Microsoft has been working for the past few years to convince users, especially business users,
they don't need to wait until the first service pack to deploy a new Windows release.
With Windows 8, Microsoft officials believe they've gotten a step closer, by rolling out via Windows Update on October 9 the
“Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 General Availability Cumulative Update.” This update provides post-RTM (release to manufacturing) updates around performance, power management and battery efficiency, media playback, and compatibility, according to an October 9 post on the Building Windows 8 blog.
Windows 8 was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012.
In an uncharacteristically short post, Windows President Steven Sinofsky explained how these updates traditionally have been provided. He noted that during the time Microsoft and OEMs are making final customizations and tweaks to RTM code to create new or updated components, drivers and companion software, sometimes there also need to be changes and improvements made to Windows fundamnetals.
