Microsoft Announces Availability of Windows 8 Consumer Preview

[Cristian_25H]

Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview - the next milestone of the Windows operating system. This latest preview will be made available for download starting today at http://preview.windows.com. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview offers a more robust experience for testing the world's most popular operating system and is available to the widest range of people yet following the initial release of the Windows 8 Developer Preview late last year. The Developer Preview received more than 3 million downloads.

"With Windows 8, we reimagined the different ways people interact with their PC and how to make everything feel like a natural extension of the device, whether using a Windows 8 tablet, laptop or all-in-one," said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft. "The Windows 8 Consumer Preview brings a no-compromises approach to using your PC."





At a Windows 8 Consumer Preview event in Barcelona that was attended by partners from Europe and around the world, the company shared some key new updates in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview:

- Broad range of product changes and improvements. Since the Developer Preview in September, designed to preview the programming platform, Windows 8 has progressed across every dimension. From completing the user experience for touch, keyboard and mouse to refining the development platform, the Consumer Preview improves performance, quality and reliability across all subsystems. With the added features, it represents a more complete view of the capabilities of Windows 8.

- Windows Store with new apps. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview marks the beta opening of the Windows Store, which is filled with a variety of new Metro style apps from both third-party developers and Microsoft. During the Consumer Preview, these apps are available to try and experience at no cost to users. The Windows Store will offer personalized recommendations, and Windows 8 gives users the ability to take their apps and settings with them across multiple PCs, making it easy to discover and try new apps while offering developers the greatest opportunity of any platform.

- Connecting to the cloud across Windows-based PCs and Windows Phone. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview offers seamless integration with the content people care about across their devices. An optional additional sign-on with a Microsoft account provides access to a host of features, including the ability to roam all settings, use cloud storage, communicate with email, calendar and contacts, and connect to a broad range of services. Your connection to the cloud works across your Windows-based PCs and your Windows Phones.

- Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 5. The best way to experience the Web on Windows is with Internet Explorer 10. The browser has been re-imagined to create a new experience designed specifically for Windows 8 devices. It provides an edge-to-edge user interface that is all about less browser and more Web. Fast and fluid, Internet Explorer is hardware-accelerated to enable Web performance.

- Preview of new hardware capabilities. At the event, Microsoft also showcased Windows 8 running on a wide range of new x86- and ARM-based reference hardware. This hardware will be available to select developers for trial and testing as previously announced.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be available worldwide for download in English, French, German, Japanese and simplified Chinese languages. More information about Windows 8 and how to download the Consumer Preview is available at http://preview.windows.com or http://windowsteamblog.com/.

[MoonPig]

Downloading. Gives me a reason to re-install my OS after moving to AM3

[Fairlady-z]

I have a A6 laptop at home that is decent with W7, but I wonder how it will run with this W8 preview build. Looking forward to seeing the new changes, as I am big fan of overhauls lol.

[wolf]

Can this be installed on an tablet? if so, anyone have a link to how to get it done?

[Delta6326]

Well I have been thinking about reinstalling my Win7 anyway so I might have to try this out.

Can I put W7 on one partition and then put W8 on the other?

[jbunch07]

Originally Posted by Delta6326

Well I have been thinking about reinstalling my Win7 anyway so I might have to try this out.

Can I put W7 on one partition and then put W8 on the other?

I know on the developer preview you could not do dual partition...I installed it on my old laptop but I'm not sure about this I'm sure it says on the ISO page

[MoonPig]

This version gives the option to install it on a partition

[jbunch07]

Originally Posted by MoonPig

This version gives the option to install it on a partition

Good to know thanks!

[Sasqui]

Can I play Crysis on this?

[Fairlady-z]

Originally Posted by Sasqui

Can I play Crysis on this?

Yes, but as long as its not Crysis 2. God.... what a awful game I really tried to like it, but just cant stand that piece of garbage... wait what were we talking about?

[LAN_deRf_HA]

If you've got a netbook or something that struggles with 7 give this a try. If they're aiming for tablets... well they're aiming pretty low.

[btarunr]

I have it installed here. The installation is tricky. Keep a Live ID handy. The Metrosexual UI takes a lot of getting used to.

Oh, and there's no Start menu as such.

I was right about Metro resembling a touchscreen-based training program for chimpanzees (push the right color for banana).

[LifeOnMars]

How would I go about setting up a two partition setup for Windows 7 & 8? Never done it before

[Delta6326]

Sweet I'm downloading now at 12%.

Backing up all of my data

[Octavean]

The 64bit version took about ~25min to download. Now I have to burn it to disc and go for a test run on a test system,....

[erixx]

downloading, will install on my Lian Li file server (no monitor = no Metrosexual issues :-)

[Octavean]

Originally Posted by wolf

Can this be installed on an tablet? if so, anyone have a link to how to get it done?

This Win8 CP is for x86 and x64 hardware so if you have an x86 / x64 based PC tablet like the Asus Eee Slate EP121 (Core i5) then yes you can install it. If you have an ARM based tablet such as the Apple iPad (iOS), HP Touchpad (WebOS), Amazon Kindle Fire (Android) or any other Android / ARM devies thent the answer is no.

[repman244]

I love having VMware for such occasions, installing it now.

[ManofGod]

So far, it seems nicer than the developer preview. One thing I am already not liking is having to right click the start screen and then select all apps to view all the apps on a single screen.

There is no app button and that is not very intuitive to me.

[Isenstaedt]

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/12-02...screen_web.jpg

Anyone knows where is that place?

[redeye]

Originally Posted by Delta6326

Well I have been thinking about reinstalling my Win7 anyway so I might have to try this out.

Can I put W7 on one partition and then put W8 on the other?

make your life easy... get a spare HDD, and install win8 to that, then use the bios boot feature of MB to switch between the two os's. microsoft will probably NOT allow upgrading this version of the os to the "real" version of win8. alot easier to remove a HDD than dealing with partitions. (backing up win7, with the os by it's self, makes life easier!).

[Delta6326]

Originally Posted by redeye

make your life easy... get a spare HDD, and install win8 to that, then use the bios boot feature of MB to switch between the two os's. microsoft will probably NOT allow upgrading this version of the os to the "real" version of win8. alot easier to remove a HDD than dealing with partitions. (backing up win7, with the os by it's self, makes life easier!).

I would if price of HD would go down but to much $$.

[btarunr]

Originally Posted by Isenstaedt

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/12-02...screen_web.jpg

Anyone knows where is that place?

Could be Xizang/Tibet, China.

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by repman244

I love having VMware for such occasions, installing it now.

No kidding... damn, I wish I still had that!

[zsolt_93]

Works definitely better than the Dev. Preview in VirtualBox.It does not freeze often and even the VB graphics could be installed which always failed in the dev. one. It is a nice way to test it, without the hassle of installing an unfinished os which will need replacing when the real W8 comes around.