Microsoft has just confirmed that the company intents to make available the third public preview of their upcoming Windows 8 operating system in the first week of June. The Release Preview marks the third step in the development progress. While the company did not reveal information about new features that ship in the release preview, nor an exact date for the release, it is reassuring that Microsoft seems to be right on track to release the final version of Windows 8 later this year.

Microsoft confirmed the news later the day with a post on the company’s own Twitter account: Announce…Windows 8 Release Preview first week of June. Here’s the announce from Japan’s Windows 8 Dev Days



The release preview is identical to a release candidate build. When you look back at how Windows 7 development progressed, you will notice that Microsoft has changed the terminology slightly, but not the steps of the process. The next step afterwards is the release of the Windows 8 RTM version which will be identical to the retail version of the operating system.

Microsoft earlier this month noted that interest for the consumer preview version of Windows 8 was twice as high as the interest for the beta of Windows 7. While that is certainly an impressive feat, it remains to be seen how the operating system will fare when it is released to shops and retailers worldwide.