Windows 8 The Developer Preview Release

Just recently Microsoft has launched their first Developer Preview of the next iteration of Windows, the Windows 8. As what Steven Sinofsky describe, Windows 8 represents a re-imagining of Windows from the chipset to the experience. Eager to see how will it looks on my PC, I’m downloading a copy of the release and will install on my desktop tonight via VirtualBox VM.

Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102.winmain_win8m3.110830-1739 was compiled on August 30, 2011, some two weeks ago, and still belongs to the Milestone 3 stage of the development process. According to Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows and Windows Live Division, a lot of work has already gone into building Windows 8, including 2 million installs internally, 9.3 million performance tests, 1 trillion telemetry data points analyzed, and in excess of 380,000 hours of compatibility testing. You can see the result of all the research and testing in the screenshot below (from one of the conference attendee):

Windows 8 features support for ARM-based chipsets in addition to the usual x86 and x64 CPUs, and is optimized for touch devices as it aiming to deliver the same full PC experience whether it’s running on traditional computers or tablets / slates and additional next-generation form factors. This explains the new Metro UI Start Screen taking center-stage pushing the desktop to the background.

From the demonstration at the conference earlier, Windows 8 comes with Internet Explorer 10 (IE10), a new Metro platform for immersive applications, enhanced performance, its own Windows Store, and so much more but the Sinofsky said some of the features that has been demoed earlier won’t be included in this Developer Preview such as Windows Store, Windows Live Metro style apps, and some of the user interface features.  This is because the focus of the preview is the API and development tools for building Metro style apps.

As this is only a preview, I would not recommend for anyone to be using it as your primary daily OS but rather just experience the build. You can at anytime post a feedback to Microsoft with any bugs you found.

System Requirements

Windows Developer Preview works great on the same hardware that powers Windows Vista and Windows 7:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
• Taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch

Below are the links where you can download a copy of the Developer Preview. Please note this copy will expire 6 months after you install it on your computer.

Windows Developer Preview English, 32-bit (x86)-2.82 GB

http://wdp.dlws.microsoft.com/WDPDL/9B8DFDFF736C5B1DBF956B89D8A9D4FD925DACD2/WindowsDeveloperPreview-32bit-English.iso
Sha 1 hash – 4E0698BBABE01ED27582C9FC16AD21C4422913CC
Includes a disk image file (.iso) to install the Windows Developer Preview and Metro style apps on a 32-bit PC.

Windows Developer Preview English, 64-bit (x64)-3.63 GB

http://wdp.dlws.microsoft.com/WDPDL/9B8DFDFF736C5B1DBF956B89D8A9D4FD925DACD2/WindowsDeveloperPreview-64bit-English.iso
Sha 1 hash – 79DBF235FD49F5C1C8F8C04E24BDE6E1D04DA1E9
Includes a disk image file (.iso) to install the Windows Developer Preview and Metro style apps on a 64-bit PC.

Windows Developer Preview with developer tools English, 64-bit (x64)-4.83 GB

http://wdp.dlws.microsoft.com/WDPDL/9B8DFDFF736C5B1DBF956B89D8A9D4FD925DACD2/WindowsDeveloperPreview-64bit-English-Developer.iso
Sha 1 hash – 6FE9352FB59F6D0789AF35D1001BD4E4E81E42AF