Windows 8 Released to Manufacturing

Microsoft has reached their final milestone in the development of Windows 8. The new operating system has been released to manufacturing and will be available for consumer use by October 26, at a price of only $40.

Meanwhile, developers and people subscribed to TechNet or MSDN and other Microsoft services can get their hands on the final bits earlier - as stated on the Windows blog.

• August 15th: Developers will be able to download the final version of Windows 8 via your MSDN subscriptions.
• August 15th: IT professionals testing Windows 8 in organizations will be able to access the final version of Windows 8 through your TechNet subscriptions.
• August 16th: Customers with existing Microsoft Software Assurance for Windows will be able to download Windows 8 Enterprise edition through the Volume License Service Center (VLSC), allowing you to test, pilot and begin adopting Windows 8 Enterprise within your organization.
• August 16th: Microsoft Partner Network members will have access to Windows 8.
• August 20th: Microsoft Action Pack Providers (MAPS) receive access to Windows 8.
• September 1st: Volume License customers without Software Assurance will be able to purchase Windows 8 through Microsoft Volume License Resellers.

Meanwhile, people can go and test the Release Preview which from my experience already outperforms Windows 7 in a lot of areas - especially performance.