Originally Posted by dddd

Shimano's 12-28t 8s cassette was only offered in the original XTR M900, and was also offered in 12-32t. Note that XT was still 7s at this time.

The XT cassettes of the subsequent (Compact 8s) era were 11-28t and 11-30t. Also with the larger cogs mounted on an alloy spider, but chromed shiny instead of the dull blasted XTR cog finish.

Shimano's other 12-28t cassettes were all 7s, until the Dura-Ace 9000 11s gruppo appeared decades later.

SRAM finally offered a 12-28t cassette but only in the 10s road configuration.