Apple’s iPad has dominated the consumer tablet market since its inception, but that hasn’t stopped any number of competitors from taking their own runs at the crown.

Apple is hosting an event on 7 March where it will almost certainly debut the iPad 3. “We have something you really have to see. And touch,” reads the invitation sent to the media, which includes an image of a finger touching the calendar app on an iPad screen. Over the past few months, rumours have focused on the next-generation tablet’s possible features, including a high-resolution screen as well as a more powerful processor and camera.

On 29 February, Microsoft offered up the Consumer Preview (or beta) of Windows 8, which will arrive sometime later in 2012. The Consumer Preview can be found in a special area on Microsoft’s Website, with the beta’s ISO files also available for those who wish to install it on another partition or virtual machine.

In a bid to spread the Windows franchise onto tablets in addition to traditional PCs, Windows 8’s start screen is composed of a set of colourful (and touchable) tiles linked to applications, with the “old style” desktop interface accessible via a single click or finger tap.

The Windows Store will offer a wide variety of apps. Cloud-related features include cloud storage, the ability to roam all settings, and communicate with email and contacts from a Windows Phone smartphone or Windows PC.

With those features in place, Windows 8 tablets could prove attractive to business users and consumers who like the familiarity of the Windows brand. But Microsoft will still have to deal with Apple’s significant lead in the space.

滬江英語快訊：

幾天前，蘋果方面宣布將在3月7日進(jìn)行iPad3的處女秀，而就在昨天另一業(yè)界巨頭微軟也毫不示弱地開始了反擊之戰(zhàn)！Windows 8消費(fèi)者預(yù)覽版由微軟在2012移動(dòng)世界大會(huì)(MWC)上發(fā)布，這是一個(gè)可在平板電腦、筆記本電腦和臺(tái)式機(jī)等多種設(shè)備上都能使用的跨平臺(tái)操作系統(tǒng)。目前，用戶已經(jīng)可以免費(fèi)下載體驗(yàn)Windows 8消費(fèi)者預(yù)覽版，有效期至2013年1月16日。不過，現(xiàn)在開放下載的版本僅支持采用英特爾x86處理器的PC（臺(tái)式機(jī)）和筆記本。

Windows 8會(huì)不會(huì)成為iPad殺手？微軟和蘋果的這次大戰(zhàn)到底鹿死誰手？沒有了喬幫主的蘋果能否風(fēng)采依舊？谷歌、Facebook等“各路豪杰”會(huì)不會(huì)加入戰(zhàn)場？我們拭目以待！參與討論“Windows 8來了”，請前往>>>