Windows 8 Consumer Preview to be Released [Updated]

The waiting and uncertainty are finally over and at long last all our questions will be answered as Microsoft are set to release the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (beta) later today during an event in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress event.  The launch, which takes place at 3pm local time (2pm GMT, 9am EST, 6am PST) will see a download link go live sometime during the event and we’ll post that link here for you straight away, so stay with gHacks!

I’ve had a very full mailbag since September when the Developer Preview was released to much hype and publicity.  The questions, mainly coming from IT Pros have concerned their traditional ways of working.  They wanted to know if Metro was just going to be it as far as the interface was concerned or if they would be able to set the desktop as their default user interface.  Indeed I’ve already given a few talks to IT Pros and businesses on this subject and there are more still booked in for the next few months.

It’s not unexpected or unreasonable for people to be concerned, Microsoft have chosen the Mobile World Congress event at which to launch the beta.  This is the biggest annual trade show for companies displaying and showing off their latest mobile computing wares, which include tablets.  It’s very clear then that what people are going to see and hear today will be Metro, Metro, Metro as Microsoft have got a significant amount of catching up to do in the tablet marketplace, and are, effectively, putting all their eggs into one basket.

 

This doesn’t mean that Windows 8 won’t offer adequate features and an interface for the rest of the world, and we’ll find out later today what the situation is.  Personally I’ll be focusing on finding the answers to the questions people have been asking me the most, and “Can the desktop be set as the default interface” is at the very top of my to do list.  This will be the first thing I do and the first thing I look for.

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It is just one of a great many questions people have however.  These include how extra functionality is being built into Metro both in terms of mouse gestures and menu features for apps.  While many people are resistant to Metro, not just for only being able to run one or two apps on screen at any one time (not very useful on many large desktop screens these days) there are also a great many people very excited about it.

Suffice to say we’ll soon see what the real deal is, and if it’s even feature-locked and finished as we would expect it to be.  There have been many rumours flying around in the last couple of weeks about difficulties Microsoft was apparently having getting the beta ready in time.

As I said, we’ll let you know immediately the download is available.  Will you be getting it today?  Are you excited, indifferent or wanting to wait until you get more information?  Do you even care about downloading the beta?  Why not tell us here in the comments.

The download is now live HERE, but please remember this is just a beta, so shouldn’t be considered finished and stable for everyday use!

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About the Author:Mike Halsey is a Microsoft MVP for "Windows Expert". He is also the author of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out from Microsoft Press and the Windows 7 Power Users Guide, a how-to guide for non-technical Windows users on how to get the best out of Microsoft's new operating system, with step-by-step and quick guides. You can follow Mike on Facebook, Twitter or on his own website The Long ClimbAuthor: Mike Halsey MVP, Wednesday February 29, 2012 -
Tags:beta, windows 8

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The Windows 8 “Consumer Preview”, What’s in a Name?

It is widely expected that when Microsoft launch the Windows 8 beta in a few weeks that it will be labelled the “Windows 8 Consumer Preview”.  This has alarmed and concerned many IT Pros who feel that Windows 8 is cutting them out with Microsoft putting all the focus on consumers and tablets with its new Metro interface.  I thought this deserved some discussion, especially in light of the concerns that IT Pros, businesses and enthusiasts currently have.

Let’s look first at the missing IT Pro features in the Developer Preview and what this release was actually for.  Microsoft are going after the tablet market aggressively, frankly they have no choice to do this now or to wave goodbye to it forever.  This is why Windows 8's new Start Screen and Metro apps have been engineered the way they have.  Nobody can blame them for this either.  As we all now know from smartphones and tablets, any platform will live or die on the quality and quantity of the apps available for it.  Let’s just look at what happened to HP’s TouchPad, with the same now beginning to happen to the RIM Playbook.

For this reason it is essential that Windows 8 have a critical mass of Metro apps available in the new Windows store on the day that Windows 8 goes on sale.  The only way to do this is to start early, and the only way to get developers writing for the new interface and platform is to give them a copy to play with.  It was far from essential therefore that anything other than Metro was actually working for the giveaway date at their BUILD developer conference last September.

This doesn’t mean that Windows 8 will be bereft of IT Pro features, it just means that Microsoft’s focus in the run up to September was finishing Metro and making sure it was stable.  Microsoft have told me privately that plenty of new features for IT Pros simply weren’t finished by then.  They are coming and will all be finished for the beta.  In fact that build of Windows 8 will already have been signed off by now and will be going into escrow this week.

Microsoft have a huge mountain to climb in the tablet market and they’ve got to create a buzz with the beta.  Some people at the company have admitted to me privately that the company made a mistake in releasing the Developer Preview publicly instead of just through developer channels.  People downloaded it, expecting it to be a finished product and it simply wasn’t.  This has resulted in the new OS getting large volumes of negative publicity and people damning the finished product when they’ve actually seen less than half of it.

So why Consumer Preview then if IT Pros hated the Developer Preview?  Microsoft need to get consumers worldwide downloading, installing and using the Windows 8 beta in their multi-millions.  They need people talking on blogs and forums and in the press about how much they love it to spur on developers in writing apps for the platform.  Microsoft haven’t released any figures yet about how quickly Metro apps are being written, but this could mean it’s off to a slow start potentially.  Generating excitement and press coverage then is huge.  This doesn’t mean that the IT Pro features won’t be there, just that Microsoft have got to get Metro off to a flying start from being three or four years behind the market leaders.

The company will also want to completely differentiate the latest release from the Developer Preview by indicating that they were both completely different builds and intended for completely different audiences.  Simply calling it the beta next month wouldn’t do this and many people might assume that it will just include a few tweaks and bells on top of what was seen in September.  Thus this differentiation is absolutely necessary.  Especially given Microsoft’s private admission that a public release was an error last time.

The other reason to call it a Consumer Preview is that, for a while at least, all the media attention will be on the new Metro interface.  Microsoft know this and will try to use this coverage to spurr on app developers.  In short it’s actually quiite a clever move calling it this.   It doesn’t mean, as I’ve already said, that it won’t include the ability to switch off the new Start Screen, or won’t include Hyper-V, new multi-monitor tools and much more besides.  It is, frankly, just a name and IT Pros need not be concerned any longer.

Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter. Musings on the Windows 8 Developer Preview
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Tweak The Windows Alt-Tab Preview With Alt-Tab Tuner About the Author:Mike Halsey is a Microsoft MVP for "Windows Expert". He is also the author of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out from Microsoft Press and the Windows 7 Power Users Guide, a how-to guide for non-technical Windows users on how to get the best out of Microsoft's new operating system, with step-by-step and quick guides. You can follow Mike on Facebook, Twitter or on his own website The Long ClimbAuthor: Mike Halsey MVP, Monday January 30, 2012 -
Tags:beta, consumer preview, developer preview, windows 8

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