14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is reportedly extremely close to the Beta development stage for Windows 8, the next major iteration of Windows.
Per the normal development process, the Redmond company has been producing a steady succession of interim Windows vNext Builds, some of which even made it into the wild.
Windows 8 Build 6.2.7959.0 Milestone 3 (M3) was the last one leaked, but development has advanced quite a bit since.
According to CentrumXP, the latest Windows 8 release dogfooded at Microsoft is Build 6.2.7996.0.winmain_win8m3.110429-1810 belonging to the winmain_win8m3 branch, obviously a Milestone 3 Build.
Although less important in itself, Build 7996 is relevant in the fact that it signals the proximity of the Windows 8 Beta development phase.
Reportedly, the Windows 8 Beta development milestone starts at Build 8000, although this piece of information remains unconfirmed by the software giant and needs to be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism.
It’s critical to note that Windows 8 Build 8000 is not the fully-fledged Beta development milestone, but only one of the many Builds which will be created on the path to the actual Beta.
Windows 8 M3 Build 6.2.7996.0.winmain_win8m3.110429-1810 was compiled on April 29th, 2011, and in this regard, it’s quite possible that Build 8000 was also wrapped up, or that at least, Microsoft is quite close to doing so.
Even Build 7996 is said to be in the pre-Beta zone, although, once again, I’m unable to confirm this.
Leaked information that made its way into the wild earlier this year had revealed that coding work on Windows 8 Milestone 3 was scheduled to start at the end of February, and end in July.
M3 is the last milestone release of Windows 8 and will be followed by the first and only Beta build.
A taste of Windows 8 M3 / Beta is expected to be offered to participants at the Professional Developers Conference 2011 (PDC 2011) September 13–16, 2011, in Anaheim, California.
Microsoft is expected to spend anything from six weeks to three months in development before signing off on Windows 8 Beta.