14 DAY TRIAL // The final flavor of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is now available for download for all MSDN and TechNet subscribers.
Microsoft has released evaluation flavors of Windows 8 for both x32 and x64 architectures, and all those who have an account on any of the aforementioned networks can grab the final code now.
This is the Windows 8 Enterprise 90-day evaluation build that Microsoft made available to developers interested in the building and testing of Windows 8 apps on the final version of the operating system.
The evaluation version of Windows 8 was put up for download in the form of ISO images in a series of languages, including Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, English (UK), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish.
“In order to use this evaluation, you must register and the product must be activated online with Microsoft-hosted activation and validation services. Microsoft does not provide technical support for this software,” Microsoft explains.
The final flavor of the platform comes with the same system requirements as Windows 7 did three years ago, namely 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster application processor, 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit) of RAM, 20 GB of storage, and Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver.
Users interested in downloading and installing the Windows 8 Enterprise 90-day evaluation build should know that they won’t be able to upgrade from a previous version of Windows 8.
A clean (new) install is needed, and the evaluation version of the platform cannot be upgraded to the final, non-evaluation version. Those who will purchase Windows 8 will have to uninstall the evaluation version and perform a clean install of the commercial version.
Users will have to register by providing their Microsoft account information, including name, email address and country. The Windows 8 Enterprise 90-day evaluation has to be activated online within 10 days after installation.
Before proceeding with the installation, users should consider backing up all of their data, to ensure that they don’t lose important personal files during the clean install process. Windows 8 Enterprise evaluation Build 9200 is available for download from Softpedia via this link.