Windows 8 Beta In Late February.

[jalaram]

I haven't see it on MS's site yet, but windows8news.com has it supposedly. Is it a valid site? Edit: I'll guess not.

Below from Business Insider

Microsoft is giving one final demo of Windows 8 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona right now.
When the presentation is finished, we're expecting the company to set the free consumer preview of Windows 8 live for anyone with a PC to download.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-8-consumer-preview-2012-2#ixzz1nmTryiTE

 

[jalaram]

It's live

 

[Rebel44]

It's live

Thanks!

 

[sonoma1993]

It's live

thanks, downloading it now

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Anybody finished downloading yet? Mine will take about 1-2 hours or so.

 

[jalaram]

The 32 bit is done at my home. My tablet only has 3 gb of ram, so no need for x64.

Still 32 mins left at office.

 

[jalaram]

Server 8 is live as well.

 

[hclarkjr]

here is direct link for the 64 bit http://iso.esd.microsoft.com/WCPDL/...18/Windows8-ConsumerPreview-64bit-English.iso
and the 32 bit http://iso.esd.microsoft.com/WCPDL/...18/Windows8-ConsumerPreview-32bit-English.iso
All users must use NF32V-Q9P3W-7DR7Y-JGWRW-JFCK8 product key to activate Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

 

[Binky]

Up and running 32-bit inside the latest virtualbox. It seems to work pretty well.

Funky interface. Where the hell is control panel?

 

[aaksheytalwar]

No drivers for my radeon 7970 seem to work. It is far worse than the developer preview, even ie is very unstable. Everything is a pos with it.

 

[hclarkjr]

Last Updated

2/29/2012
Article Number

GPU-153
Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ driver for the Windows® 8 Consumer Preview:

• Full WDDM 1.2
  
  • Highlights include:
    • Native Stereo 3D support: Windows 8 will natively support Stereo 3D for full-screen and windowed gaming, and video applications
    • Unified Video API – Video playback is now integrated within the DirectX® 11 API; enabling simultaneous high quality Video and 3D content, and the potential for enhanced video transcoding performance
    • Optimized screen rotation
    • improved sleep / resume performance
    • Optimized Power Consumption
      
• AMD Eyefinity
• OpenCL
• OpenGL®
• UVD
• Dual Graphics / AMD CrossFire™ Technology
• AMD Overdrive™
• Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center

Please note: A future AMD Catalyst Windows 8 driver release will add support for the AMD Radeon™ HD 7900 Series, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series in the coming weeks.
Instructions:

Download and install the Driver from the following location:

• AMD Catalyst Driver 8.93.7 RC10

Applicable Products for Driver Version 8.93.7 RC10:
This article applies to the following configuration(s):
Hardware

• AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series
• AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series
• AMD Radeon HD 7000M Series
• AMD Radeon HD 6000M Series
• AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series
• AMD A-Series APU
• AMD C-Series APU
• AMD E-Series APU
• AMD FirePro Series
• AMD FIrePro 3D Series

Operating Systems

• Windows 8 32-bit Edition
• Windows 8 64-bit Edition

 

[gmaster456]

Server 8 is live as well.

Downloading now.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Reverted back to win 7, win 8 drivers for 7970 will take a few weeks acc to the website.

 

[gmaster456]

Reverted back to win 7, win 8 drivers for 7970 will take a few weeks acc to the website.

I just put all my test OS's in VM's. Works great provided you have at least 4gb of ram and a Core 2 Duo (I wouldn't run anything with less than that unless its a lighter OS) the key is threads and ram.

 

[hclarkjr]

for you technet subscribers out there it is listed already with 5 keys for you

 

[Shawn]

I just put all my test OS's in VM's. Works great provided you have at least 4gb of ram and a Core 2 Duo (I wouldn't run anything with less than that unless its a lighter OS) the key is threads and ram.

Doesn't work for me. Apparently when I "upgraded" from my C2D E6300 to a C2Q Q8300 I lost Virtulation Technology.

 

[hclarkjr]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Micr...fessional-Plus-Ultimate-Versions-256265.shtml

Microsoft has just made available for download the Consumer Preview flavor of its Windows 8 operating system, yet people are already interested in learning what the future might have in store for them.

Apparently, there might be nine different versions of Windows 8 set to arrive on shelves, at least this is what some enthusiasts found in the Consumer Preview’s registry.

Among them, we can count the Ultimate SKU that was rumored only a few days ago to have been scrapped from books.

Microsoft hasn’t made official info on its plans on the matter, but it appears that there will indeed be more Windows flavors, including some unheard of before.

The full list of Windows 8 SKUs reportedly includes:

Windows 8 Starter edition
Windows 8 Home Basic Edition
Windows 8 Home Premium edition
Windows 8 Professional edition
Windows 8 Professional Plus edition
Windows 8 Enterprise Edition
Windows 8 Ultimate edition
Windows 8 ARM edition

Previously leaked info on the matter suggested that Microsoft might have decided to reduce the number of Windows versions for the next platform release.

Apparently, not only is Microsoft keeping the previously known SKUs, but it is also adding a new one into the mix, the Professional Plus version (the Windows 8 ARM edition is new as well, but it was made official last year).

Since the Windows 7 registry does not make reference to the Professional Plus edition, little is known on what it might include.

Hopefully, Microsoft will be offering some more details on this as soon as next week, during CeBIT in Germany.

The company announced at the Mobile World Congress that it will be offering some more info on the Windows 8 platform at the said event in Germany.

There, it is expected to detail the Enterprise editions and features of the platform. CeBIT kicks off on March 6th, so stay tuned for more on the matter.

 

[Crow550]

Don't forget the Home Premium supports a max of 16gigs of Ram while the Professional and up supports 192gigs max.

If you end up with Home Basic it will be 8gigs max.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7

 

[gmaster456]

Doesn't work for me. Apparently when I "upgraded" from my C2D E6300 to a C2Q Q8300 I lost Virtulation Technology.

It always puzzled me what the reasoning being that was.

 

[gmaster456]

Don't forget the Home Premium supports a max of 16gigs of Ram while the Professional and up supports 192gigs max.

If you end up with Home Basic it will be 8gigs max.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7

As it was with Windows 7, I think its safe to assume that home basic will be available in developing nations only. So that won't be too big of an issue here.

 

[Zaap]

It always puzzled me what the reasoning being that was.

The original Q8300 didn't have VT- I guess it was the entry level C2Quad and they cut some corners to keep the price down. The later Q8300 does have VT support.

 

[Cyrus9008]

I don't understand why is it that everyother windows OS is a pos then the next one they make is pretty damn good.