Right off the bat potential confusion - The install splash screen still shows November 2007.
I'm asked to install the .NET Framework 3.5 next.
Like a good boy, I'm not running the install on my system directly. I am using a Virtual PC 2007 image based on Win 2003 R2. I also have turned off the ability to go on-line by not having a network open to the outside to reduce security issues. How am I repaid? It wants to download the .NET Framework from some online location. It tries five times to get the 63MB download but it comes back with the issue:
Of course the Readme link on the bottom right tries to go to the Internet as well.
Throwing security out the window, (why couldn't the 3.5 Framework be provided by early Feb on the installation disks?) I connected back to the network. And started the download.
I played it with it more since I know SE is using it in upgrade labs. If you download the self-extracting setup files they seem to work fine.
Note: For playing with 2008 right now, download the *.exe version rather than the *.iso version and move it into your VPC for labs that involve installation or access it via a Shared Folder.