Two employees fired over Windows 8 leaks

When a build of Windows 8 leaks, most enthusiasts are overwhelmed at getting their hands on the build that was supposed to remain inside the walls of Microsoft. But to get that information out, an employee must leak the information, putting their job on the line.
It is being reported over at MDL and across the web that two employees from Microsoft were fired over the leaks. Forum user canouna reported that two employees, one from Russia and the other from Redmond, have both been fired from the company for their participation in the leaks of Windows 8.
Windows 8 has been leaked in three different builds, 7850, 7955 and 7959. If Microsoft did fire two employees over the leaks, it shows that Microsoft is not only serious about protecting its property, but is also using the removal of the employees as a deterrent to prevent future leaks.
But despite all of this, there are rumors that build 7971 is out in the wild. At this time, Neowin cannot confirm the authenticity of these rumors.
Windows 8 is far off from public availability and it is rumored that a public beta may be announced at PDC later this year. It is expected that Microsoft will launch Windows 8 in late 2012 with the latest rumors suggesting that retail availability will happen in early 2013.

New Windows 8 installer surfaces in updated 7955 leak

It has been two weeks since Windows 8 build 7955 leaked to the Internet. The particular image that leaked that day was an extracted install.wim combined with the Windows 7 installer, so the new installer graphics which were first revealed here were not present. Since that day, we also had a leak of build 7959, but now it's time to pay another visit to build 7955 as an updated build with the new installer surfaces. As a reminder, build 7955 is considered a pre-M3 build.
The updated build originated from BetaArchive and was reposted by a MyDigitalLife member. This build contains "installprep.exe" in the "sources" folder, which was missing from the first leaked build of 7955. Currently only the Windows-based installer is accessible via this build; the new Metro-styled boot-from-disc installer is not present.

The notes from this leak are as follows:

I know you all waited to download it from BA but their FTP is so slow now that you don't want to use it again, hehe, so I made a torrent with the iso. The key only bypasses the installation, you need a Beta or RC key from Windows 7 to activate this build! This is not as original as we would like it to be (because doesn't have Digital Signature - thanks to canouna for noticing that) but at least it has the new installation process!

Microsoft Windows 8 (''Windows 8'' 6.2.7955.0) (Ultimate) (m2) (alt)
ISO Size: 2.62GB (2.821.873.664 bytes)
ISO MD5: E5A1A4A431C25A1D8B2428066487FC45

You can unlock the following:
- Ribbon UI
- Application Folder
- Full DWM (no blur)

The following requires the red pill, bluepill, bluepoison, or whatever you want:
- Webcam
- Lock Screen
- TaskUI
- PDF Reader
- Immersive Browser

Besides the new installer, this build contains no new additions or features. There are whispers of another leak to happen in the next few days, according to a few sources. Neowin will cover the new leak when it hits the Internet. In the meantime, the prospects of further leaks down the line before Windows 8's rumoured public beta this coming fall remain in doubt, as employees face termination over leaked Windows 8 builds.

Windows 8 Enterprise M3 6.2.7959 has leaked

It was just last week that build 7955 leaked to the Internet, but now, according to BetaArchive, build 7959 has been leaked. This build represents the first M3 build to be leaked but is said to be quite buggy. It should be noted that this is a server build, unlike the previous leak, 7955, which was of the Ultimate variety. This build weighs in at 2.87GB and is said to be an X64 build.

Previously, Neowin has covered information that leaked out from previous Windows 8 leaks which can be viewed here. As this is a later build, it is expected that users will be able to unlock features that have previously not been seen. 

Windows 8 is far off from public availability and it is rumored that a public beta may be announced at PDC later this year. It is expected that Microsoft will launch Windows 8 in late 2012 with the latest rumors suggesting that retail availability will happen in early 2013.