The new Consumer Preview version of Windows 8, which was released yesterday, has been downloaded more than one million times from around the world within the first 24 hours.

The operating system is not finished and is still to be finished and thus the 1 million-download milestone within one day is significant for the new version. Many believe that the new Windows 8 is the biggest upgrade from the company since Windows 95 and it might help the company maintain its lead in the PC market. The new version is designed to work well on touch-sensitive tablets besides computers and laptops.

Microsoft had revealed the Consumer Preview version of its new Windows 8 operating system on Wednesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The company had announced the general design and direction of Windows 8 in June 2011.

It had announced details of the yet to be released Windows 8 in a blog post claiming it will come with built-in support for mobile broadband devices and will allow users to better manage their Wi-Fi and mobile broadband networks. The new operating system will allow users to easily connect to mobile broadband networks and also manage connections and monitor their data usages for controlling Internet costs.

Windows 8 will have a Metro interface, which is designed for touchscreen computers and tablets and includes use HTML5 and CSS3. Analysts are evaluating the developer preview release and it is to be seen if the platform is able to attract users in the smartphone and tablet market dominated by Google's Android and Apple.