Windows 8 is not expected to ship until sometime in 2012, but we managed to briefly try out the Developer Preview version of the software at Microsoft's Build conference.

The platform is quite clearly a major change over what has gone before, and people familiar with the Windows desktop could be forgiven for feeling somewhat lost at first, as the Metro interface works in a totally different way.

However, we think consumers will find a lot to like in Windows 8, particularly the way it provides easy access to data, and makes it simple to perform tasks such as updating social meda sites.