Microsoft released the Developer Preview of the upcoming Windows 8 and has been up since September, 2011. We have already seen some of the great features that the Windows 8 boasts about. However, the most ground-breaking features are getting ready to hit the PC market in the form of a Consumer Preview.
A special page on Microsoft’s search site Bing was found with a link pointing to the Windows 8 Consumer Preview page. However, at the time of writing this post, the link didn’t seem to open. The special Bing page features a HTML video of a betta fish swimming across the screen. The same was used as the default wallpaper in the Windows 7 beta version.
You can check out the special Bing homepage: http://www.bing.com/?win8start=1
The page contains several links, but unfortunately none of them work yet -
- Meet your new browser
See what’s new and improved with Internet Explorer - Connect to the Cloud
Take your apps files and settings wherever you go - Frequently asked questions
Get answers to your questions about the Windows 8 Consumer Preview - Building Windows 8 Blog
Get an inside look from the Windows engineering team
At the bottom of the page you will find the following links -
- See what’s new
Windows 8 Consumer Preview - Windows Store
Discover great apps - Windows Dev Center
All the tools you need to start coding your own apps
With the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, users will be allowed to test drive the new OS on their systems for a period of time before it gets launched to public. Although it is not recommended that you install the OS, but you can use run and test its features using the VirtualBox.
As of now, you can’t download the Windows 8 Consumer preview yet, but Microsoft should be releasing the details about a widespread consumer test drive of Windows 8 later this month. However, you can download the Windows 8 Developer Preview.