Microsoft has confirmed the system requirements for the forthcoming Windows 8 operating system will be the same as those needed to run the current platform, Windows 7.

"In both of our Windows 8 previews, we talked about continuing on with the important trend that we started with Windows 7, keeping system requirements either flat or reducing them over time," said Window's corporate vice-president, Tami Reller, at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, which took place in California this week.

See also: Microsoft Windows 8 review

"Windows 8 will be able to run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same requirements or lower."

The existing minimum requirements for Windows 7 include a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of spare hard disk space and DirectX 9 graphics. Thjese are the same minimum requirements for the operating system's predecessor, Windows Vista. Potentially, this means those with machines running Vista could be able to run Windows 8, although Microsoft did not confirm this.

Microsoft will be hoping to avoid a debacle similar to the 'Vista Capable' lawsuit, which saw a number of Microsoft customers claiming the company defrauded them by promoting PCs and laptops as 'Vista Capable' when they could only run Windows Vista Home Basic.

"We've also built intelligence into Windows 8 so that it can adapt to the user experience based on the hardware of the user. So, whether you're upgrading an existing PC, or buying a new one, Windows will adapt to make the most of that hardware," added Reller.