Microsoft touts one million Windows 8 downloads

Figure show huge interest in firm's dramatic software overhaul

Microsoft's Consumer Preview beta of its highly-anticipated Windows 8 platform has been downloaded over one million times since it was made available on Wednesday, the firm has claimed.

Microsoft unveiled the first public preview of the system at Mobile World Congress (MWC) on Wednesday and writing on Twitter on Thursday, the Building Windows 8 account revealed the figures, underlining the interest in the dramatic software overhaul.

The firm is hoping the new system will enable it to become a major player in both the smartphone and tablet markets, where it is currently lagging behind both Apple and Google.

"The release of Windows 8 will help to drive sales of the Windows Phone platform as the Metro interface becomes common place on the desktop and we drive integration between the platforms," senior product manager for Windows Phone, Larry Lieberman, told V3 at MWC.

Microsoft said at MWC that it has already made 100,000 software changes since the first version was previewed and has made its Windows Store for applications available as well.

So far, interest from hardware vendors in the platform has been strong, with Acer confirming to V3 earlier this week that it will "definitely" be producing tablets running on the operating system.