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Microsoft Launches Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Posted by Unknown on from the no-more-windows-in-windows dept.

suraj.sun writes "Microsoft on Wednesday made the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 available for download to the general public. Built with touch computing and apps in mind, Windows 8 is crucial to Microsoft's efforts to make inroads against Apple and Google in the red-hot tablet market, where the company is significantly behind rivals. Windows 8 marks the biggest change to the OS since the aforementioned 95 flavor (which, shockingly, turns 17 this year). With Windows 8 comes the introduction of a Metro-style interface, inspired by the lovely and intuitive presentation found in Windows Phone. In it, apps and functions are pinned to tiles and, to interact with those apps, you simply tap those tiles. The former Start Menu has been replaced by a full-screen view of tiles that you can scroll through horizontally. You can pin applications, shortcuts, documents, webpages and any number of other things, customizing the interface in any way you like — so long as what you like is rectangular and only extends from left to right." MrSeb wrote on with info on generating a USB stick installer from the available images, and itwebennet with details about IE10.

3 of 500 comments (clear)

  1. A new kind of copying by Toe,+The · · Score: 0, Troll

    Originally Windows shamelessly mimicked the Mac. Now they're making a major overhaul and mimicking iOS. Now that's revolutionary.

    (Isn't there a mod +/- insightful-troll?)

    1. Re:A new kind of copying by crypticedge · · Score: -1, Troll

      Neither was the first mac when windows 1.0 came out, but that doesn't stop the fanboys from claiming windows stole something. Mac stole the dock from windows 1.0, but once again, windows 7 "copied" it.

  2. Microsofts going out of business sale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The customer is always wrong. Only the technology company knows what the customer wants. Remember this Microsoft. When Win 8 flops and you go out of business and the remaining parts of you are cut up and sold off to Oracle and Apple for pennys on the dollar.