New boot experience, touch included

The new boot screen in Windows 8 is a touchable UI unlike the 30-year old usual text-based interface. This screen is intended to work in an integrated fashion with the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) that will replace the traditional BIOS interface, including other major changes beyond the surface closely related to the firmware. The idea is that your new computer will power up, already in graphics mode, to the manufacturer's logo which will stay on screen up until the Windows logo shows up just before the welcome screen. In a setting as shown here, whenever you choose Windows 7, for instance, then the PC will go to the full booting cycle again and it is likely that you get the legacy screen with white text on black background. The "Choose and operating system" screen appears only if the last operating system loaded was Windows 8. You will be switching back and forth between different boot interfaces depending on the OS you are starting. This new boot screen allows you change options and default operating systems and other settings in general. Read more about reengineering the Windows boot experience.

Tools for the creators: Visual Studio 11 (Beta)

Unlike Windows 8 Developer Preview, Windows 8 Consumer Preview does not come with the tools pre-installed, so in order to start making something with this newest Microsoft's OS, other than  browsing and going back and forth between Metro and Desktop and the Web, download and install any of theVisual Studio 11 Beta development tools. I am running the Express version that (obviously) requires  Windows 8 Consumer Preview (x86 and x64) and supports both the 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) architectures. In addition to the user-friendliness and the high level of usability usually found in Visual Studio, you will get an amazing tablet simulator to test your Metro, Web and Desktop apps. One more powerful reason to explore HTML5 and JavaScript and newer technologies under Windows 8.