MWC: Microsoft releases Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Microsoft has released the consumer preview of its upcoming operating system Windows 8 today at MWC in Barcelona. With a whole new Metro User Interface, Windows 8 Consumer preview has live tiles and also a fresh start screen. One of the major alternation in Windows 8 is the removal of the Start button in Desktop mode and the introduction of Charms bar.

Windows 8 is designed to run on tablets, laptops, desktops and also all in one PCs.  With full touch gestures enabled, Windows 8 includes Microsoft Windows Store with which we will be able to download a wide variety of apps. Windows 8 comes with new redesigned Internet Explorer 10 consumer preview that can extend over the whole screen and also uses HTML5 standards.

According to Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft,

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.The Windows 8 Consumer Preview brings a no-compromises approach to using your PC

Hardware Requirements:

• 1 GHz or faster processor
• 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
• 1024 x 768 minimum screen resolution

You are only one step away from downloading and checking out the Windows 8 consumer preview. There are two ways to get the Windows 8 Consumer Preview:

1) Download the Windows 8 Developer Preview Setup from Microsoft website and install it in your PC. The software will automatically download Windows 8 Consumer Preview after Compatibility check. We can pause or resume the download using this software.

2) Windows 8 Consumer Preview can also be downloaded in ISO format from Microsoft site. The ISO image can be burned into a DVD or can be used as a bootable USB drive.