Windows 8 allegedly leaked far ahead of launch
With the release of Windows 8 being round the corner, it’s not good news when the Redmond outfit’s OS is reportedly hitting the torrent sites.
It is reported that Windows 8 Enterprise Edition N has already been leaked onto torrent sites. This comes hot on the heels of the OS being Released To Manufacturing (RTM). The leaked version is a 64-bit copy of the new flagship OS that’s supposed to be available to the consumers on 26th October.
The special N designation is in line with the EU ruling that Windows may not ship with Windows Media Player baked into the OS, so the leak could potentially have a European origin. At the moment, there is no word on the authenticity of the torrent doing the rounds, and we do recommend staying away from unofficial copies, as a rule of thumb.
This is in line with the release schedule made public by Microsoft yesterday, according to which, MSDN subscribers can get their hands on the digital copy of Windows 8 on August 15th, with August 16th being the day when subscribers of the Microsoft Software Assurance program get access.
Microsoft plans to have Windows 8 rolled out to their existing subscriber base, with Volume Licence wielding organizations getting it second to last, on September 1st. The public release is slated for October 26th, which is when owners of Windows 7 can upgrade to Windows 8, or just outright purchase the new OS.