How can I get Windows ME in July instead of 9/14 ??

[HepDude]

Hi!

It looks like I will get the motherboard, the last part for the Duron PC I am building, some time in July.

My current PC is running Windows 95a, because I would need an $80 bios upgrade to run Win98.

So, I was hoping to go directly to Windows ME on the new machine, to avoid having to pay ~$100 for 98 solely for the period between July and Sept. 14, the day MS announced today as the release date for Windows ME (not to mention the extra work of having to install 98 and then install ME).

Is there any way I can get some sort of beta copy of WinME or something in July??

I will be buying the product in September, so it is not a "pirating" situation. I just don't want to spend two months running the Duron with Win95 with no USB, no UDMA66, etc. etc.

Thanks for your help!

 

[BigToque]

Well, you can sign up for one of those packages from MS that gives you the beta versions of their software. (not sure what its called - hotpack or something).

 

[CalebTG]

Yep, HOT pack = Hands On Training Kit
it should include the latest beta version of WinME
WinME 3000.2 has gone gold, and the beta will be out June 19th, and I'd expect the hot pack to show up shortly after.

 

[HepDude]

<< the beta will be out June 19th >>



By this do you mean, that is the date that the (closed) beta testers will get the gold version?

 

[SUOrangeman]

I am an ME beta tester. It's not on the server where I get my goods. I don't know if they'll post it, but my CD has been minted and is on the way.

-SUO

 

[HepDude]

So, how exactly do I get this Hands On Training Kit ?

The word from Matrox about AGP in Win95a is not good!

 

[Jakki0]

Not to be bragging or anything guys but I am running ME final. I was running the RC2 recently until a friend of mine presented me with a cd of the final or &quot;gold&quot; version. So far it is really cool. The only thing I found was a hassle was setting up home networking. Since my other 2 puters are win2k when you make the configuration disk on ME it does not work on win2k. I had to configure them manually to get ICS working. Well now ICS is working fine and my networking experience is much better than with win98se and win2k.
Still I cannot really tell you where to get ME before Sept. Hope you find it though. It's worth the effort.

 

[linuxboy]

I just sold my original cd + key for $100

email me and I'll get u a copy
I have it.