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.

沪江英语快讯：

几天前，苹果方面宣布将在3月7日进行iPad3的处女秀，而就在昨天另一业界巨头微软也毫不示弱地开始了反击之战！Windows 8消费者预览版由微软在2012移动世界大会(MWC)上发布，这是一个可在平板电脑、笔记本电脑和台式机等多种设备上都能使用的跨平台操作系统。目前，用户已经可以免费下载体验Windows 8消费者预览版，有效期至2013年1月16日。不过，现在开放下载的版本仅支持采用英特尔x86处理器的PC（台式机）和笔记本。

Windows 8会不会成为iPad杀手？微软和苹果的这次大战到底鹿死谁手？没有了乔帮主的苹果能否风采依旧？谷歌、Facebook等“各路豪杰”会不会加入战场？我们拭目以待！参与讨论“Windows 8来了”，请前往>>>