The new platform release will bring enhancements, access to the Windows Store

Feb 9, 2012 08:37 GMT  ·  By

Windows 8 Consumer Preview, the next iteration of Microsoft’s newest desktop client, is set to make its official debut on February 29th at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Windows 8 is the first desktop client from the Redmond-based software giant to sport enhancements for touchscreens.

It arrives with the same Metro UI that has been packed with the Windows Phone platform, and will bring important changes when compared to the previous versions of the client.

In September last year, Microsoft made available for download the Developer Preview of Windows 8, which can be found on Softpedia as well.

Those who already gave the platform version a try have noticed the UI changes that it was packed with, the new Task Manager, the Metro-style Start Menu, and the like.

However, the new Consumer Preview promises a great deal of enhancements over the Developer Preview. If you haven’t fallen in love with the first platform release, you will certainly fall for this one.

There are more UI changes to enjoy, a removed Start button and a new Charms Bar, changes to the Windows Explorer and to how it performs Copy operations, or the new Storage Spaces and the ReFS file system.

At the same time, the Consumer Preview will provide us with access to a preview version of the Windows Store (which will include a series of popular games right from the start), and is also expected to arrive with a series of

pre-installed applications.

Overall, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview will look more like the final flavor of the operating system and less like the early build that was made available for the public in September as the Developer Preview.

Microsoft’s plans to unveil the Windows 8 Consumer Preview at the MWC have somehow been expected ever since the company said that it would launch the beta flavor of the OS in late February.

In addition to getting a taste of the Consumer Preview at the event, we should also be able to learn more on the next Windows 8 releases.

Download Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 M3