Windows 8 Milestone 2 (M2) Builds Already Live, Sources Claim

Microsoft has reportedly already hit the second Milestone with the Windows 8 development process according to third-party sources.

Reports indicate that the first Milestone 2 (M2) Builds of Windows 7’s successor are already live, but there is no official confirmation of this fact, and chances are that there’re won’t be any.

The Redmond company continues to be mute on the evolution of Windows vNext, although undeniably, Windows 8 is indeed cooking.

One source posted a few Build strings on a Russian forum, illustrative of the fact that Microsoft is indeed hammering away at Windows 8, although no details on the operating system are shared with the public at this point in time.

It appears that Builds including Windows 7 Post-RTM: 6.1.77xx.0.winmain.xxxxxx-xxxx, Windows 8 Milestone 1: ‎6.2.78xx.0.winmain_win8m1.xxxxxx-xxxx and Windows 8 Milestone 2: 6.2.79xx.0.winmain_win8m2.xxxxxx-xxxx have already been compiled in Redmond.

Obviously, 6.2.79xx.0.winmain_win8m2.xxxxxx-xxxx is said to be Windows 8 M2, although there is no information on whether this Build is just a pre-M2 release, or the fully fledged milestone.

Some trusted sources have noted that Microsoft already wrapped up M2 in 2010, and that Windows 8 was making its way to M3, which is due sometime in the first half of 2011.

Per the Windows 7 development model, Milestone 3 is expected to be followed by the first Beta Build, which in Microsoft tradition should be a public release.

There are voices pointing to the fact that Windows 8 Beta will be offered to the public for testing in the second half of this year, with some claiming that it could be launched as early as mid-2011.

One thing is clear, Microsoft has done a better job at containing leaks of Windows 8 than it did with Windows 7.

Whereas information, screenshots and even the actual bits of Windows 7 had been leaked in the wild even ahead of M3, so far there are very few crumbs of Windows 8 making their way through the company’s fingers.