> Questions about bugs in pre-release/beta software or prototype hardware are off-topic. Bugs in pre-release products are common and even expected, and are often fixed before the final version is released — at which point the question becomes obsolete. Consider reporting these types of problems directly to the product manufacturer.

I was poking around on Superuser earlier and found a Windows 8.1 question. Without giving it much thought, I flagged the question as off-topic. After searching a bit more, I found that the [tag:Windows-8.1] tag exists. As it stands, Windows 8.1 is set to be released on October 18th and is thus **pre-release software**.

  >73 questions are tagged.

**My question**, do we have a different policy about beta operating systems? What do we do about these questions when they directly violate one of our close reasons?

I found a similar question. http://meta.superuser.com/questions/6926/should-questions-related-to-problems-with-beta-software-prototype-hardware-be-cl It's related to Windows 8.1 and it appears the beta/pre-release close reason was created in response to this question. So why then wasn't the tag burninated and all the questions closed as off-topic?

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**A note:** Windows 8.1 is set to be released quite soon. I think arguing this might be a moot point, but I'd rather have some concrete discussion for future reference.