Gruber gives the example of how the iPads that were available to the press at the Apple event were indistinguishable from the iPads later sold at retail. Micro

Gruber gives the example of how the iPads that were available to the press at the Apple event were indistinguishable from the iPads later sold at retail. Microsoft says up front, very clearly, that the hardware they're giving away is a "reference implemenation," which means that it's unlikely to ever show up at retail in its current form, and that the software is a "developer preview," likewise. So - no, that's not the way Apple would do it, and while it's certainly a Good Thing for developers, it's not unreasonable to argue that compared to the pre-release iPads, the developer-preview Win8 tablets and software are not 'real.' Many, many things about both the hardware and the software can be expected to change. They're still being formed, and it'd be very premature to make predictions about the final user-facing experience at this point.