The Build Conference has started and Microsoft is currently streaming the keynote live on the Internet. If you have not tuned in yet you can do so in a browser with Silverlight here or in Windows Media Player by following a link on that page.
We are excited about the fact that Microsoft will release Windows 8 ISO images for users from all over the world to the public today. Everyone will be able to download Windows 8 from the Microsoft Dev website as long as they have or create a Windows Live ID to log in.
This is the only requirement to download the development release of Windows 8 today. Microsoft makes the release available as a 32-bit and 64-bit edition, and will include development tools and samples as well. This includes the Windows 8 SDK for instance and application samples.
The company notes that those samples are not necessarily the apps that will ship with the operating system next year when it comes out.
Windows 8 ISO images can be downloaded from the Dev Website here. We’ve also added direct links to the download isos to our Windows 8 Download Center.
The developer preview has the build number 8102. It will ship with an early preview version (preview 3) of Internet Explorer 10 which plays a major role in Microsoft’s vision for the new operating system. Tablet users will get a special version of Internet Explorer 10 for their systems.
A new feature that will be introduced in Windows 8 is a new task manager which has been designed for end users. Professionals and experts can display a new and improved task manager as well that offers more details in a new layout.
One of the new interesting features is the App History tab which details applications that have been active previously on the system and their resource usage.
Update: The Windows Developer Preview is now live. Anyone can download the 32-bit or 64-bit version from the following website: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516
