Windows 8 free trial promises 90 days of touchable fun

Fancy giving Windows 8 a go, for free? Then grab the new 90-day trial edition of Windows 8 Enterprise and spend the next three months making up your own mind about the colourful new look Microsoft is gambling on.

You can download the trial version now, and get cracking with the colourful square live tiles of Windows 8's bold new interface.

The free trial is for Windows 8 Enterprise and is aimed at developers and the good folks in your IT department, but there's no reason you can't download it to try out the radically different new interface. Enterprise includes all the features found in the highest tier of Windows for individuals, Windows 8 Pro.

All you need is a 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM for a 32-bit machine or 2GB for 64-bit, as well as 20GB of hard disk space and a graphics card with a WDDM driver that can handle DirectX 9 graphics.

Before you go installing the trial version, it's worth noting that in three months you'll have to install either the full Windows 8 or reinstall your current version of Windows. Something to bear in mind if you've lost the disk or -- ahem -- acquired it from a less-than-legal source. Install it in a partition or separate hard drive and you should be fine.

If you decide to install, make sure you register it within 10 days -- or your screen will turn black, a pop-up will start heckling you, and your computer will shut down every hour.

Windows 8 goes public on 26 October, along with the Microsoft Surface tablet -- heralding a wave of new Windows tablets, ultrabooks, laptops and PCs.

Excited about Windows 8? Have you tried it yet? Open a window into your soul down in the comments or on our transparent Facebook page.