Good news,
Windows 7 fanatics -- Microsoft has decided to nix that 2.5 million download limit in order to a) calm everyone down and b) enable its servers to relax just a wee bit. After the Windows 7 Beta download was
launched, it took just hours to bring the servers to
a screeching halt as consumers 'round the globe attempted to get in before the 2.5 million mark was hit. Now, however, the team has removed that barrier for the next fortnight (through January 24th, being that it was decided on Saturday) in effort to make the download experience more ideal. Crisis averted. Just in case you've forgotten how good it looks, we're including a gallery, and don't remember how much fun we've all had running it on the
MacBook Pro and the
VAIO P.
[Via
InformationWeek]
posted Jan 12th 2009 10:46AM
Torrent please? Or is there some license issue to distribute it through torrent?
I got mine through a torrent and just used the new key MS provided. Activation worked fine.
Don't you know? Any file distributed via P2P is a illegal file.
"Don't you know? Any file distributed via P2P is a illegal file."
No it is not!
Linux has been using torrents for a long time now to distribute the distros, this takes some of the burden off their servers and allows them to get it to more people quicker. There are plenty of other companies using torrents to LEGALLY transfer their files as well.
I would do more research before you make any more claims...
There are even ways to setup your repositories to use Bittorrent for patches and upgrades. You pretty much have to dedicate your machine to a nodes for use by others, where in most clients you can shut if off. It's not too bad though. The bandwidth used is minimal.
(BTW, I think he was being sarcastic)
@zargon, To better understand Arkenklo's post, please type the following into Google: define: sarcasm
@Zargon
I think that Arkenklo was being sarcastic...
Ditto. I installed Win 7 the Monday before they released it from a torrent, and then just added the key Saturday and activated. Notta problem whatsoever.
Sarcasm: does not compute...
Does anyone know what build the "Official Microsoft Download" is? I downloaded Build 7000 off a torrent last week (and used an official Beta Key to activate it).
Is this the same build Microsoft if providing?
@ zargon
you may need to either adjusted your sarcasm meter, or get it refilled or something. cuz right now you're sucking at it.
@Alex
Dammit! I installed the program the site told be I needed and my computer crash. I'm gonna run to best buy and get a new one so I can try again. I've got to see this!
@Micheal Taylor
Yep, its build 7000
x86 build is 2.43GB
x64 build is 3.15GB
Took about 5 hours to pull down both from MS on Friday. Got x86 installed on a Lenovo R61, getting by just fine on a T7100 with 1GB of ram and Vista drivers seem to be working just fine for UltraNav and the Lenovo utilities.
FIX UAC!
@zargon:
That was actually the exact thing I was thinking about.
What will happen to people who have Vista? I've had it over 2 years with no problems.
thats a life lesson on why you need p2p clients
No, you just need a real OS to handle the serving. Remember how people have been laughing at Microsoft because they used Akami to serve their downloads, and Akami uses Linux? Well, guess which OS was being used to serve the Win7 ISO files? Hint: It isn't Windows.
Guess Linux isn't so great afterall.
I was actually trying out Windows 7 x86 last night. And those idiots at microsoft decided to stick with the UAC control so it prompts you before you can install anything...COME ON REALLY
UAC is very customizable now (compared to how it was before), its easy to change it, and it will remember if you allow something.
@zioncat:
But they also allow you to control the level of alerting, so you can change what it alerts you for.
And they added what is alerting you, which is nice and helps you find out if its intended or not.
It doesn't happen often so who gives a shit. Thats like complaining an installer requires you to hit next, when its the only option available. Just deal with it. Its better than having to enter your password for each install, now isn't it?
Agreed on the p2p usage.
@nohome, the OS on the server can only do so much in this kind of case.
Having tens of thousands (up to hundreds of thousands considering the image size and bombardment) of active downloads and more incoming requests is going to cause a lot of dropped connections and stalled downloads simply because of the bandwith loads.
@ Ruben clearly you retards are amatuer pc users and builders. Oviously the control can be disabled. The point is why should you have to go into the control panel to do so. See in the real world people like me use various differnet programs for taskings an such. So its annoying, get back to me once understand why its annoying.
@nohome: From what I read, it wasn't the download that had problems, it was the web server hosting the keys that had issues.
Also, unless you can provide a proper link to the software Microsoft is using, quit spreading FUD.
@zioncat
Turn it off. If you can't do that you're the retard.
@ zion.
To make the operating system fuckwit proof, its not that inconvenient for a casual computer user to click " run program" when UAC pops up, for people who are familiar with computers its also very little effort to turn the UAC off.
Its better the make an operating system idiot proof when you command 90% of the market, because for the most part people are stupid.
The problem I have is that they are making it "easier" for the common person and harder for the power users. When developing for the platform for work, I would hate to have to use the new windowing scheme and tree view. It's too large and ungainly with all the added fluff that get in the way. It wouldn't be so bad if you could turn it off, but apparently someone skipped that part in Vista and also Win7. In order to properly use the OS, I'd have to download a new File Explorer without all the "features" that are made for idiots. I'd also have to download a new task manager like the sysinternals (if it still works) because the task monitor just doesn't cut it and the task manager view removed services memory and CPU usage. In other words, I'd have to revert it to Windows 2K or XP to be able to work on it, and that's not an option anymore.
That they need is a button to click if you are an advanced user that strips out all the crap and gives you a nice simple interface that doesn't get in your way.
I downloaded it last night, no problems. Will be installing it on a spare computer. An older AMD 3000+, 2GB RAM, onboard nvidia video card (like a 6100) and 80GB HDD. My hopes are high.
