The Windows 8 alpha build apparently has claimed to have been leaked on the Internet, although the screenshots show a version of Windows 7 just renamed Windows 8. But they did a pretty good job with a very late April fools joke I must say. Although there are sites that say that it just might be real, and it does not show too many new features, but it is only an alpha build retaining many of the Windows 7 elements and bringing in new ones like ISO mounting which you can do in Linux since ever. That would make working with ISO images much easier as you would not need third party software to accomplish that task. The ISO file is about 2.5 Gigabytes, but I am not going to link to that file on this website, but it is available if you look around the Internet. I hope that they keep the excellent security features of Windows 7 and also, they should have more features to encourage users to log in with a limited user account instead of as Administrator as that is not very secure, if you are logged in as a normal user you have more security and peace of mind, and you just need to type in your password when it is needed. The user interface should get an overhaul and look quite different to the Windows 7 interface that we know already. Microsoft must be quite upset with this leak, but it is not the finished product even though that should be on the torrent sites in no time after release as is the case with the Internet where piracy of Windows is a common thing. But that is part of the Internet and has always been that way. Windows 7 is a pretty good release of Windows and should not require too many changes to make Windows 8 good as they are re-using the Windows 7 kernel and updating it instead to add new features that were previously only available in third party software like the aforementioned ISO mounting, that will make Windows even easier to use. The WordPress site has been cracked into and some data was taken but not too much sensitive data was stolen hopefully. This reinforces the need for having strong passwords on your website and keeping up with security patches and updates for your server software and CMS. It does not matter whether your website is on the WordPress website as a hosted blog or on your own hosting, you need a strong password and good security practices to keep your precious website secure. Then you can sleep easily.
But incidents like this do happen and afterwards you need to take stock and see what you have lost and what could have been modified on the server. Microsoft have a history of having software they are working on being leaked, this happened as the XP SP3 was given to testers and then it leaked onto the web. A 340Megabyte download of botnet goodness. I am sure there is a lot of well written malware and viruses inside that build. Windows Vista has been leaked online and available for download, but I am not going to link to that. Windows 7 is better than Vista anyway and has better features as long as you have the 64Bit Ultimate version rather than Premium or Basic. Windows 7 Ultimate has Windows Media Center which is very good for watching television on your PC as it has time-shifting, allowing you to rewind live TV and pause television as well like a PVR. Here is something else that I found on the web, a Halo Reach themepack [http://www.softpedia.com/dyn-postdownload.php?p=171085&t=0&i=1] for Windows 7. I just installed this and it is very good, but I wish it would theme the titlebars of the Windows differently. I think you need to patch a theme .dll to do that. The Emerald compositing Window Manager for Linux offers many good themes and allows you to make the Linux desktop look like Windows 7 with the aero theme. But getting back to the Windows 8 alpha leak, it gives us a chance to see some of the features they are planning in the new release and they are quite promising. There is a post here that gives a wishlist of new features that users want in Windows 7. [http://keznews.com/7303_Windows_8__Wish_List_of_Features_and_Functions] I wish they would stop reusing the original Windows code and code a whole new OS from scratch with more security and stability, no more registry that gets clogged up requiring a format and re-installation of the operating system. But that will never happen.