14 DAY TRIAL // Even though Windows 8 Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is a Developer Preview, Microsoft did the right thing by not restrict access to the testing releases in any way.
If there’s any doubt over this, then all you need to do is check out the main sources of pirated software, such as top BitTorrent trackers and warez sites.
The conclusion is rather evident, pirated copies of Windows Developer Preview are in extremely poor demand.
On one of the top torrent websites worldwide, the number of seeders for copies of Windows Developer Preview that are illegally distributed has barely grown to a few hundreds.
On the same site, the volume of leeches is down-right laughable, just a few tens LE gathering to grab copies of Windows 8 Build 8102 M3 over P2P.
Of course, why would early adopters crowd to grab Windows 8 Developer Preview from third-parties, when it’s available without any impediment right from the source.
Microsoft is offering three downloads: Windows Developer Preview with developer tools English, 64-bit (x64), Windows Developer Preview English, 64-bit (x64) and Windows Developer Preview English, 32-bit (x86).
I recommend the last one for testers that just want to play a bit with Windows 8 and nothing more. It will download the fastest and it requires the base minimum in terms of system resources.
Had the software giant restricted access to the Windows Developer Preview only to BUILD attendees or to developers, the release would still have gotten out, and illegal sources would have thrived on the explosion of traffic.
Not to mention that such a scenario would have also paved the way for cybercriminals to leverage copies of Windows 8 in attacks against unsuspecting users, such as it was the case with Windows 7 pre-release Builds.
Of course, this is bound to change once Windows 8 hits commercial availability, but for the time being, Windows Developer Preview is still free for all.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.