If you follow anything outside the regular SQL Server world coming from Microsoft it should be Office and more importantly SharePoint. The two follow the same release cycle and as of today (July 16th actually) they have released a public beta for Office and more importantly SharePoint 2013!
If you are interested in the SharePoint 2013 preview you can head over here (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/hh973397.aspx?wt.mc_id=TEC_121_1_33) and grab a copy of it. The download weighs in at just over 2 GB. According to the system requirements page it requires at least 8GB of RAM, but I’m sure you can install it on less. The minimum requirements are:
- 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
- Or 64-bit Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate
- KB 2554876 available for download here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2554876
- Windows KB -IIS Configuration Changes KB 2708075 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2708075)
- .NET Framework version 4.5 Release Candidate (RC)
- SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 or later (Stand alone installs express edition with SP 1)
Over the next day or two I will be downloading and installing myself. If you happen to get your hands on it and find something cool please let me know! I’m going to try to pair it up with SQL Server 2012 in addition to 2008 R2 to take full advantage of all the new BI features like Power View.
You can also grab the Office 365 Professional Plus preview here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/hh973391
