When Microsoft announced the Windows 8 Release Preview, it said the next preview of the operating system would arrive in the first week of June 2012. Recent rumors said the Preview would launch on June 4, but The Verge's sources claim it will arrive earlier: May 31.

If true, the Release Preview would release a day before June begins. A Chinese version of the Release Preview went live, showing the updated first-party apps - such as Mail, formerly knowns as Windows Live Mail - and a revamped version of the Aero aesthetic. Microsoft has revealed Aero is to be scrapped in Windows 8, in favour of a flat UI that mirrors Metro.

The Release Preview will reportedly come with Flash built in to Metro Internet Explorer 10. Reports had suggested Microsoft had been granted access to the source code of the software, and the company admitted Flash is a crucial part of the Web despite backing HTML5.

Microsoft also announced itself the Release Preview will arrive today, May 31, but quickly pulled the post.

"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 post - written by by Microsoft Vice President on the Windows Development team, Chuck Chan - said. The blog is empty as of writing.

The post added that people contributing to the blog will be engineers working on Windows 8, with the focus of the blog to help people get started by focusing "on the "why" and "how" of building amazing PCs and device experiences for Windows 8".

That post will presumably go live today, given today is May 31. It's not known when exactly the Release Preview will launch; the blog post went live on 3:26PM.