As we enter June, we inch closer towards
Microsoft’s major Windows 8 release. The operating system has gone
through several levels of development and there have been two big
releases made public. First, it was the Developer Preview, last year,
followed by the Consumer Preview that we received this year. Today,
Microsoft released their Windows 8 Release Preview, which is one of the
last milestones before the operating system is ready to ship. The
announcement of this release was made on Microsoft’s Building Windows 8
blog, which has been the source of information on the different aspects
of Windows 8. Microsoft’s new Windows 8 Release Preview is being made
available in 14 different languages. The Release Preview is available
for download, for free from Microsoft's Windows 8 Preview site.
All you need to do, is download the ISO and burn a copy on a disc. You
also have the option of making a bootable flash drive for installing the
OS.
Hardware requirements for Windows 8
- Windows 8 Release Preview works great on the same hardware that powers Windows 7:-
- Processor: 1GHz or faster
- RAM: 1GB (32-bit) or 2GB (64-bit)
- Drive space: 16GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
- Video card: Microsoft DirectX 9 compatible device
The latest build adds a bunch of new features and improvements. For
one, there are more Bing apps available on it, ones which include
travel, news and sports. In terms of improvements, you’ll find that the
Mail, Photos and People apps have been spruced up. The Start screen, for
example, can also be tweaked and customized as per your liking. There’s
also better support for multiple monitors with this build. Other
refinements, include those to the Windows Store, using which users can
download and install apps.
Security is a major concern and Microsoft is trying to ensure that
with Windows 8. There’s also family security features for browsing
online. Another concern for many users these days is the tracking
function on many modern browsers; Internet Explorer 10 has the feature,
but it won’t be enabled by default. Windows 8 includes better touch
support, which means you can browse through pages by simply swiping your
finger. There’s also support for Adobe Flash Player integrated within
Internet Explorer 10.