Details Emerge on Windows 8 Release Preview Flavors

Next week, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft is expected to bring to the market a new version of its next-generation Windows platform, namely Windows 8 Release Preview.

The new platform flavor was confirmed for release in early May, when Microsoft said that it would offer all the necessary details on the platform in the beginning of June. The Release Preview is expected to mark a big step towards the availability of the final version of Windows 8, though it will still lack some of the features that Microsoft plans for the gold release. The latest leaked details on the platform, however, show that Microsoft is gearing up for the launch of more than a single iteration of Windows 8 Release Preview. This is not the first time that such info emerges online, but it is the first time when specific details on these various versions of the platform are made available.

Next week, say WinUnleaked, Microsoft will make available Windows 8 Release Preview Core, Windows 8 Release Preview Pro, Windows 8 Release Preview ProWMC, and Windows 8 Release Preview China Edition. These platform flavors will be released for both x32 and x64 systems and will sport build number 8400, it seems. Here’s what other info said leak unveiled:

Windows 8 Release Preview (Core, Pro, ProWMC)

8400.0.WINMAIN_WIN8RC.120518-1423_X64FRE_CLIENT_EN-US-HRC_CCSA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV5.ISO

8400.0.WINMAIN_WIN8RC.120518-1423_X86FRE_CLIENT_EN-US-HRC_CCSA_X86FRE_EN-US_DV5.ISO

Windows 8 Release Preview “China” Edition

8400.0.WINMAIN_WIN8RC.120518-1423_X64FRE_CLIENT_CCH_ZH-CN-HRC_CCHA_X64FRE_ZH-CN_DV5.ISO

8400.0.WINMAIN_WIN8RC.120518-1423_X86FRE_CLIENT_CCH_ZH-CN-HRC_CCHA_X86FRE_ZH-CN_DV5.ISO

The different flavors of Windows 8 Release Preview mirror the various iterations of the platform that Microsoft plans to make available this fall. The only one that is missing from here is the Windows RT version, set to be loaded only on devices that are powered by ARM processors. Following the availability of the Release Preview of Windows 8, we should see the platform released to manufacturing sometime in summer, while made commercially available sometime in October, three years after the release of Windows 7.

Posted in: Preview, Software