The Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released nearly exactly a month ago to the day and was greeted by over 1 million downloads on the first day alone. Windows 8 has received mixed reviews from people but the reality of it is this – The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is very close to what Microsoft’s next operating system will be.

We’ve seen significant improvements in the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 when compared to the Developer Preview which Microsoft showed off at Build late last year. There was over 100,000 code changes in the Consumer Preview as well as a large number of new features. The next milestone for Microsoft now will be the first release candidate (RC 1).

There’s been rumours floating around the web recently which would suggest that the Windows 8 Release Candidate could arrive as early as late May or early June. Now these dates weren’t just picked at random, there’s actually a little bit of maths involved here, as well as random guessing.

If we look at the Developer Preview, it was build number 8102. The Consumer Preview was compiled at build number 8250. This gives us roughly 150 builds in between the two releases (148 to be exact).

So could Microsoft possibly follow this release pattern?

Going on this, the Release Candidate will be compiled at build 8400, 150 builds after the Consumer Preview. The most recent build produced by Microsoft has been build 8307, it took them just under a month to compile 57 more builds of Windows 8.

If we take it as 1 month = 5o builds

February build 8250 (Consumer Preview)

March 8250 + 50 builds = 8300 (Roughly where we are now)

April 8300 + 50 builds = 8350

May 8350 + 50 builds = 8400 (Thought to be the Release Candidate).

This would mean that at the end of May or early June, Microsoft will have reached build number 8400, which rumours are suggesting could be the first Release Candidate.

Of course this maths of mine could be absolute and complete rubbish, but I think it’s a pretty good rough estimate. Microsoft don’t strictly have to follow any build pattern, and they can skip builds as well just as easily.

But hey, maybe just over 2 months from now I’ll be able to say I was right!

What do you guys think?

Let us know in the comments.

Windows 8 Release Candidate Coming In May or June? was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Some Microsoft Windows 8 documents have been leaked online that seem to hint that some of the areas of focus for Windows 8 will be further improvements in speed, and greater empowerment of users allowing them to easily tweak and optimise their machines without calling a support desk or a more knowledgeable friend.

Two Windows 8 features that are touted in the leaked documents is a ‘Startup Performance Center’ that will quickly show users ways to improve their boot times, as well as proximity sensors that will switch your pc on when you 9and only you thanks to biometrics) sit at your desk, and off when you leave.

To read more, visit Windows 8 News.

Windows 8 News: Focus On Speed And Empowering Users? was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Some confidential Miicrosoft documents have been leaked online which give some clues as to what Windows 8 might include when it is released.

The information appears to have been presented at a Microsoft ‘Ecosystem Forum’ conference back in April.  Details that I have managed to glean about Windows 8 from the documents include:

• Adding GPS support to Windows 8 netbooks and laptops via the system motherboard or WWAN module
• Further sensor improvements – HID, accelerometers, proximity sensors (cool – PC wakes up when you walk into the room!) etc
• Focus on the “big 3s”: Boot Time, Shut Down Time, Batter Life continuing where Windows 7 left off – “Experiences: Time to first email received, Time to home page, Time to calendar or media playback…Windows 8 PCs turn on fast, nearly instantly in some cases, and are ready to work without any long or unexpected delays.  when customers want to check e-mail, sports scores, or play media they love to reach for their PCs because they can get to what they want quickly”
• Faster On from 0 Watts and Instant Sleep resume performance for mobile PCs
• Better restoration tools and ‘Connected Help and Support” – ‘Windows 8 can be restored to the factory default easily.  when resetting a Windows 8 PC, all of the files, settings and even the applications are restored.  End users have confidence in resetting their PC without having to call support

Thanks to Daniel for the documents.

New Information Leaked On Windows 8 was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Microsoft has been keeping a tight lid on details about Windows 8. So far, information about Windows 7′s successor has been either based on remarks slipped out by Microsoft officials or rumours. However recently the Russian website, WZor, has revealed some interesting titbits.

The site claims that Microsoft has started the engineering of Windows 8. It even mentions details about builds that have been already compiled:

7702.0.100126-1751
7703.0.100127-1845
7704.0.100128-1900
7705.0.100129-1930

From the build strings, it can be found out that they have been compiled at the end of January. Assembly of more builds is expected. Those who’ve been following up during the days of Windows 7 development should be familiar with WZor, which had been providing accurate details about Microsoft products, particularly Windows 7 and Office 2010. Nevertheless, such information should be taken with a grain of salt.

But what else does this mean? I believe this indicates that more news is yet to come, hopefully from Microsoft sources such as The Windows Blog. Personally, I’ve missed the days when leaks used to come one after another and when we used to argue whether Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing or not. Although, it might be a bit early, I’m anxious about testing Windows 8. What do you think? Do you have high expectations for the operating system?

Don’t forget to subscribe to Windows 8 News for up-to-date news and rumours about Windows 8.

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Last month a number of sites, including this one, picked up on rumours that Windows 8 would support 128 bit processors.  The main ‘source’ of the windows 8 128 bit rumours was a Robert Morgan who was a “senior member of Microsoft’s R&D team” who leaked information about Windows 8′s 128 bit capabilities on his LinkedIn profile.

However, it looks now like the information was fake and that Robert Morgan never actually existed:

• The LinkedIn page has since been removed (cached version)
• When questioned about Robert Morgan, Microsoft have replied that “Microsoft has no comment regarding Robert Morgan”

i.e. Microsoft have made no attempt to quash or confirm any leaks that have been made, maintaining the official radio silence around Windows 8.  As George has stated on our sister site, the official position from Microsoft is that Windows 8 is under development and that’s all they are prepared to say for now.

That’s not to say that Windows 8 won’t support 128bit processors, but it looks like this particular leak was probably started by sites looking to benefit from the traffic.  It was a nice story, but unfortunately it looks like we are still waiting for the first set of concrete information concerning Windows 8.

Windows 8 128 bit Rumours Were Fake? was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

More and more evidence is emerging that Windows 8 will be released in 2012.  At this years Professional Developer’s Conference (PDC 2009), budding attendees managed to get their hands on two Windows roadmap slides that show ‘Windows 8′ launching in 2012:

Now these slides don’t really provide any information that we didn’t know; Microsoft typically leave 3 years between each release and with Windows 7 launching this year, Windows 8 was always likely to be in 2012.  It is unlikely that Microsoft would pull Windows 8′s launch forward to 2011 because it would impact Windows 7 sales with customers delaying upgrades, and unlikely they would delay until 2013 as Windows 8′s development seems to be progressing quite nicely.

Source: Microsoft Kitchen

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