Windows 8 start screen

Microsoft released a preview of Windows 8 to developers this evening, just hours after the software giant showed off the finer details of the operating system today at the Microsoft BUILD conference. The next version of Windows, which completely revamps the operating system to be compatible with both touchscreen devices like tablets and traditional PCs, is now available to anyone who wants it.

To get the Windows 8 developer preview, just head on to Microsoft's developer site and download it. You'll just need a PC with a 1GHz or faster processor (either 32- or 64-bit), 1GB of RAM (2GB for 64-bit), 16GB of hard disk space (20GB for 64-bit), DirectX 9 graphics with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. Of course, if you want to play with Windows 8's touch abilities, you'll need a screen that supports multi-touch.

Be warned, however: This early build is far from final. A disclaimer on the site says, "These downloads include prerelease software that may change without notice. The software is provided as is, and you bear the risk of using it. It may not be stable, operate correctly or work the way the final version of the software will. It should not be used in a production environment."

No activation is required to run the preview, but the other side of that coin is that Microsoft also offers no support. It will, however, continue to update the preview as it tweaks the OS. Updates should be automatic.

Although Microsoft designed Windows 8 to run on both traditional PCs with Intel x86 chips and portable devices with chips based on the ARM architecture, the developer preview is just the x86 version, albeit in both 32- and 64-bit variants. It includes upgraded developer tools like Visual Studio 11 Express, Expression Blend 5, a software development kit (SDK), and apps.

Developers attending BUILD also got a special treat: an 11-inch Samsung tablet running Windows 8. The tablet is for developers only, says Microsoft, and only 5,000 were made available. It won't be sold to the general public.

Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's president of the Windows division, led a keynote this morning that revealed a lot about how Windows 8 worked as well as some of the developer tools for creating apps in Windows 8. Apps, for example, are now better able to communicate with each other, so sharing things like photos between several different programs is easy to implement. The keynote showed how a developer could create a simple drawing app with the ability to share images on Facebook, in just a few minutes.

Since Windows 7 hardware is backward compatible with Windows 8 (the demo showed a machine running both versions, and it was actually using less memory to run Windows 8), Sinofsky told the developer crowd that creating apps for Windows 8 potentially gives them more than 400 million target customers, the estimated user base of Windows 7.

The Windows 8 developer preview is closer to a finished product than Windows 7 was when it was at the same stage in 2008, Sinofsky said. Windows 7 didn't have the final version of its user interface (UI) when developers got to see it, but Windows 8 comes complete with the tile-based UI based in part on Windows Phone 7. It wouldn't be much good without it—the UI is heavily integrated in the OS's functionality, particularly with touch devices.

After the developer preview, the next stage will be a general beta, which should work out any remaining major bugs. After that, a release candidate (RC) will be next, followed by a release to manufacturers (RTM), and then general availability (GA) to the public. As for how long it takes to go from developer preview to store shelves, it's anyone's guess, but for Windows 7 it took about a year.

For more, check out PCMag's hands on with the Windows 8 developer preview, Michael Miller's closer look at the finer details of the OS from the keynote, and our hands on with the Samsung Windows 8 tablet.

For more from Peter, follow him on Twitter @petepachal.
