stop with the mail allready i am not giving out the link

Need beta2? just goto #windowsxp on efnet and i'm sure someone will DCC it to you. (only do this if your an official beta tester )

Of course those of us MSDN subscribers still can't get the thing (sounds like them trying to push that product activation/copy protection on us....and not having the thing for d/l....) argh, product activation :-( (have the dang thing with my Office 2k CD)
 
Problem is, many want to get on with the business of testing their apps for winXP compatibility, and if needed, making their apps winXP compatible, but due to paranoia at Redmond, are being held back from getting down to business.
 
As some have said about this:
 
""MSDN" <msdn@nospam.microsoft.com> wrote in
<eG#gAKzsAHA.1960@tkmsftngp04>:
 
 
> Windows XP beta 2 and subsequent releases require a unique Product Key
> to be activated during installation. Therefore beta 2 will not
> immediately be available for download, however it will be posted to
> MSDN Subscriber Downloads as soon as physical shipments have commenced
> to ensure that a Product Key is available during its installation.
> > A mechanism for distributing product keys electronically is scheduled
> to be available in time for the final release of Windows XP.
 
OK, no offence, but product keys are going to be required for the Windows XP final versions for MSDN subscribers? If so, that's got to be the stupidest idea I've ever seen come out of Microsoft. Programmers and
testers are going to spend more time on the phone revoking and receiving new product keys than actually installing the product!"
 
"My previous company has been a MSDN subscriber for about 3 years now, and when I left, I signed up myself. The day I have to call MS to activate software is the day I download Redhat Linux and install it instead.
 
Have you seen what some Linux guys are getting paid these days...hmmm
 
Cary Fields
MCSE W2K"
 
"Gotta tell ya MS, you are really blowing this. We didnt pay $2K per year to call you back for permission to test yoursoftware.
Have all the people with common sense left already?
I know that if this sticks, there is no way that I will renew my subscription in May.
We waited forever for Visio Enterprise, when some hotshot could have posted it in a day, Now you want to treat the people who protect your marketshare like second-class citizens, because of a few immoral *******s.
Dont bite off your nose to spite your face. We pay the freight to get the code EARLY, so that we can test it for our clients or companies. Linux is looking better all the time, boys and girls."
 
""John" <johnd@removethisforspam.engagenet.com> wrote in message
news:e3elbtc3e8c6uu83o99of4o15hsrmud1ks@4ax.com...
 
> Any chance on putting it up early anyway, with the understanding that
> we'd have to reinstall it in within the 15 day periods until the keys
> arrive via mail or other route? I'd rather get a head start on the
> work I have to do with it without a key and have to reinstall soon,
> since odds are none of the installs I do will exceed the 15 day limit
> anyway for several weeks at least.
> > John
 
I agree. Those who know they need it, and can accept a 15 day timeout should
be able to download it.
 
/Carl"
 
"Let me see if I've got this correct.
 
I will need to wait until I recieve my physical shipment which will contain my Product Key before I can download the Product from MSDN? Won't I HAVE the Product in the next shipment?
 
This is just another example of how MSDN is becoming less valuable as a tool for developers. Corporate Preview Customers will probably get their WinXP Product before it is available to us.
 
Add the Activation Issue and we have another example.
 
Add to that MSDN's inability to provide a "mechanism for distributing product keys electronically" BEFORE instead of after the fact and we have yet another example.
 
It is apparent that we are NOT considered imporetant to Microsoft, we are just another revenue stream that only has a voice when we call to renew our subscription.
 
For those of you at MSDN that don't understand this - The Downloads are only
valuable to us in order to get the product NOW instead of WAITING for our shipments."
 
"How will this effect organisations that have multiple MSDN Universal licenses but only a limited number of disk sets? Will they have to wait until product keys are available on-line before we can use the beta? At which time the final release will be available anyway. Or will it be possible to use a single key for the whole organisation and activate multiple installations?
 
