Yesterday, Microsoft showed a glimpse of what Windows 8 has to offer at the Build Conference. They demoed Windows 8 running on a Samsung Tablet. Windows 8 is inspired by Windows Phone 7 and it has also adopted the Metro UI. While the UI looks like it has been developed with touch interfaces in mind, it can also be used with a mouse and keyboard. Microsoft has also said that for those who prefer the traditional desktop, it will also be available as an application.

Windows 8 Start Screen

Continuing with its demo of Windows 8 at the conference, Microsoft has actually released the Windows 8 Developer Preview for anyone to download. It is available for x86 and x64 architectures (32-bit and 64-bit). The x86 build is around 2.8 GB of download while the x64 build is 3.2 GB. An x64 build with the developer tools that will be required to develop Windows 8 applications is also available. It has a slightly larger download size at 4.8 GB. Click on the link below to go to the download page.

Download Windows 8 Developer Preview

If you have downloaded the x64 or x86 builds, you can do an upgrade from your previous Windows 7 or Windows Vista installation. To install the x64 build with developer tools, you will need to perform a clean install. Product activation is not required to run any of these Windows 8 builds. At this point we are not entirely sure, but we believe that its expiration time period is 6 months as is the case with the previous Windows pre-releases.

According to Microsoft, the Windows 8 Developer Preview will run on any machine that can run Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Anyway, here is the detailed system requirement to run for Windows 8 Developer Preview. A touchscreen is not a requirement for running the Windows 8 Developer Preview - any system with a keyboard and a mouse will do.

Remember that there is about a year left until the actual Windows 8 release. So, this is only a glimpse of what Windows 8 will offer.

[image credit]