Windows 8 Preview Downloads to break 3 Million Mark


Windows 8 Preview Downloads to break 3 Million Mark

Bangalore: Microsoft’s Windows 8 consumer preview has crossed one million downloads in the first 24 hours after it was launched on Wednesday, the company announced on its Windows 8 twitter account.

"One day later...one million downloads of the consumer preview," tweeted the account. The download rate is expected to pass the 3 million mark over this weekend. The earlier developer’s preview, which Microsoft released in September 2011, had taken seven and a half weeks to pass the 3 million mark.

Current statistics show the preview, with a new Touch- centric Metro-style UI, has so far been well received by the industry. The preview is available for download in both an image format (.iso) and a file format.

Microsoft has not announced an exact date on the shipping of product. According to Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows, “Windows 8's development cycle would emulate Windows 7's, with a near-final "Release Candidate" next in line, followed by a build that will be marked "Release to Manufacturing" to signal it's ready to pass along to computer manufacturers, or OEMs.”

Most of the reviews about the OS have been positive with some of them saying it will be a big concern for Android in tablets. A ComputerWorld report stated that 1 million downloads doesn’t mean that many users have actually installed the preview quoting a tweet from user Zack Williamson which said "To be fair, I downloaded it something like 4 times."