Windows 8 Consumer Preview usage twice Windows 7 beta
updated 06:05 pm EDT, Fri April 20, 2012
One million downloads on first day
In the first 50 days since the Windows 8 Consumer preview launch, testers have doubled usage time over 2009's Windows 7 beta over the same period. The total amount of tester hours expended on the project is unknown.
The number of PCs in use since the Windows 7 beta was released has increased by 400 million, a 25 percent increase in total units. All these computers should be technically capable of running the Windows 8 consumer preview. This number does not include the number of PCs outright replaced with a newer model which would also be capable of running the preview. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview requires a 1Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of space for the 32 bit version or 20GB for the 64 bit, and a DirectX graphics processor with at least the WDDM 1.0 driver.
