Author: Blue Horizon
Well, now that this build leaked yesterday I guess I have no choice but to review it. Overall, this build mostly remains the same as 1796, but still has some little hints towards 1835, which is to be expected.
Now it's time to review this build before Rob Jansen of TCB beats me to it! This is a museum exclusive review of 1814. I guess.
The first part of setup is still the same as it was in 1796, just with "Server" branding on it.
Setup still has the same setup background seen in Windows 95, and the setup window banner now has Server branding on it.
Of course being that this is a server build, the setup window is taller than in the workstation builds. Other than that, the setup is nearly identical to 1796.
Some new components listed here. There's even a "TODO" description for them to work on later.
During installation of optional components, it throws up a few errors about where to get the files. You can just point them to the I386 folder on the CD and it installs without issues.
This build actually has a finish screen at the end of the wizard, unlike 1796.
A new never-before-seen bootscreen! This has a greater resemblance of the NT 4.0 server logo than later bootscreens do.
Cooooool...
The login window also has it's graphic changed from 1796, but it pretty much works the same way.
And of course, the actual login window itself.
Now for the desktop. Compared to 1796, there's no desktop button (much like Windows 7 and onward) on the bottom right corner. And the quick launch is a bit longer with an empty space for some reason.
Just for completeness, here's what the welcome window looks like.
This is the same wallpaper logo that was featured in this video briefly, and also mentioned in one of my previous reviews: Windows NT 5.0 - The Daily Cycle
The accessibility programs seem to be the same from 1796, no change here.
HyperHelp is interesting in this build as it actually has a lengthy introduction for those who are testers.
In case you can't tell, I was hyperactive when I made this review.
Some files I found on the root of the CD mostly explaining what's n
And finally, shutting down. This praticular build's shutdown dialog doesn't have the drop down menu style like in build 1835.
With all that done, I can safely say... In your face, Rob Jansen! In all seriousness, it's still pleasantly surprising when people come across old pre-release software and end up sharing them out of the blue. This museum probably wouldn't even come to fruition in the first place had nobody cared about pre-release software, so I really have to give them kudos and my thankfulness for going through all the trouble of finding and sharing these obscure pieces of history with the world.
Until then, see you in the next review.