微软Windows硬件及驱动开发者博客昨日不小心泄露了Windows 8 Release Preview（以下简称RP版）的下载时间和入口，不过这篇文章在发表后两分钟就被删除了。

这篇已经被删除的文章来自Windows开发部门副总裁Chuck Chan，他表示Windows 8 RP版将于“今天发布”，署名日期为5月31日。这个日期应该是指美国当地时间，那么北京时间6月1日凌晨Windows 8 RP版就可以下载了。

文中还提供了Windows 8 RP版的下载入口，只是当前该链接跳转到的是Windows 8消费者预览版（Consumer Preview）的下载页面，微软正式宣布公开Windows RP后，这个链接就会第一时间激活。大家可以先收藏起来。

Windows 8 RP版：http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=253869&clcid=0x409

Windows 8 Driver Kit：
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=253871&clcid=0x409

Visual Studio 2012专业版：
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=28992

附全文：

Welcome to the Windows 8 Hardware blog! I’m Chuck Chan,Corporate Vice President on the Windows Development team. We’re very excited to make available today the Windows 8 Release Preview on the Windows Dev Center. Windows 8 represents a leap forward for the Windows platform, the development tool set, and the device experiences you can build for Windows.We’re launching this blog to give you some insight into how we designed and built Windows 8, and to explore the best practices for developing great hardware and drivers, as you enter the new world of Windows 8 development.

The people contributing to this blog are the engineers building Windows 8 and the tools and kits that support it. Our goal is to help you get started by focusing on the “why” and “how” of building amazing PCs and device experiences for Windows 8. Each blog post will present a development topic and tie together information from the Dev Center, Forums, MSDN Library, and where it makes sense, samples from the Windows Hardware Code Gallery.

We designed the Windows 8 platform and tools to help you create high-quality drivers and Metro style device apps using an integrated, modern tool set. Using the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and Visual Studio, you can write, build, sign package, deploy, test, and debug your drivers and apps directly from Visual Studio. With the new Windows Hardware Certification Kit, you can ensure the compatibility and reliability of your devices, and provide a great overall user experience.

To get started, download and install Windows 8 Release Preview, the Windows Driver Kit 8, and Visual Studio Professional 2012. The Windows 8 SDK is also included with Visual Studio. As you begin using Windows 8, you’ll notice that we’ve added new features and improved existing ones. In addition to providing a modern tool set, we’ve also been hard at work improving power
management and refining the way you provide a great user experience for devices with Metro style device apps. We’ll share more details in future posts.

The Windows Development team will post to this blog once every one to two weeks until the release of Windows 8. Commenting is encouraged, and we are looking forward to a lively conversation. Please apply common courtesy and stay on topic with your comments. The Windows Hardware Community Forum is also a great place for hardware-related questions and discussion about Windows 8.

We can’t wait to see the amazing devices and experiences you’re building for Windows 8 come to life!

Chuck Chan, May 31 2012