Windows 8: Half million previews downloaded in 24 hours

Half a million previews of Windows 8 have been downloaded by developers since the software became available on Tuesday, Microsoft has announced.

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer stated that it showed the strong developer interest in Windows 8, the re-imagining of Windows for the brave new world of fondleslabs. Built to re-conceive Windows for a world of phones, tablets and cloud computing, and to beat Cupertino's iPad at its own game, it has had a warm reaction so far: see our analysis of how it lines up.

“While it's clear we have a long way to go still with Windows 8, we've been gratified by the reactions and the interest,” Ballmer told a bunch of developers today in a conference in Anaheim, California.

The OS should be able to run thinner, lighter tablet machines with battery power that can rival that of the iPad, although x86 applications will not be able to run on the ARM-based systems expected to form the majority of Windows tablets. ®