if you actually look at what these users do with their computer, then you'll right away that the Windows Store and Metro app might actually fit them very well.Lerianis - Saturday, April 28, 2012 - link
I'm liking Windows 8 thus far. Metro is fine, as long as you take the time to learn to use the "Pin to Start" for the applications you use most often. I've seen people bashing on Windows 8 because it 'makes you have to do multiple clicks to get to an admin window for an app.Well, not if you have properly "Pin to Start"ed that app. Then, you just have to right-click on that apps button and say "Start as Admin". Two (three if UAC is enabled) easy clicks.
The one thing I have to bash on is that right now if you totally disable Windows Firewall (because you are using another application to control applications, such as NIS), you cannot install any apps.
They have to get rid of that interdependency issue.