In development since 2009, announced officially at CES in early 2011, went through three different previews (Developer, Consumer and Release) and recently announced to be code complete, the final, code-complete, release to manufacturing version of Windows 8 is finally available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Check out the details after the jump.

Microsoft fans and PC users the world over have been sitting patiently for the day when the Redmond company deemed their latest Windows 8 operating system ready for a full public release. Microsoft has put a lot of effort into the design and development of the latest version of Windows, making sure to keep users involved in every step of the way with regular preview releases for testing purposes. Reaction to the radically overhauled operating system has been somewhat mixed, but has been positive enough to make Microsoft think that they may be onto a winner.

Windows 8 has just been released to manufacturing, as expected; Microsoft recently revealed that this would happen at the beginning of August. What does this mean? Well, the OS has been finalized, and the final build is being sent out to OEMs/partners as we speak.

Microsoft certainly isn’t the best when it comes to hiding their secrets and upcoming products. We see evidence of this in the past, we’ve seen fully working versions of their unreleased and unannounced products leaked for use for the general public on various websites.

The last horse looks to be crossing the finishing line in the run-up to the release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system. The metro-laden eight edition of the market leading OS will Release to Manufacturing (otherwise known as RTM) in the first week of August, with the retail edition following in late October.