As we get closer and closer to the end of August, it appears that Microsoft is still on track in terms of releasing its final RTM version of Windows 8.1 to OEMs sometime before the end of the month. Today, the Chinese site Cnbeta.com, claims that Microsoft is compiling the final RTM build and that the first sign off candidate will have the version number of 6.3.9600.16384.
The report also claims that Microsoft will quickly test the build once it is finished compiling and, if it finds no problems, the 6.3.9600 version will be the one that is sent to OEMs. A previous screenshot leak showed that the last build number for Windows 8.1 was 9484. Earlier this week, an older build of Windows 8.1, 9477, leaked to the Internet.
Microsoft has already announced that Windows 8.1 will be released as a free update to Windows 8 useres on October 18th and some OEMs will also start selling PCs with Windows 8.1 pre-installed on that same day. While Microsoft has yet to offer an official comment, it looks like TechNet and MSDN subscribers will not be able to download the RTM build of Windows 8.1 ahead of the general launch date, as they have for previous versions of Windows.
Thanks to Neowin reader FaiKee for alerting us in our forums!
Source: Cnbeta.com | Image via Microsoft
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