These are 90 day trial versions of the operating systems and will function fully and completely for those interested. One cannot upgrade though to the retail versions after these are installed. A format and new install of the final retail software will be necessary.

Server 2012 Release Candidate:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx

Windows 8 Enterprise 90 day evaluation:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx

I tried the leaked Windows 8 RTM and was thoroughly disappointed in it. For a regular user it's fine as a media entertainment platform but for people who are really into computers, especially IT people, it's terrible. No one i work with likes it and my boss has already stated we will not be switching over any of our work computers to Windows 8. It's just not good for business use.

I'll be sticking with Win7 and Linux. :P

Windows is usually a hit or miss. XP was decent, Vista sucked, 7 is decent, and now it looks like 8 is gonna suck. Windows 7 is a lot more secure than Vista, I very rarely find any malware running Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit (pirated).

I haven't messed around with Linux because I don't feel like relearning how to use a PC.

I will have to install Windows 8 on one of my machines since I'll have clients running it at some point and they will need their computers serviced. I will need to know how Win8 operates.

It does look like another Windows Vista in the making which was a disaster. Vista OS and its' constituent parts are all over the hard drive making it near impossible to repair without a complete reinstall.

I agree that XP and 7 have been good OS releases as far as Windows is concerned. 7 have been very stable for me and I haven't had to do the every 18 month reinstall like I did with XP.

Windows 8 in looks alone is not something I want on the computers I use for work. I'm not interested in a social-centric OS as 8 appears to be.