Release Preview is out!

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

There are many new apps available at the Windows Store.
Major stability and performance improvements.
Do Not Track is enabled by default in IE10.
Zune Music Pass is now compatible with the Music app.

Also, see the video: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview

EDIT: I would love to get that laptop / tablet convertible.

I'm on Windows 8 64-bit. I like it. Performance is clearly better than Windows 7. However, I've had some issues with older games that use the DirectDraw API: it's completely unsupported in Windows 8. As a result, games like Red Alert 2 run at exactly 2 FPS.

Other than that, it's pretty solid. The applications in the start screen are completely useless. Ignore that, and you have a good OS.

Mostly just in general. Copying files, booting/restarting, navigating Windows Explorer are all waaay faster.

No real difference in actual game, but load times are a bit faster. (Not by much, but at least it's an improvement.)

Booting / restarting is really nice. Agree with the general performance increase.

I haven't noticed anything in games (yet) but only because I haven't installed any. No One Lives Forever keeps crashing (actually reboots my computer) if I stay in its menu, but if I immediately start the game then it runs fine.

I will stay with winXP and 7.

That metro ui and especially the whole 'app store' and 'walled garden' philosophy behind this os puts me totally off.

This project is moving in a direction that i do not wish to support, or be a part of - and i hope it will end up in the recycle bin.

The app store is a bonus feature tbh I can still run everything a normal windows PC I like but I can also when I want to run apps from my phone, Smartglass is a really nice feature on windows8 forza horizons it gives an onscreen map and other details on a 22inch screen....

all i care about are games! if win 8 turns out to be a crappy system for older games, i'm not interested. thats what i hate about win 7.

i don't even really notice a difference in performance from windows to windows. sounds absurd to the people who know what their doing, but to my techless wonder of a brain, i can't tell a difference. frankly, i'd like to be on xp so i can play all my old games.

whats going to happen, is windows will become so updated, that i wont be able to run any games on it that arn't being released in the latest year, and that is going to make me sad.


do you guys figure we'll be seeing "compatible with win 8" on gog's compatibility listings any time soon?

You know, the Internet is an amazing thing. :) We use it to learn and educate ourselves about technology, and use that to improve our daily life and humanity as a whole...

... slap in the face...

... And yet, even though we possess all this, some people still have not learned the meaning of the words 'closed platform'. :)

(this is a reference to that guy from Valve. :))

Why do you think it's so cheap compared to other Windows versions?

But hasn't this been the case since 7?

I have a bunch of very old freeware games that run at 2 FPS because they use older DirectDraw routines that no longer work right. :\

So you buy it?

It's weird because two days before I upgraded to Win8, I was playing Red Alert 2 just fine.

Lots of licensed technology related to multimedia files has been removed from the base of the OS, reducing the price.

The price has been reduced further as a result of a continuation of the trend specific to the recent releases of Windows. Vista was introduced at a very high point (mostly for being a huge generational change), 7 at a slightly lower point, and 8 at an even lower price point.

In addition, the price has also been reduced as a result of the introduction of Windows Store, through which Microsoft can gather income after the sale of the OS happens.

In the end, the customer / user wins. :)