Windows 8 download release date: NOW!

The Windows 8 download release date has arrived. Not only has Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) opened it up to MSDN and TechNet, but has also given the rest of us a 90-day eval version. So throw off your Consumer Preview shackles and install the final RTM bits, people.

In IT Blogwatch, bloggers get all excited. Not to mention: Meeting Boy...

By Richi Jennings: Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment.

 
As Gregg Keizer reports, TechNet and MSDN subscribers are melting Microsoft's servers:

At approximately 1 p.m. ET, members...began reporting that Windows 8 RTM was available. ... The MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network)...listed all versions of Windows 8. ... Companies with Software Assurance...[or in] the Microsoft Partner Network will be able to grab [it today].
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But Microsoft has also made available the Enterprise edition of Windows 8 RTM to anyone. ... Although the company said the 90-day trial copy was "intended for developers...and IT professionals,"...those who don't fit into those two categories...aren't blocked. ...start at this Microsoft website.  MORE

 
Ed Bott is surprised and delighted:

If you've become accustomed to installing...without entering a product key...in evaluation mode for 30 days, you'll definitely miss that option [and] activation is automatic. ... The setup routine [is] designed to address criticisms that the new user interface is unintuitive. [Including] an animated tutorial that point[s] out how to find the new Charms menu.
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Microsoft has implemented its controversial decision to enable the Do Not Track setting in Internet Explorer. ...a new selection of custom backgrounds for the Start screen and the Lock screen. ...a greater selection of background colors and "tattoos" for the Start screen. ...the desktop has the new flat look, with no more traces of Aero. ... One change is momentous in symbolic terms. ... Windows Explorer...is now called File Explorer.
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In my testing, performance was uniformly excellent, even on a nearly five-year-old Dell desktop.  MORE

 
And even Preston Gralla agrees, up to a point:

...as a tablet operating system, Windows 8 is a winner. ...[It] sports big "live" tiles that display constantly changing information...iOS and Android...have nothing like this.
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Add a bluetooth keyboard, a wireless mouse [and it's] a traditional PC...[with] productivity applications, notably Microsoft Office. ...full-blown...true applications, not stripped-down apps. ...it's the only tablet operating system that lets you [do this].  MORE

 
But Woody Leonhard complains that "Microsoft has moved the cheese":

Windows 8 [is] a towering engineering achievement. ... But sometimes engineering achievements are appreciated only by the engineers.
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[It's] an awkward mishmash that pulls the user in two directions at once. ... While Windows 8 inherits...[Windows's] manageability, the security...integrated antivirus, and the broad compatibility...it takes an axe to usability. ...anyone who defines "real work" as typing and mousing won't like Windows 8 one little bit.  MORE

 
Meanwhile, Dana Wollman notes a few more changes, including some old-new time-wasters:

By now, we've seen most of the apps that will come baked in... but there is one late-comer: Bing. ... As you type results, Bing will offer suggestions and...the auto-completion feels pretty quick. From there, results will be displayed...as tiles you can swipe through, from side to side [and] you can keep going as long as there are more results to peruse.
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Minesweeper is new...as are Solitaire, Mahjong and Xbox SmartGlass. ...many of the improvements...are under the hood, including both performance enhancements and some unspecified bug fixes. ... [It has] smoother performance and a bit more cohesiveness.  MORE

 
And Finally...
Meeting Boy

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's also the main author of Computerworld's The Long View and IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won ASBPE and Neal awards. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, Richi also publishes a full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.