HANNOVER,Germany, March 6, 2012: Microsoft has formally unveiled the latest avatar of its operating system, -- Windows 8 -- at the CeBIT computer expo in Germany, on Monday.

Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft Corp said in his keynote, that Windows 8 will bring together the potential of a tablet with the power of a PC. He invited IT professionals around the world to test the recently releasedWindows 8 Consumer Preview, now available for download at http://preview.windows.com  . One million responded worldwide on Day one.
Comments Al Gillen, program vice president, system software, IDC: “We believe Windows 8 will bring an evolutionary solution to Windows users that delivers business productivity, while helping IT to manage and secure newdevices using their existing infrastructure and tools,” said . “Windows 8 will help bridge the demands that end users are placing on IT departments with what IT wants for its business — a smooth transitional path to add tablet devices into anexisting Windows client infrastructure.”
The key refrain from Microsoft is: Windows 8 erases the divide between home and office, work and play. Let your employees bring in their own devices and do your work on them -- IT's no big deal with Windows 8.

For longtime Windows users, the new look of the 8th avatar might be a bit unsettling -- a tile of apps rather than a scenic home screen. Many of the new functions seem to be optimized for touch devices like tablets. ndows 8 also includes native support for Net access via 3G and 4G telelcom channels. And yes, they've coined a new buzz word for this: Metro style apps.
One of the gee-whiz demos at CeBIT was booting from a USB device. Another was smooth access to cloud based personal storage and apps.
We are running for a few days a video in our Tech Video slot that runs through the key features of Windows 8 preview edition. Once we have had our own chance to try out Windows 8, we will share our reactions with readers of IndiaTechOnline. watch this space!