Windows 8 Timelines

The general availability date for Windows 8 depends on the dates of several prerelease milestones. Four possible scenarios for the milestones are shown here.

The Windows 8 Developer’s Preview was released in Sept. 2011, and the first public beta test version is scheduled to be released in Feb. 2012. Following the public beta release will come one or more additional betas, the release candidate test phase, release to manufacturing, and general availability once computer manufacturers have tested the new OS version on their products.

The best-case scenario, which Directions on Microsoft feels would be overly optimistic based on historic Windows development cycle data, would have beta testing, release candidate testing, and testing prior to general availability each take approximately 90 days. In this case, Windows 8 would likely be generally available in the last quarter of 2012.

In two more likely scenarios, either beta testing takes longer (a total of 180 days) or a second beta test phase is required. These cases could push general availability into either the first or second quarter of 2013.