PCWorld has read between the lines from some comments said at this years CES and says that Windows 8 should be released this October. We all know that release dates can be pushed back (and should be to enable a stable and finished release), so take this as just an approximate date. It still looks like it is on schedule for a consumer preview (beta) sometime in late February.
Microsoft has been reluctant to say exactly when it will release Windows 8, but Poole seemed ready to offer a strong hint. "We haven’t talked about the release date and we generally don’t. We are talking milestone to milestone, so for us right now we’re talking about the next milestone being the consumer preview happening in late February," she says.