
InfoWorld's Randall Kennedy has been using a
converted Windows Server 2008 as his primary OS since hitting a wall using Vista as a Visual Studio development platform four weeks ago. According to Kennedy, the guerrilla 'Workstation' 2008 OS has turned his Dell notebook into a well-oiled machine that never gets sluggish and rarely needs to reboot. Those interested in making the switch should check out
win2008workstation.com, a clearinghouse for 'Workstation' 2008 tips and techniques. Kennedy also offers a link to a Windows 2008 Workstation Converter utility for quick conversion.
Member since:
2008-06-17
Yeah, MS tends to give their software away to large swaths of developers and students, especially when it first comes out (launch day events will always bag you copies of everything they're launching). Though you usually have some licensing restrictions on it, as far as running corporate servers off of the copies.
If you just want to try it out though, any copy installed without a key entered will be deemed a trial and will run for 240 days/8 months (you need to run a shell command to extend your trial every 2 months, but you can do it 3 times plus the initial 2 months trial). So if you want to try it, borrow a copy from someone and install it without the key. I'm not sure if you can just reinstall the trial from scratch and start over again after the 8 months.