Windows 8 reaches RTM: When will you get it?
Summary: Windows 8 released to manufacturing today. But when will you be able to download the final code?
Microsoft today announced that Windows 8 had been released to manufacturing. In a post on the Building 8 blog, Microsoft President Windows Steven Sinofsky, thanked millions of beta testers, noting that "The previews of Windows 8 (Developer, Consumer, Release) have been the most widely and deeply used test releases of any product we have ever done." Over 16 million PCs downloaded preview code, with 7 million running the Release Preview.
The final build is 9200, and will introduce changes to the desktop user interface with a flatter Metro look-and-feel to replace Windows 7's glassy Aero. The touch-centric Metro UI also gets improvements, including new touch gestures for supported trackpads.
Along with the RTM announcement, Microsoft released details of when developers and enterprises would get access to the final code.
- MSDN and Technet subscribers will get access on 15 August.
- IT professionals with Software Assurance will be able to download it from the Volume License Service Center from 16 August.
- Consultants and resellers with access to the Microsoft Action Pack will get download access on 20 August.
- Businesses without Software Asssurance will be able to purchase licenses from 1 September.
- Consumer general availability for upgrade downloads and new PC sales is on 26 October.
Windows Server 2012 also released to manufacturing today, and will be available on a similar timescale to Windows 8, as did the Windows developer tools. Developers will get access to Windows 8 development tools on 15 August, with the release of the Visual Studio 2012 to MSDN.
Metro Windows applications will be able to be sold through the Windows Store, which is now open for paid applications, and developers can register for full accounts, though uploads will need the release build of Windows 8. More details for developers will come when Microsoft holds its BUILD developer conference shortly after general availability.
Microsoft also gave guidance for organisations considering Windows 8 rollouts. Businesses currently deploying Windows 7 are advised to continue with their existing deployment programmes, as Windows 8 will run alongside Windows 7. For companies with XP or Vista, Microsoft is advising that businesses begin to plan Windows 8 deployments, with XP extended support due to end in April 2014 and Vista following in 2017.
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Talkback
Service Pack 1
You know its going to happen.
Not likely, no.
If you want to hear it straight from Microsoft's mouth as to why Windows 8 will never have a Start Menu, you can read it right here. Straight from Microsoft's own Brandon LeBlanc:
"The start menu you're referring to had a lot of bugs because it wasn't kept in sync with other changes in the platform (i.e. MFU was totally broken, for one). It could not launch Metro style applications. It had no means to even represent them, because Metro style apps provide different resources. Its search infrastructure was similarly incompatible, didn't support new localization features, etc. It did not support our modern DPI scaling mechanism. It had problems with the new multi-mon features (i.e. secondary task bars). And these are just the things I remember off the top of my head. And then, even if we had put in all that effort (or just enough to keep it stumbling along), and sacrificed other features or overall quality, it would have created a disjointed experience which have been awful to use and to support.
Contrary to what you may think, we don't make these decisions on a whim."
neowin.net/forum/topic/1081755-do-you-like-or-hate-windows-8/page__st__435__p__595048551#entry595048551
The Start menu is not coming back...
No sir, not for me!
Linux may succeed
So the decision is "Microsoft's idean", not "my idea" from users
Correct, the decision was made by Microsoft.
Linux is an OS designed by users.
If you want to tweak with the native parts of the OS UI, that's where you need to go.
For the vast majority of the planet, they'll learn many new effective ways to navigate the OS.
Wanna bet?
we don't make these decisions on a whim
Why is that funny?
You're insinuating that MSFT had a single 15-minute design meeting in which they canned the Start menu?
Start Menu Orb/All Programs
Microsoft NEEDS to give us that legacy option on the Metro Desktop and in the Control Panel. WE need to be able to navigate Windows the "REAL WAY" not some stupid concept that "WE'LL make our long time Windows 95 to Windows 7 customers "ADAPT".
That concept is "SO WRONG" on many different levels!
We want the OPTION. We should have the OPTION. We NEED the OPTION.
On behalf of all keyboard/mousers around the world with laptops and desktops
Actually...
Case of the Camel
What amuses me is the emphasis on deliberation and care among the Protectors of the Redmond Faith today. Yes. It was deliberated. It was debated in committee. There were white papers. There were charrettes and testing. The out political factions were given enough time to comment, and maybe a concession or two, so that consensus was simulated. Managers were empowered.
Regarding the fifteen minute meeting, this is how the fifteen minute meeting run by a Steve Jobs or Bill Gates goes: a few million riders understand the underground's signage? You morons, a few billion understand the Start button. It's broken? Fix it. And there's ten minutes more in the day.
Then again, in some situations, a camel is better than a horse. Metro is what it is; two months, 24 days to release.
What are you talking about?
In Win8 you right-click at the bottom-left corner and there's your run item.
That caught...
As for Win8, I dislike the interface. As for the Start Menu quote I simply heard "We were too lazy to keep it in sync and too cheap to find proper developers to fix this issue". That Start Menu deal made me decide I will not be upgrading my 5 systems. It is new and catchy for most I suppose, for me it is annoying any clumsy to navigate. Maybe next release.
I must admit I have not been this disappointed by a Windows release since Windows ME!
Master Joe Says...Change
The real fallout of a Windows 8 UI change:
1. Millions of users downloaded and installed the various beta versions and provided feedback.
2. Microsoft made changes, based on that feedback.
3. ZDNet articles were published, as well as articles on other sites, giving users other "options" for skipping Windows 8.
4. Windows 8 hits RTM.
5. Many users upgrade, now or later, from a previous version of Windows.
6. Some users decide to move to Linux because they don't like the new Metro UI, and somehow find Ubuntu's Unity UI or another desktop interface better.
7. 9 out of 10 of those users realize that they actually do prefer Windows, and they switch back to Windows 7 or 8, accepting that Windows 8 is the future of the Microsoft desktop and tablet market, as well as likely the XBox and smartphone market, and there's not much that can be done about it.
Which OS you use is a preference and sometimes done out of necessity because of an app that you need being unavailable on another OS. I've used Linux, OS X, and Windows in various capacities. My personal choice is Windows, and the majority of people using computers have made the same choice. If you make another choice, fine. It's yours to make. It's just not necessary to stand on your soap box and broadcast it to everyone, while trying to bash whichever OS they use (mostly Windows). 1% of the world's computer users isn't exactly a strong population.
--Master Joe
No!
I agree
Research my foot...
No start on Windows 8