Latest Windows 8 Rumor Says RTM by April 2012
Just one beta to rule them all?
Veteran Microsoft reporter Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNet has a tip about when Windows 8 will see release.
The original belief was that Windows 8 would hit the release to manufacturing (RTM) in Q2/Q3 2012 following various beta previews and release candidates. The new rumor is that Microsoft is shooting to RTM by April 2012.
What's more, rather than just RTM the two desktop and business editions, Microsoft is aiming to finish Windows 8 for x86, x64, as well as the ARM SoC and Windows 8 Servers all for a simultaneous RTM.
The rumor extends itself to say that there will be a beta release around the time of the BUILD conference this September. It will be the only beta release that will be followed by the release candidate in January 2012.
If true, an April 2012 RTM time would mean a retail launch that could be just in time for the back-to-school buyers.

BIOS is the Basic Input Output System of a computer.
UEFI is the Unified Extensible firmware interface.
The biggest problem with BIOS is that it has a maximum addressable memory size of 1MB, and that it's hard drive support is limited to MBR. With only 1MB of memory there isn't a lot you can cram into the BIOS. An MBR (master boot record) has in inherent size limitation of just over 2 terabytes, and with disks already passing 3TB in size the BIOS needs to die.
UEFI can address up to 9 ZetaBytes (that's 9 billion terabytes)on a single drive, and allows for a full 64bit memory map. So if they wanted to make a motherboard that had the factory restore disk actually built into the UEFI they could.
Class dismissed. =D
Could you please explain why 64bit is better beside 32bit memory limitation?
A hit: X86 is not real 64bit, it only have 64 bit extensions.
Because most Atom processors are x86. (Diamondville and mobile Pineview are the only 64bit Atoms so far)
I tried (because I only had the 64bit media handy) to install 64bit on my netbook and it said the processor was not compatible with 64bit so I had to go with 32bit.
Please tell me what benefits I will see by switching to 64 bits.
Every X86 cpu sold after jun 2006 have 64bit extensions. Apple stopped 32bit support with OSX 10.7. Micosoft should do the same. People with 6 years old PCs are not prime candidate to upgrade to Win8.
The problem is that software does not get any boost on X86 64bit sine X86 is not a real 64bit processor.
In 1995 when UltraSparc went 64bit, software became almost twice as fast on 64bit, then 32bit.
In windows 64bit software usually are a couple of % slower then the 32bit version.
More importantly: BIOS needs to be killed. It is redicious that they are selling 4 gig grapchic cards, and BIOS can only adress a bit over 2gig. People are so uneducated!
EFI has been around since 2006. If Apple can boot Windows with EFI, why cant Dell? Just removing BIOS make the computer much faster. (this is the reason why Apple Windows machines beats same clocked Dell/HP PCs)
Uhmmm you can address more then 3gb of memory, meaning I can hold alot more of the OS and programs in memory which will always be faster than having to go to hard drive. I can't believe you just asked this question?
Why, were you born knowing the answer to the question?
It does let you install unsigned drivers if you like....I do that alot especially with video drivers and I do run a 64bit OS
Agreed. The tech snobs make me wanna puke. The funniest part is I bet he only learned of this in the past year or so himself.
Can you explain why removing BIOS can make computer much faster. As I understand, BIOS is only useful for booting the computer, after OS takes control BIOS is not directly called. So by removing BIOS, the computer can boot up faster.
I don't really beleive windows 8 is actually a desktop OS, but rather a tablet and smart phone OS because Microsoft needs something to complete with Android...who btw is kicking MS's butt in that market area.
BIOS is the Basic Input Output System of a computer.
UEFI is the Unified Extensible firmware interface.
The biggest problem with BIOS is that it has a maximum addressable memory size of 1MB, and that it's hard drive support is limited to MBR. With only 1MB of memory there isn't a lot you can cram into the BIOS. An MBR (master boot record) has in inherent size limitation of just over 2 terabytes, and with disks already passing 3TB in size the BIOS needs to die.
UEFI can address up to 9 ZetaBytes (that's 9 billion terabytes)on a single drive, and allows for a full 64bit memory map. So if they wanted to make a motherboard that had the factory restore disk actually built into the UEFI they could.
Class dismissed. =D
I'm no expert, but x86-64 doubles the number of general purpose registers (16 instead of 8), which means the CPU needs to access memory/cache less often.
The larger registers themselves should also increase the speed of some operations.
The advantage isn't huge, but purpose made 64bit applications should be faster than 32bit applications.