The Windows 8 Devloper Preview is available for download, and so far, the reaction from the development community has been a mass of new apps being created and rave reviews. Windows 8 is a reimagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface. A Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.

The official release of the new operating system may not carry the name “Windows 8,” but it’s how the media is referring to it, and how Microsoft itself refers to it currently. This next official release of the Windows operating system is believed to be released in late 2012, but this winter it’s expected that a public beta will be made available, so us techies will get a chance to check out a pre-release version of the next Windows operating system.

Windows 8 introduces a new Metro style interface, which shows the information important to you, embodies simplicity, and gives you control. The interface is a personalized layout with clean typography and animations to make interacting with your PC fluid and intuitive. The new interface is built for touch. With touch, you can do what you want to do quickly and naturally. The new Start screen puts all of your apps in front of you for immediate access. You don’t have to remember where things are. And whether you want to type, click, or swipe, Windows 8 is optimized for easier navigation so moving around the operating system is effortless with either a finger, or a mouse and keyboard.

The new Start screen gives you a fast way to interact with all of your apps and content. The tiles are alive with information, showing you what’s going on at any time. Information that you care about — the weather, your friends’ status updates, the top movie in your Netflix queue, your next calendar appointment — is all there at a glance.

You can personalize your Start screen with shortcuts to your favorite things, like websites, a playlist, or photo albums. You decide where you want things on the screen and how you want them grouped. You can optimize for efficiency by adding speed bumps between groups of apps so that you don’t have to swipe back and forth when you’re panning through your Start screen.

Metro style apps built for Windows 8 are beautiful, intuitive, and the focal point of your experience. They’re immersive, filling your entire screen so there are no distractions. Apps can adapt to a variety of form factors and screen resolutions, such as thin slates or large monitors, and can work on x86, x64, and ARM platforms.

Apps work together, making it easy to search, share, and send content between them. When you’re connected to the Internet, your apps come alive with activity and show you the latest content so that you can stay up to date at a glance.

Windows 8 gives you the important apps you need for your daily life, including a touch browser. And Windows Store delivers everything you expect for getting apps. You’ll find the apps you want. You can be confident that they’re very safe because we screen them. You’ll enjoy the flexibility of browsing, downloading, and buying or trying (if available). Your apps are ready for you on any Windows 8 PC you use—desktop, laptop, tablet—whether yours, a friend’s, or a family member’s. With a connected account, you can download your apps and use them wherever you are.

When you sign in with your connected Microsoft account to another PC running Windows 8, your Metro style apps and settings go with you, so it’s just like you’re using your own PC. You’ll also be signed in to all of the websites you were signed in to. Your connected account is like a portable, personal PC that appears on any Windows 8-based PC you’re using. You’re always ready to pick back up where you left off no matter where you are.

Apps can work together
Apps can communicate with each other in Windows 8. So, if you want to send pictures in email, and they’re in different places like Facebook, Flickr, or on your hard drive, you can easily pick and send the ones you want. Windows 8 provides a single view.

Metro style apps run and stay up to date even when the PC is on standby. When you’re connected to the Internet, you’ll receive information updates, email, VoIP calls, instant messages, and be able to stream music or other content in the background. When Windows comes out of standby, your apps don’t need time to catch up.

Nobody likes to be interrupted when they’re in the middle of doing something important. At the same time, it’s important that you keep your PC up to date. Windows 8 takes care of keeping your computer up to date, including most maintenance activities, without getting in your way. If you turn on Windows Update during setup and your computer needs an update, Windows can install it when you’re not using your computer or at a time you’ve specified. When an update requires a reboot, there’s a grace period, allowing you to pick a time that’s convenient for you. As a result, you see far fewer prompts about maintenance, updates, or reboots. You won’t be slowed down by interruptions, and your PC will keep performing well.

Windows 8 is built on the rock-solid foundation of Windows 7, and it features many improvements in performance, security, privacy, and system reliability. Everything that consumers, developers, and IT pros have come to love about Windows 7 is still there – only better.

Refinements to the kernel improve system responsiveness, security, and performance. Improvements in the driver model
and tools chain for driver development improve system stability and reliability. And Windows now runs on ARM devices as well as x86 and x64. You’ll benefit from innovative security features and your apps run faster on Windows 8.

System requirements

• Windows 8 works great on the same hardware that powers Windows Vista and Windows 7:
• 1 gigahertz or faster 32-bit or processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Of course, taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch

Apps run on ARM, x86, and x64 architectures
In addition to running on x86 and x64 devices, Windows 8 delivers even greater flexibility by running on ARM devices. Depending on the technology you use, write your Metro style apps once and they can run on any supported architecture. You can also take advantage of the unique capabilities of your customers’ PCs.

Those daring enough or have a non-essential PC to test the Windows 8 Developer Preview, you can download the disk image files here. This is a pre-beta version of Windows 8, meant for developers. This will completely wipe your computer clean and erase anything you have installed on your PC currently. Be sure to backup your data before installing this developer preview version of Windows 8.