If it's not possible to generate product keys on-line, I think it's time for a gesture of good will from MSDN to its __customers__. Would it be possible to either e-mail or snail-mail Office XP and Windows XP keys to the valued members of the developer community immediately? One mail per MSDN Universal
license, not one per disk-set.
 
Jonathan"
 
"Let's see... how long will this take.... Beta 2 was just confirmed yesterday (or close to it)... everything has to be shipped off to manufacturing.... the media has to be printed up.... the documentation has to be done... it all has to be gathered together.... then shipped to the appropriate
customers....which translates into what? A month? Two?
 
I want to thank MS for their wonderful support for the developer community..... Some Gomer who wants to "play" with the new releases via the Preview Program will have their software long before people who actually need to test their apps......
 
Thanks again Microsoft for your continued support."
 
"I am due to re-new my subscription, but I am beginning to think its not worth it.
TechNet subscribers seem to get a better deal.
 
Over the last 12 months I think the service levels have gone right down, I know we get the nice new boxes but TechNet get a nice case to and its cheaper
 
I don't know that I can justify the costs, the cheaper way for beta products is to buy preview editions
 
Ian"
 
The list goes on. These are people who want the thing, so as to be able to get down to the business of testing their software for winXP compatibility and make whatever changes are necessary so as to make their software compatible. This move is preventing people from being able to do this. MICROSOFT, YO LISTEN UP. WHEN APPLICATION PROGRAMMERS AS WELL AS DEVICE DRIVER PROGRAMERS CAN TEST THEIR CODE AND MAKE THEIR PRODUCTS COMPATIBLE EARLY ON....IT HELPS YOUR CUSTOMERS WHO WANT TO UPGRADE, AND YOU AS WELL. As someone said...lets get past this paranoia and down to business. You have an OS to get out, and programmers have apps compatibility testing to do, as well as the business of needing to make necessary changes to their software, when the software is not compatible.

I am surprised that you have to enter a key for your MSDN Office2K set. I have the Office 2K Premium Developer's Edition, and I did not have a key with it. It was in a handy-dandy 5 CD set as well. Actually, I think the only thing that I have seen in the MSDN sets (haven't been a recent subscriber in a while) was a copy of Win2K AS. Are all the apps coming this way from MSDN now?
 
------------------
Regards,
 
clutch

Oh, I'm a professional, not a universal subscriber, so with my Office 2k set...the one I bought (this one I did purchase on my own, same as other customers), I do have to enter a key.
 
The MS Office people in this thread are talking about however is Office XP (the sucessor to Office 2k). Universal subscribers have access to the beta for the next version of Office. They're apperently doing it there also.

I beat ya to it!! I layed down RedHat 7 and its faster, comes with a couple of GUI's that rock the house and they have no intention of forcing people to "activate" a damn thing. Everytime MS puts out a new OS its the same thing ... need newer/powerful hardware, the drivers are not backward compatible and they charge a fortune. RH7 is the best OS I've ever put on, bar none. With KDE and Gnome pre-installed managing your system is a piece of cake. The GUI's are also skinable and it runs with yesterdays harware just fine. I have Q3 up right now and the drivers for my Voodoo3 work outstanding. MS screwed up with this activation thing and it will be interesting how they will handle it over the long haul. If you think you have problems now ...

Actually, I hate to tell ya, but with RH7 as opposed to other distros of Linux (and also RH 6.2 and earlier) there is a slight issue (potentially) if you need to recompile some stuff, such as the kernel, XF, etc....
 
You see they use a newer version of gcc (I think it is), and much of the Linux code out there isn't exactly compatible with it....won't compile. That might be one slight problem for you. I used Red Hat to version 6.2, and well now am using Mandrake 7.2 (multi-boot here)...it's largely based off the RH distro, but well doesn't pose this issue.

I suggest trying the Redhat 7.1 beta. It owns the monkeys balls!!! It comes with the 2.4 kernel, kde 2.1b, and its super stable and super fast. When I play quake 3 i get at least a 10-15fps increase over the Winxxx version.