According to the Windows 8 Center blog, who offers a detailed description of the leak, the version that escaped from the Redmond labs is the first build of the 8 environment and for hackers who are reading, the full build string for the version that leaked is 6.1.7850.0.winmain_win8m1.100922-1508_x86fre_client-enterprise_en-us.iso. While that particular description isn’t very revealing, it’s pretty clear we’re dealing with the Enterprise edition of Windows 8.

Currently, Windows 7 features the following versions: Home, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Will the Enterprise edition of 8 replace any of these or will it be another version users can upgrade to? Of course, this information can only be answered with speculation, because it’s doubtful the Microsoft developers would be forthcoming about such an important piece of software that isn’t even scheduled for release was just recently schedule for a September reveal and its first public beta. The Windows 8 Center offers some ideas about these upcoming features, but again, this is all speculation:

As an early build, many of the leaked features we have written about may not be present. As well, several features such as the installation wizard seem to have still maintained the Windows 7 look. This should not come as a surprise since most aesthetic changes occur in the Milestone 3 branch.

While the information about the initial leak is rather limited, there are some screenshots of it:

Click for larger images

Naturally, there’s absolutely nothing about release dates, even from a speculation point of view. Nevertheless, it’s refreshing to see Microsoft improve on something that works instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, er, operating system.

It was discovered that the final release for Firefox 4 was up on their FTP server, which was then subsequently provided to users though numerous websites. Mozilla strongly discourages these direct downloads, as the current location isn’t equipped for massive traffic. So if you feel like being courteous to Mozilla, wait until tomorrow.

If you visit the index.html file on the FTP server, you’ll be met with the following message:

According to the website Fileforum, they’ve already had over 60,000 downloads for Windows since releasing the links on their site. There are also clients for both Linux and Mac.

It’s been nearly eight months since the original Firefox 4 beta was released publicly. Mozilla has been scrutinized for pushing back their initial release date which was supposed to happen last fall. We’ll all be able to find out either today, or tomorrow, whether or not the wait was worth it.

The battle for our browser usage has a new chapter, and it will certainly be interesting to see who is able to gain and who will fall back. Though I don’t condone anyone using Mozilla’s FTP server, if you get an early download, feel free to share your thoughts on it below.

The list of announcements is plausible enough: a new Macbook less than an inch thick; YouTube on iTunes; SDK for iPhone; Twitter for iPhone. Could happen, and Pocket-Lint reported that Jobs’ always-hotly-anticipated Macworld keynote address, scheduled for Tuesday, January 15, was leaked on Wikipedia.

On a talk page, which is weird, and which isn’t really there anymore except for moderators critical of somebody posting speculation and not fact\.

As if nothing ever breached the crystalline border of truth there before. As if.

Regardless, the blogosphere’s getting pretty excited about what the so-called leaked keynote revealed, meaning if Jobs’ actual keynote doesn’t measure up, we could see the first-history geek riots.

Maybe it’s par for the course. It seems there’s a leak every year. Maybe it’s an Apple PR plant. What better way to build some buzz? Then again, Apple sometimes sues people for leaks, and it’s reported that project managers of forthcoming Apple releases don’t even know what Jobs will present at the Stevenote.

Some are convinced it’s a fake. Other’s are pretty sure it’s real, especially noting some Twitter folks’ recent tweets. That includes a pre-Christmas tweet from Evan Williams (the blogger, Twitter developer, and co-founder of Obvious, which owns Twitter, not the bourbon) which reads:

"Meeting with stevej"

Ooh, you might be busted Mr. Twitterman. Or you could have meant Steve Johansson, or Jackson, or Jones or somebody. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.