Microsoft Announces Availability of Windows 8 Release Preview

[btarunr]

Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the Windows 8 Release Preview, the next milestone of the highly anticipated Windows 8 operating system. Available for download today in 14 languages at here, the Windows 8 Release Preview delivers a fast and fluid experience, along with a new user interface that responds equally well to touch as it does to keyboard and mouse. Since the February release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, which was downloaded more than 1 million times in the first 24 hours, Windows 8 has become the most tested Microsoft operating system of all time, and with today's release, it enters its final phase of development before it releases to manufacturing.

We're thrilled to be at this milestone with the Windows 8 Release Preview," said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft.

New Apps Provide an Even Richer Experience
Windows 8 Release Preview delivers new apps from Microsoft and partners. Highlights include Bing Travel, News and Sports apps, as well as Gaming and Music Xbox apps that integrate with your Zune pass. The Windows 8 Release Preview also features notable improvements to the Mail, Photos and People apps that initially debuted with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. In addition, Microsoft has worked closely with its partners to deliver apps from around the world through the Windows Store.

Beyond the new apps from Microsoft and partners, customers testing the Windows 8 Release Preview will also experience tens of thousands of refinements across the product, such as increased personalization options for the Start screen, improved multimonitor support, refinements to the way people find and download apps through the Windows Store, and new Family Safety features. The new Internet Explorer 10 redefines browsing, particularly for touch-enabled devices. The Web is as fast and fluid as any app, and with new capabilities in the Windows 8 Release Preview such as "flip ahead," it is just as intuitive. A touch-friendly and power-optimized Adobe Flash Player is now integrated into Internet Explorer 10, and it is also the first browser to feature Do Not Track "on" by default, giving customers more choice and control over their privacy.

The Path to Windows 8
Beginning June 2, 2012, Microsoft will roll out the Windows Upgrade Offer in 131 markets, including the U.S. and Canada. Consumers who buy eligible Windows 7-based PCs through Jan. 31, 2013, can purchase an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for an estimated retail price of $14.99 (U.S.) during the time of the promotion. More information about the Windows Upgrade Offer will be available June 1. In addition to the Windows Upgrade Offer designed for consumers buying new Windows 7-based PCs, Microsoft will also announce other offers in the coming months that will help consumers with existing Windows 7-based PCs upgrade to Windows 8 when it is generally available.

In the next month, Microsoft will further detail the value Windows 8 brings to businesses at TechEd North America.

For more information, visit this page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[natr0n]

this might help someone

http://www.pcworld.com/article/256570/microsoft_thwarts_start_button_hacks_as_new_windows_8_build_launches.html

 

[Drone]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

iso page so people won't have to make more clicks

 

[newtekie1]

Installing now, we'll see how it goes.

 

[theJesus]

Guess I'll pop her in a VM.

 

[KainXS]

we will see

 

[newtekie1]

Well I guess the good thing so far is that people will be happy to know that they didn't ditch Aero like the news reports said earlier.

Other than that, I haven't seen anything new over the CP.

 

[MoonPig]

I'm having some secondary screen issues with the CP at the moment, burning the RC now... Hopefully it's all gone

 

[KissSh0t]

Even though the user interface seems to be very strange... I still want to try it out to see what it's like *___*

 

[pantherx12]

I'm having some secondary screen issues with the CP at the moment, burning the RC now... Hopefully it's all gone

Burning?

Just mount the damn iso rather than wasting a disk.

 

[Nkd]

Have to admit that it takes a while getting used to this, but companies like steam, amd, nvidia better cook their control panels in to metro style design, I would hate to switch back and forth to mess with my graphic card settings or to launch games.

I do appreciate the effort on micorsoft's part though, this is a great shift away from traditional OS, but I think it is necessary for microsoft to make one unique OS for tablets and PC.

It takes some getting used to but the speed of the OS is just amazing.

 

[Arctucas]

***YAWN***

The Start Menu is gone, Windows 7 works perfectly fine; no reason to even consider Windows 8.

 

[pantherx12]

***YAWN***

The Start Menu is gone, Windows 7 works perfectly fine; no reason to even consider Windows 8.

Well that isn't strictly true is it.

First of all, the start menu is not gone. It can be reenabled very easily.


As for no other reasons, boot time is about half to a third of windows seven boot up times.

I imagine there's quite a lot more optimizations as well.

I believe it uses less ram and in general is a much more stream lined OS ( has to be now due to ARM support)

Gaming performance is improved, hyper-threading/Bulldozer module performance is increased.

 

[Arctucas]

Well that isn't strictly true is it.

First of all, the start menu is not gone. It can be reenabled very easily.

You did read the article natr0n linked to in post #2 of this thread, correct?

As for no other reasons, boot time is about half to a third of windows seven boot up times.

Meh, from thirty seconds to fifteen seconds, I am honestly not that pressed for time.

I imagine there's quite a lot more optimizations as well.

Such as...? Oh, right, the Windows Store, so we eventually will have to purchase every little 'app' we want to install. I had forgotten about that.

I believe it uses less ram and in general is a much more stream lined OS ( has to be now due to ARM support)

With modern motherboards supporting massive amounts of RAM, and the fact that RAM is extremely inexpensive, that is not going to convince me at all.

Gaming performance is improved, hyper-threading/Bulldozer module performance is increased.

That might be the only plus, but, from reading the comments on the CP forum, the majority of posters who commented on it appeared not like the fact that the Metro UI was the only option.

Anyway, I hope every one who decides to spend their hard-earned money on Windows 8 is happy. Myself, I can think of many other things to buy with that cash.

 

[Easy Rhino]

could somebody who has patience run some benches between windows 7 and windows 8. i would love to see if we can look forward to a performance boost...

 

[theJesus]

Hey, W1z! Get to work, slacker! run some benches between windows 7 and windows 8. i would love to see if we can look forward to a performance boost...

ftfy

 

[Athlon2K15]

Im pretty sure as long as Metro is the UI this is going to be another Vista

 

[insane 360]

i think i will reinstall windows 3.1 all this new stuff is scary

 

[SIGSEGV]

i'm not interested..

 

[hhumas]

not interested .. windows 7 is enough

 

[MoonPig]

Burning?

Just mount the damn iso rather than wasting a disk.

Could only find a disc, you penis... Penis.

 

[Frick]

Such as...? Oh, right, the Windows Store, so we eventually will have to purchase every little 'app' we want to install. I had forgotten about that.

The fact that it boots faster and uses less resources hints there are plenty of things done under the hood. It'll all come up in time. Me I like the new file copying thing, the Task Manager, better multi monitor support (not taking Metro into account).

Im pretty sure as long as Metro is the UI this is going to be another Vista

You mean a quite good OS people hated becasue it wasn't XP? I think you're right.

Could only find a disc, you penis... Penis.

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

Try it.

 

[Isenstaedt]

The new task manager looks promising:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMhKHp42900

 

[LifeOnMars]

Anyone had any gaming compatability issues yet? Might try this out as AMD have a windows 8 driver out.

 

[pantherx12]

I'm going to install it today, anything anyone wants me to try out?