Who makes the decision on who gets Win 8RC ?

Whenever Microsoft decides to have a RC for Windows 8, who makes the decision as to who does and doesn't "fit the bill" to try it out?

 

I thought RC like RC1 in Vista and 7 was free to everyone to download Cat ?

 

I thought you had to have certain computer specs, etc.

 

Early in the game, a select few maybe all MS uses for testing.

If MS releases another Beta/RC edition to the public, anyone could download and install.

 

Sorry Cat I misunderstood ... yep probably will be system requirements

 

I had to become a technet subscriber in order to get the last RC of windows seven.

 

As far as I can recall, the RC for windows 7 was available to the public for testing. It was not unique to Technet subscribers??
Perhaps, cattiley, at this stage, it is not even under consideration? IMO, the reason the Windows 7 RC was handed out to the public, was due to the very negative publicity received for Windows Vista. It was an early decision to make that a shadow of the past.
If we are referring to Betas, however, I don't remember an OS Beta ever being made available to the lower echelon (retail) Technet subscribers, but I could be wrong.
If you are lucky enough to be in one of the beta testing programs, confidential download information is normally sent direct from Microsoft, for the latest beta.

 

I'm not a TechNet Subscriber and I got to try out the last Windows 7 Beta and RC, I would love to do the same for Windows 8

 

I think they made 7 available to a lot of people because the believed Vista to be a disappointment. They may think it not necessary for 8. On the other hand it would be hard to argue with the success of 7's marketing plan.

 

I'm beginning to wonder, w/XP still hanging around, if MS may wait a little longer prior to Windows 8 release. If MS were to release it in 3 years from the time that 7 was RTM, that would put it in the 3rd quarter of '12. That would mean that MS would be actively supporting 4 versions of Windows. Sure, Win 2K was still receiving support, but that crowd amounted to 1% of users. There are many XP users who will hang on till the end, and probably 2 to 3 years more.
Being as great OS as 7 is, it would seem that it would be in the best interest of all to wait another year and a half, until mid April '14, then XP wouldn't even be a factor in things. Plus, the developers could then totally dedicate themselves to producing quality 64 bit software only. 18 months really isn't that much longer, and I believe that when history is written, 7 will bury XP's "legacy" forever.
Just my thoughts.
Cat

 

I think that's a fairly accurate assumption. Pretty soon all of the XP users will get bored and realize that it's okay to buy (or torrent) a new operating system and that it might actually be better than the one they currently have.

Psh, stupid OS hipsters.
"We liked Windows XP before it was cool!"