Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Windows 8 Lock Screen: The lock screen can be customized with your own picture. It also gives you a glimpse at what is happening inside with notifications for battery, e-mail, etc.
Joanna Stern/ABC News
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Windows 8 Start Screen: The Windows 8 Start Screen is the heart and soul of the new operating system. Each app or live tile displays what is going out inside the app.
Microsoft
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Semantic Zoom: This is the view of the Start Screen when you zoom out. You can organize apps in different categories.
Microsoft
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Desktop: You can always get to the traditional desktop by tapping the Desktop app on the Start Screen. There is no longer a Start menu or Start button in the corner.
Joanna Stern/ABC News
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Charms: The Charms appear when you swipe from the right side of the screen or click the mouse in the top right corner of the screen. They contain the Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings shortcuts.
Joanna Stern/ABC News
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Mail: The new Mail app is very clean and easy to use. You also get more emoticons than you could dream of.
Microsoft
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Bing Maps: The Bing Maps app comes preloaded in the Consumer Preview of Windows 8. It can show live traffic.
Microsoft
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Internet Explorer: The redesigned Internet Explorer. You can swipe to go back and forward and you swipe down to bring up the tabs and address bar.
Microsoft
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

X Box Live Games: This is where the fun is. You will be able to buy and play a selection of Xbox Live games right from your tablet, laptop, or desktop.
Microsoft
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Split keyboard: There's a regular on-screen keyboard, but there's also this split keyboard option for thumb typing.
Microsoft
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

SkyDrive: With 25GB of free storage space, you can use SkyDrive
to house your documents, files, photos, etc. in the Cloud and see them through any web browser.
Microsoft
Photos: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

People: There will likely be Facebook and Twitter apps to go along with Windows 8, but you can sign into Microsoft's People app and see all your friends and their statuses.
Microsoft