Windows 8 Consumer Preview Launched with over 100,000 Major Code Changes

As we reported a few moments ago,Microsoft released the much awaited Windows 8 Consumer Preview at the Mobile World Congress.Windows 8 which is targeted not just for the desktops and laptops but tablets as well,with wide range of architecture support with ARM making an entry in the business,though the ARM version of the devices won’t be able to run Metro Based apps like the x86 counterpart.

At the event at MWC 2012 Steven Sinofsky revealed that the Consumer Preview version of Windows 8 has over 100,000 major code changes from the Developer Preview which was released in September at the Build Conference.

Sinofsky also talked about the enhanced driver support for the add on hardware devices running on Windows 8 Consumer Preview,courtesy the development of new class driver for Windows 8, which will allow all sorts of hardware to work seamlessly with the OS and any additional drivers won’t be a necessity.He extended by saying that almost 80-90 percent of printers will automatically work without any driver installation required,making the Windows 8 fresh install ready to go.

You can download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview Right Now from Here.

Via[Venturebeat]

Henry Li

WOW THIS IS GREAT!
Var1abl3

New drivers!!! Great I already have to load XP, Vista and Win7 drivers both 32 bit and 64 bit and now I get to add Windows 8 drivers to the network. Can Microsoft not use the same drivers for all OS’s of theirs? I remember the good old days of setting IRQ’s with a jumper. What ever happened to “standards” in computing? I just need the page to print I do not need all the bells and whistles that these bloated drivers give me.
- Gary554
  
  What part of “any additional drivers won’t be a necessity” don’t you understand?
  - Var1abl3
    
    Maybe because the article said “courtesy the development of NEW class driver for Windows 8, … and any
    additional drivers won’t be a necessity.He extended by saying that ALMOST 80-90 percent of printers will automatically” Maybe the part about ALMOST 80-90% work so that leaves ALMOST 10-20% that will not. This is Microsoft so I expect that number to more than double of the next few days/weeks until they come out with a Service Pack to fix it. If they can not figure out what the % of printers that will work without drivers…. but with ALMOST 80-90 as the statement… I guess almost 80% can be 75% or even less but it could be as high as 89%…. it also be that bad taste in my mouth I have had after Vista came out.
    - ah2bahn
      
      Printers are not actually Microsoft’s responsibility just like camera drivers and mp3 player drivers as manufactures of periphials usually have thier own device specific drivers that are need for them to run optimally… So at best you can blame the manufactures for not coming out with devices that use a driver standard, which is like asking everyone that wears glasses to have the same prescription!
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