Available today will be the next phase in the development cycle of Microsoft’s replacement for Windows 7, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Windows 8 Beta). Update: download links for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview are in our Windows 8 Download Center.
At an event at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft have this afternoon released the Consumer Preview (beta) for Windows 8 to the public. You can download it from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/download
It was interesting to hear what Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky was saying about the new operating system though, as it gives an interesting insight into why Microsoft have done what they have.
He began his keynote by saying. ”We knew of course when we did the developer preview that the UI wasn’t done — lots of it wasn’t done. The goal was to get it out there and get people to understand what we were after.” This is a tacit reminder that the negative feedback the Developer Preview received wasn’t something he felt was justified (though he did release it publicly!). He went on to say “But today every element of the OS has been touched and improved as we prepared for the consumer preview of Windows 8. Since the developer preview in September, we have made over 100,000 changes in Windows 8. We think of it as complete all the way through.” Needless to say Microsoft now consider Windows 8 to be finished (bug hunt not withstanding).
