Those of us in the know all seem to think that Winows 8’s first public beta will be announced and released around September – especially as Microsoft have a PDC conference around then. However in the mean time a now expired old M1 Build (7850) of Windows 8 which was compiled last September has been making its way round the usual channels.
Clearly they have done quite a good job until now of keeping Windows 8 quiet so this looks more like a clever ploy by Microsoft to just remind us that they are working on Windows 8.
Of course as Windows 8 is supposedly nearing an M3 build/status it is reasonable to assume a lot has changed from this M1 build. However there aren’t many visible changes to Windows 7 yet – especially as the highly anticipated ribbon interface hasn’t made its appearance yet which we were certainly expecting to be part of the Windows 8 UI.
If the suspisions are right it is quite possible that general availability could be around Q4 of 2012 or maybe more likely Q1 of 2013. Whether a clever ploy by Microsoft or an accident it’s always nice to have a sneeky peak!
