In less than an hour, Microsoft will show off its latest preview of their new operating system, Windows 8. It will be unveiled in a Press Conference at the World’s Premier Wireless Show, MWC 2012, in Barcelona (ehh wish I’m there :] ). By using the word “Consumer Preview” instead of “Beta” Microsoft is emphasizing that this OS is ready for everyday users to try on their PCs and tablets (ps. no ARM tablets for the moment).
What shall we expect in this Consumer Preview?
With the Developer Preview, Microsoft showed how Windows 8 will be, and what is capable of doing. It was only meant for developers. This new Consumer Preview is meant to be tested by everyone, so it will be much more stable, much more compatible, and almost all features will be in place.
Also, the early Developer Preview was not optimized for the mouse and keyboard, so this should change drastically in the Consumer Preview making it more usable for the normal users.
How about the Start Button?
As previous reports stated, the Start Button from the OS is likely to be removed. But instead, it’s being replaced (actually it was always there on PCs) by a hardware button. On tablets it will be an iPad like button, and for normal users using PCs, it will be the normal Windows button. It might need some getting used to.
And the Windows Logo?
Most probably, the consumer preview will sport the new Windows Logo (like the one at the top of this post). This new logo is showing the roots of Windows (it’s like the first logo ever of Windows), and is showing the new Metro Language which Microsoft is using throughout its whole range of products.
This event is not being Webcast, but if you still want live coverage (like I certainly want), you can log on to ZDNet or Engadget in less than an hour.
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