Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Office System Beta 2 Technical Refresh Now Available
There are separate downloads for WSS B2TR, MOSS B2TR, Forms Server, SharePoint Designer, the Office System Clients, and everything else.
Optionally, you can run the Office Client upgrades first. Some of the documentation contained in the other patches may even require it.
Note that all of the updates are being released in patch form, not as full installs. To do a full install and have B2Tr automagically applied, you can now use the slipstream method [updated: watch Dustin's slipstream screencast]. If you've been a good beta tester and can blow away your B2 installations, I'd recommend uninstalling everything, and re-installing using the slipstream method. It's the cleanest install and therefore you'll see the fewest issues.
Step 1: Read the SharePoint Product Team's Blog Post
Step 2: Read the TechNet guidance as the above post asks you to
Step 3: Install
If you have content in WSS or MOSS, you'll want to be careful about the patches. They work in the vast majority of cases, but it's a fairly manual process and you will want to back up everything before you begin. And RTFM. And maybe watch one of the screencasts being prepared.
Why are these patches and not one-touch hands-free packages? Well, originally I don't think they were going to exist at all. When B2 first came out my understanding was that there would not be a supported upgrade path from B2 to RTM, but there would be from B2TR to RTM. So B2TR was intended to be an all-or-nothing fresh install as B2 was. But, B2 was good enough for customers to start building production apps internally, and there was enough kicking and screaming that MSFT relented and provided an upgrade path. Had they spent the resources on an automagic install now, we'd be waiting another several weeks. So while it's a bit of a bitch to get this one going, it's within my expectations and as long as they make RTM smooth as silk I'll be a happy camper.
Good news for the client installs: they're painless. It takes a while to run, but of all the upgrades, it's one-touch hands-off. If you've been using Word or Outlook 2007 regularly, you'll see some minor issues as the new versions discover your B2 data files. Nothing severe though. The first time you fire up Word you'll get a complaint about a document template. Accept it and move on, it hasn't shown up for me again and other MVPs report the same. Outlook seems to forget about a couple folders I added to my favourites and seems to spin a lot cleaning up folders, but my Outook data files are a little out of control. Desktop Search is back again -- earlier betas removed it -- and it's nice to have back.
Speaking of Search, it's finally working great in the new MOSS. Nifty.