In its place, says the company, will be a flatter, Metro-inspired design for the Desktop. No more glass, no more reflections, no more glows, no more gradients. Shadows and transparency will be gone. The edges of windows and the taskbar will be squared off.

Microsoft chalks up the changes to aesthetics, although it's also true that Aero requires more battery life than a flatter design, so that may be a reason as well. In a blog entry , Jensen Harris, director of program management for the Windows 8 user experience team, listed "long battery life" as one of the goals of the Windows 8 user experience. Whatever the reason, we'll have to wait for the final release of Windows 8 to get a complete look at the new interface.

That being said, there have been subtle changes in the Desktop in this version with a nod toward moving to the flatter Desktop look. "Glass" features are no longer there, although transparency is, and the windows seem to have been made more rectangular.

The Windows 8 Release Preview makes no major changes to the Consumer Preview and has its same strengths and weaknesses. The interface has received relatively minor tweaks, and several new Metro apps are quite good.