Microsoft have announced that the CP will be shown off and released at MWC in Barcelona between 3PM and 5PM (CET) and a download should become available in that time.

Source

Source would be nice...

The Verge

Many other sites reporting this too. Microsoft send out the invitations today. See edited OP for pic.

very good so at last it seems we have a date to expect the BETA

Feb 29th! Why now or the 20th!

The above image in itself looks quite authentic and official to say the least, so I would definitely conclude that it is indeed real.

Also, what does "MWC" stand for? Does it stand for "Microsoft Windows Conference"?

It's the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on February 29th 2012.

At least it's at this month (though it's midnight and even March at where I live). Just wait and see a public beta. I will be as excited as when I waited for WDP.

Why this takes so long to release an old build? It was compiled a week ago and on 2/29 it will be 1 month old

They have a lot of private bugtesting that needs to get done before it'd be ready to release to the public beta testers. It wouldn't be good publicity for them if they shipped a build as the public Beta and it instantly bugchecked the moment it booted, now would it?

I'm also guessing they're getting physical media made up to distribute to people; that takes time as well.

There are quite a number of Beta (Consumer Preview) builds of Windows 8 already. Just because builds have already been compiled at this point doesn't mean that the latest of them is therefore the Public Beta build itself, despite already being over three weeks old upon its release.

When Build 8102 (Developer Preview) was released earlier in September, the later compile was at most two weeks old, if even that (we received it on September 14th, but it could have easily been available for several days earlier).

Yes
Just in time to swap over my near expiring Windows Developer Preview

Perhaps they might release it for Technet and MSDN people first. And should it come there, it comes here.

29th !!?, that's too far away !!

Oh common, you won't die if they dellay it a bit...

But thats along way away , I know they have to do bugchecks but thats what we are doing right now for DP!

You people make it sound like it'll be 2020 before they release the Windows 8 Beta. As for bugtesting, yes, we've done some bugtesting with the Developer Preview but as it is right now, the Beta code is much more ahead than the Developer Preview code is, so it doesn't really make sense to do all your bugtesting for the Beta on an ancient (in Microsoft time) pre-release.

if anyone still doubts this. Microsoft tweeted this last night. Which for english football fans was better than reading all the tweets regarding Capello, Redknapp an the fa

Any chanse of having it before the official late february date?

Here we go again... No, unless someone leaks it. And now let me guess the content of the next post:

"OMG, someone please leak it!!!"

there would be no point leaking it just two and a half weeks away from release. remember the employee who leaks risks losing his job and 7 civil penalties for leaking such software. so why would he take such a risk if it will be out in two weeks anyway.
PS DeFacto the next comment was not OMG someone please leak it lol

chrisjose1913, certainly that was what I ment.
And you are right, very small chanses.
I guess 29'th it is, then.

well it did not seem like that word it better next time

Some builds have stopped leaking now..Ever since them two Microsoft employees got sacked, there wasnt much too look at Windows 8 until DP came out. but WinUnleaked.tk also give us images of upcoming stuff

Great. MS said before that we should expect it at the end of February, and of course that means they will launch it on the last day. And on top of all that, 2012 is a leap year.