14 DAY TRIAL // The first public testing Build of Windows 8 is one month old today. Windows Developer Preview, a Milestone 3 (M3) release of Windows 8, was launched at BUILD on September 13, 2011.
According to statistics shared by Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ballmer on the second day of the BUILD event, Build 8102 of Windows 8 was downloaded in excess of 500,000 times in the first 24 hours.
The software giant offered no additional download data for Windows Developer Preview following the first day of availability.
Build 8102 serves a rather obvious purpose, namely to spark the development of programs for Windows 8, of both desktop applications and Metro apps, with the focus on the latter.
While the official label of the release is a dead giveaway, Microsoft still had to stress on a few occasions that Windows 8 is still far from being wrapped up.
Speaking of which, the Windows team is currently hard at work on the next major development milestone of Windows 8, the Beta Build.
Windows 8 Beta will be better suited for a much broader testing pool, including end users, not just developers.
Over the last month, there’s one thing that needs highlighting. I want to applaud the Windows team for the way it’s listening and reacting to feedback, as well as for the communications strategy around the pre-Beta Build of Windows 8.
Windows engineers are obviously “keeping an ear” to the channels set up to gather Windows 8 Developer Preview feedback, are engaging in active dialog (even Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows and Windows Live Division, is extremely talkative), and most importantly are working to integrate user input into the upcoming Beta.
The conclusion of the latest B8 post, authored by Marina Dukhon, a senior program manager lead on the Core Experience team, says it all:
“Our intention is to build on the unprecedented transparency we provide in building Windows and to bring you inside the development of the product. By now you can see that building Windows 8 is a complex endeavor with tons of variables and choices to be made, lots of data, and in considering all that, we go through a great deal of work when making even the smallest change,” Dukhon said.
“We simply love the dialog we're having with you, and the opportunity to describe the depth of the work we do to bring you Windows. All of us on the Windows team are devoting our professional careers to building a great product, and so the opportunity to talk with passionate and informed people about the details of what we do is itself an added bonus.”
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.