Alongside today's release of Windows 8.1 RTM to TechNet and MSDN, the Redmond company has also dropped Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM to those subbed to one of the big two development networks.
Server administrators rejoice; Microsoft has just, as promised, launched the new Windows Server 2012. The Redmond company initially confirmed at TechEd in New Zealand that the RTM build of the said OS would be released to developers on 4th, and the software maker certainly hasn't disappointed, as the new Windows Server 2012 RTM bits are available as of today for both MSDN and TechNet subscribers.
With Microsoft pushing out the Release Preview of their new Windows 8 operating system today, the launch has been followed closely by the release of the server edition of the new OS. Formerly codenamed Windows Server 8 but now officially known as Windows Server 2012, Microsoft have captured the excitement surrounding the aforementioned Release Preview to make the release candidate of Windows Server 2012 available.
Right on the heels of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview launch, Microsoft has also released the bits of Windows Server 8 on MSDN and TechNet. Available in both 64-bit ISO and VHD flavors, it is only available in all languages - Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, and Japanese - through the former; the VHD is available in English only.
As promised, Microsoft today has released Windows 7 SP1 (Service Pack 1) and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (Service Pack 1) to public as a free download.
The very final RTM bits of both Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 have managed to slip through and has landed into the wild just like the previous builds 7601.16537, 7601.16543 and 7601.16562. Build number for Windows 7 SP1 RTM is 7601.17514.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850 which means that it was compiled on 19th November 2010.
As expected, Microsoft today at its Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 has announced the public availability of Windows 7 SP1 Beta, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta for users running the final RTM version of the respective operating systems.
The final bits of Windows Server 2008 R2 (RTM Build 7600.16385) are now up on MSDN and TechNet Plus. TechNet Plus and MSDN subscribers can now download and evaluate Windows Server 2008 R2 before the official public availability in October.
We did a comprehensive review of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 when it was released back in August 2008. Not surprisingly, there is no major change since Beta 2. I did some testing of RC1 bits installed on Windows Vista Ultimate (x86) and my own impressions are that IE8 is indeed generally faster than Beta 2.
At this years CES, Microsoft not only unveiled Windows 7 Beta to the public but also released the beta version of their next Server Operating System – Windows Server 2008 R2 (internally known as Windows 7 Server).
Windows Server 2008 R2 will be the next version of the Windows Server operating system from Microsoft, building on the features and capabilities set of the current Windows Server 2008 release version.
