Microsoft Thinks They Got Windows 8 Right

Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) has been available for download for more than a week now, and news of the upcoming Windows client from Microsoft is bound to have reverberated around the world. 

The first taste of Windows 8, offered at BUILD, was certainly met with a great deal of enthusiasm from those attending the conference, as well as for early adopters waiting for the bits with bated breath. 

The reimagined Windows has also managed to spark some positive feedback from those that got to play with the early development milestone of the operating system, just a pre-Beta M3 release at this point in time. 

Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer underlined the good reception that the Windows Developer Preview received during the company’s Financial Analyst Meeting 2011. 

“Certainly the release of the developer preview of Windows 8 is just that, it's a developer preview. We've got a lot of work to do between here and there, but at least we get a chance to get some early sense of kind of how people react,” he said. 

“What do they think about the path we've taken? Gratifying, 9:30 this morning somebody came and grabbed me before I went on stage to tell me we'd had our 500,000th download, and we are seeing at least from people who are playing and looking very early, we're seeing some positive reaction. And I think that's extremely important.”

I need to underline that there’s still much work to be done on Windows 8. M3 will be followed by the Beta Build, then the Release Candidate (RC). Microsoft has yet to reveal availability deadlines for Windows 8’s upcoming development milestones. 

Personally, I think that only with the advent of the Beta will the world be able to truly anticipate what the RTM Build of Windows 8 will bring to the table. 

Speaking about the main pillars of Windows 8, Ballmer is convinced that Microsoft is on the right track. 

“We think we've got it right. We think the formula that says that you bring the best of the tablets and the best of the PC together, that you embrace the cloud, you embrace emerging HTML standards, is exactly right,” Microsoft’s CEO stated. 

“But if you look at some of the quotes that we've seen in the Twitter feeds and in the blogosphere, and I went through most of these over the course of my discussion this morning, but the initial reaction has been all we would have hoped for in terms of being positive, both on Windows 8 and frankly probably even more positive than we might have expected on Windows 8 Server, which has been quite remarkable. The importance of Azure and Windows 8 Server for private cloud is important.”

As far as I’m concerned, Windows 8 certainly has immense potential, but I’m curious about what you think? Is Ballmer right in boasting that Microsoft got Windows 8 right this early in the development process? 

Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.

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