Microsoft announces launch of Windows 8 preview

Feb 8, 2012, 22:10 GMT

San Francisco - Microsoft will release the test version of its new operating system Windows 8 on February 29 in Barcelona, the computer software giant announced Wednesday.

The release will coincide with the upcoming Mobile World Congress in the Spanish city, but Microsoft said that the so-called consumer preview would take place outside of the mobile industry confab.

Industry analysts said the timing of the release of the trial version pointed to a fall 2012 release for the final edition of Windows 8, just in time to spark a surge of PC sales for the crucial holiday season.

Windows 8 is the first Microsoft operating system designed to run as smoothly on smartphones as on PCs, and for the first time will be optimized to run on ARM chips that dominate the smartphone sector as well as Intel-based PC chips.

Microsoft is banking on the software to help it catch up to Apple and Google in smartphones and tablet computing.

Microsoft has been revealing tidbits of the new software in recent months, showing off a complete overhaul of the user interface by using a tile-based design rather than the desktop system that has characterized the software since Windows 95.