Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 for public testing on Wednesday in the hope that it will help the brand win back some of the ground it has been losing to Apple and Google.

The new operating system works on tablets as well as PCs and laptops, connecting them via the cloud to give users a more consistent experience as they switch between devices.

“It’s beautiful, modern, fast and fluid — it’s a generational change in the Windows operating system,” Microsoft Windows President Steven Sinofsky said as he launched the consumer preview of the new operating system at Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, Spain.

Windows 8 scales across devices and screen sizes, Sinofsky said. “There’s too many hard stops between phones and tablets and desktops. We want to make things more harmonious,” he said.

The new operating system uses the “Metro” style of software currently being used on phones running the Windows operating system, using tiles on the start-up screen.

A new Windows Store, which will be the marketplace for all apps for Windows 8, also launched on Wednesday. Apps will be free to download for the duration of the consumer preview.

READ MORE: CNN