Windows 8 Consumer Preview hits 1 million downloads in first 24 hours
In a Thursday post on the popular microblogging site Twitter, Microsoft's Windows 8 development team revealed that the forthcoming operating system's Consumer Preview version - unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Wednesday - was downloaded 1 million times in the first 24 hours of its release.
In its announcement of the noteworthy download figures, the Windows 8 development tem said in its tweet: "One day later ... one million downloads of the consumer preview."
The number of downloads of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview version in one day is a very notable one, especially since the OS is still in beta and is yet to be finished and made ready as a final product for general availability --- though one of the factors contributing to the staggering download figures could be the fact that the software was released as a free download.
Quite like the September-released the Developer Preview version of the OS, the Consumer Preview release also marked Microsoft's advance in the direction of bringing Windows 8 and its touch-compatible user interface to desktops, laptops, and tablets, later this year.
Revealing that the Consumer Preview was released after Microsoft had made over 100,000 changes to Windows 8 software following the Developer Preview, Windows president Steve Sinofsky said that the forthcoming OS will ship on x86 and ARM-based systems; and added that the software's development on all hardware platforms is on track as well as on equal footing.
