3 ms·

I don't want to put it badly, but I feel like microsoft is really fumbling this by putting 2 months between the software going into circulation and the hardware

I don't want to put it badly, but I feel like microsoft is really fumbling this by putting 2 months between the software going into circulation and the hardware it's been designed for launching. I'm about in the market for a new laptop or possibly a surface pro, but I have the feeling this is going to leave a bad taste in people's mouthes as Win8 on nontouch hardware isn't anything special, at least what I've seen with the DP.

daigoba66 14y ago
Normal consumers can't get their hands on it until October. But developers, system administrators, and OEMs can download the final bits starting later this month: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/08/01/windows-8-has-reached-the-rtm-milestone.aspx http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive.... This is so that they can be ready with applications and hardware for the official consumer launch in October.
eldavido 14y ago
It's completely unrealistic to give an OS drop to an OEM and expect them to start shipping hardware tomorrow. "RTM" was always more of an industry thing than something consumers care about, because it meant the final build of the OS that would ship en masse has been delivered to hardware vendors.
kooshball 14y ago
General availability date is same as the hardware release date. RTM is for OEMs and other manufacturers not consumers.
Aaronontheweb 14y ago
The time between RTM (release to manufacturing) and GA (general availability) is such because OEMs need 2 months to take the gold image of Windows 8, image it onto the tens of millions of new PCs that will be sold during the Holiday season, and then ship those devices back to all of the retail stores where they will be sold. The October 26th date effectively acts as an embargo to make sure that all of the OEMs get enough time to get their devices into market and can start selling at the same time. It would make the press / sales cycle extremely difficult to manage if the devices were available only from a few faster moving OEMs in a smaller number of markets, versus having everything everywhere at once. Hopefully that adds a little more clarity to it.

daigoba66 14y ago

Normal consumers can't get their hands on it until October. But developers, system administrators, and OEMs can download the final bits starting later this month: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/08/01/windows-8-has-reached-the-rtm-milestone.aspx http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive.... This is so that they can be ready with applications and hardware for the official consumer launch in October.

eldavido 14y ago

It's completely unrealistic to give an OS drop to an OEM and expect them to start shipping hardware tomorrow. "RTM" was always more of an industry thing than something consumers care about, because it meant the final build of the OS that would ship en masse has been delivered to hardware vendors.

kooshball 14y ago

General availability date is same as the hardware release date. RTM is for OEMs and other manufacturers not consumers.

Aaronontheweb 14y ago

The time between RTM (release to manufacturing) and GA (general availability) is such because OEMs need 2 months to take the gold image of Windows 8, image it onto the tens of millions of new PCs that will be sold during the Holiday season, and then ship those devices back to all of the retail stores where they will be sold. The October 26th date effectively acts as an embargo to make sure that all of the OEMs get enough time to get their devices into market and can start selling at the same time. It would make the press / sales cycle extremely difficult to manage if the devices were available only from a few faster moving OEMs in a smaller number of markets, versus having everything everywhere at once. Hopefully that adds a little more clarity to it.