Rumor: Windows 8 Going RTM in 2012

A supposed leaked roadmap from Microsoft reveals a retail release of Windows 8 for January 2013.

Russian website WZOR has somehow acquired an internal Microsoft roadmap/documentation that reveals the Redmond company's plans for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2008. Based on the "leaked" information, consumers may see Windows 8 in early January 2013.

According to the roadmap. Microsoft will commence development of Windows 8 Milestone 3 (M3) in March. Following M3, the company will release two public beta milestone builds in Windows 8's development. Microsoft will then develop and distribute the Release Candidate (RC) followed by the Release To Manufacturing (RTM) build reportedly three months later. Finally, as previously stated, Windows 8 will reach the General Availability (GA) phase on Monday, January 7, 2013.

As for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, the roadmap reveals that Service Pack 2 has been in the works since fall of 2010, and is expected to arrive in mid-2012. The report did not indicate what the upcoming service pack will bring to both platforms.

As reported Thursday, Windows 8 surfaced in an NDA presentation, revealing an App Store that will enable users to run apps in full-screen, and re-download previously-purchased apps that may have been lost due to system failure or hard drive reformatting. Other reports have indicated that Windows 8 will be modular in nature so that the OS can work on desktops and notebooks as well as mobile devices. Windows 8 will also supposedly be heavily cloud-based, possibly storing cloud-based user accounts, system backup files, and more.

Earlier this month we also reported that Windows 8 supposedly hit Milestone 2 (M2) and may be completed by the end of next month. This coincides with the leaked roadmap indicating that Milestone 3 will begin in March.

Two days ago supposed screenshots pulled from Windows 8 build 7867 surfaced, basically sporting the same user interface seen in Windows 7. Eventually the author behind the shots came forward and admitted that they were fake. That said, the roadmap listed above could be entirely fake as well.