Windows 8 Reaches RTM

Windows 8 reached release-to-manufacturing status in August 2012, giving PC manufacturers a final build before the public launch. The operating system was built around Microsoft’s belief that touchscreens would become central to personal computers.

The new Start screen replaced the traditional Start menu with Live Tiles, and Windows Store applications used the Windows Runtime API. Traditional Win32 desktop applications still worked, so the system contained two application environments with different interfaces, security models, and distribution methods.

That duality was technically ambitious. Microsoft wanted modern sandboxed touch applications without abandoning decades of desktop compatibility. RTM gave developers and hardware vendors a stable target, but it could not resolve the usability question of whether users wanted both environments on the same machine.