Microsoft is moving at a very quick pace with Windows 10, from new technical previews being pushed at a semi-regular pace, to also building Windows 10 for phones at the same time. It goes without saying that all the engineers at Redmond are putting in long hours to bring you technical previews that have already been released, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for the final build.
The next logical question is when will the OS be completed? We are hearing that Microsoft is targeting the month of June at this time, but as with any timeline, this could slip.
Why is the company targeting June instead of its traditional August release? Well, the month of August did not make a lot of sense if you were trying to sell licenses and devices for the back to school market. Previously, when an OS hit RTM in August, hardware from OEMs would not be ready until October which is good for the holidays but misses the back to school shoppers.
So, Microsoft is doing the logical thing here and will push for Windows 10 to RTM in June so that it can have devices ready for the school shoppers, like the next generation Surface.
While we are still digging around for more details, Microsoft knows that it can"t ride the Surface Pro 3 forever, it will need to include a Broadwell chip in the device in the near future to remain competitive. Sure, the rush is not immediate, but it needs to happen sooner rather than later, and why would Microsoft launch a new Surface with Windows 8.1?
If you look back to last year, Microsoft released the Pro 3 in June, perfect timing for the back to school market. It would make a lot of sense for the company to release the next generation Surface around the same timeline with Windows 10, and we believe that is their current intention at this time.
Look for Microsoft to talk a lot more about Windows 10 at its upcoming developer conference, BUILD, that takes place at the end of April.
[Update] For a bit more information about the timetable, if you look at the Windows 8 release schedule, that OS hit RTM August 1st, 2012 and Windows 8"s consumer preview was at the end of February.
For Windows 10 the "consumer preview" arrived in January which means for Microsoft to hit the June RTM schedule, they are on-track as they only need to shave about 30 days off of the Windows 8 release patterns which they have already done so far with Windows 10.