I hope your hopes are not to high...
It's a new OS and while it is a little faster than Vista don't expect it to work amazing on older systems.
If you upgrade to a new OS you should at least upgrade your computer at least a little bit! General rule.
I have it running on a AMD 3500+ with 2gigs of ram and it works great, but nothing like my Core 2 Duo 2.5gig with 4gigs of ram!
Right, well, I put it on a old 2.4Ghz Celeron with 1gig of RAM and onboard Intel video, it ran in ways that Vista would only dream. So I predict his 3000+ w/ 2gigs of RAM will run it just fine.
I may throw it on my faster AMD Dual Core 6000+, 4Gb Ram, ATI Radeon 3850's Crossfire and see how it runs on that.
"I may throw it on my faster AMD Dual Core 6000+, 4Gb Ram, ATI Radeon 3850's Crossfire and see how it runs on that."
Why do people feel the need to boast about the specs of their machines? Like it's going to impress someone.
Your hopes should be high. I have a similar set up (AMD Dual Core 1.9ghz, On-board video 6100, 1 gig of RAM shared for system and video) and it runs Aero perfectly.
I'm running it on:
AMD 3800+ (stock clock)
4GB Ram
ASUS M2N-Sli Deluxe MB
320GB 16MB cache WD Drive
ATI 2600XT
Seems to be running quite speedily so far!
A] How do you think it would do on my pent 4, 1/2 gig ram, decent nVidia graphics card?
B] Better yet how about on my pent III, 256 meg ram, unknown card?
@J: 1) No problems whatsoever 2) Like shit
@People in general: Vista is not as resource intensive as you think. I recently built a $300 dollar computer with an on-board Radeon HD 2100, and guess what? It ran Aero without a hitch. ANYTHING even remotely recent will run Vista without a problem in terms of CPU (X2 5000+, this entire build was dirt cheap) and GPU.
I would recommend using 2GB of RAM with it though. And even then, I'm not sure how it would run on a system with less: it does take 700MB right after booting, but after I closed the Prime95 torture test there was only 300MB of RAM being used and it felt responsive.
Downloaded it last night from microsoft. No problems. Will be installing it on a spare lower end computer. AMD 3000+, 2GB Ram, onboard GeForce 6100 Video, 80GB IDE HDD.
Why do you have two log-in names?
I typed in my e-mail address wrong and never confirmed it, but it posted it anyway. I don't know why D:
Windows 7 so far is ok, but man, at home on my laptop, Nvidia drivers Bue Screened the system and Sprint EVDO won't work. I am going to dual boot it heat at work to test (I am a System Admin) and hopefully it will not be like that. Maybe the laptop (and HP, which if all drivers aren't installed some system hardware never works right) is not a good starting place to test. But one thing that really isn't cool, is no Classic Start menu. Microsoft keeps saying "I am a PC", well then why make your OS like OS X and Linux in look? It did run faster, so that is a REALLY nice plus. Hopefully more customizations come later on.
Did you provide feedback on the lack of Classic Start Menu? I'm assuming they are listening to feedback requests, though I'm not keeping my hopes up.
The one thing I notice with Win7 is that it's hard to get it out of your way when you work. You can't minimalize it and remove all the fluff and features that get in your way.
Not being online with EVDO, I couldn't click the feedback thing! I guess I could have done it in Vista, just got tired of messing with it.
Can you give specific examples of "fluff" that gets in your way when you try to work?
I don't understand the love of the old start menu. It's basically just the same as the new one, but with all the useful new features removed. I know a few people who complain incessantly that every version of WIndows since 2000 hasn't offered anything new, but the first thing they do when they install an os is go and turn off all the new stuff!
"I know a few people who complain incessantly that every version of WIndows since 2000 hasn't offered anything new, but the first thing they do when they install an os is go and turn off all the new stuff!"
Because the new stuff gets in the way... and if I had my way, there's wouldn't be a new Windows. Just additions to Windows 2000 to make it easier for new computer users. Microsoft hasn't evolve their OS, they up and change it.
"Can you give specific examples of "fluff" that gets in your way when you try to work?"
The back/forward/location/search bar (Why do I need this? If the tree view wasn't gimped...)
The "Organize" bar (it used to be in the properties menu, now the menus are hidden unless you turn them back on)
The lack of lines in tree view and the "disappearing" +/- icons in the tree view (it allows you to see at a glance which folders have children and removing the lines makes it difficult to see folder relationships on deeply nested folder views like source code, assets, media, etc.)
The added (seemingly useless) margin space in the tree view that makes viewing file trees and moving files around more difficult because you can't fit as much information on the screen at once.
The obscuring of File Explorer functionality
The needlessly large Start Menu
Libraries
Loss of the ability to "menu-ize" the quick launch bar. I used this excessively to separate tools into categories using Quick launch... which is why the new Start Menu bugs me so much with it's lack of customization options. I don't want Games, but I'd love to be able to add Utilities\Network Tools or Utilities\Hard Drive Tools ... etc.
if you played around with it a bit you would know that can all be done in the start menu options. Also from what I can remember, you can still menu-ize too.
I did play around a little and from what I can tell, the Games, etc. are all predefine menu options. If you go into the advanced preference "checkbox alley" you can choose to turn them on or off, but I didn't see a spot to add any. I also cannot find a way to remove the "search" list from the menu.
@Andir
Your tree-view problems I can't help you with. Honestly, I like what they've done.
However, for the start menu:
Right click on the task bar -> Properties -> Start Menu -> Customize (Customize to your heart's delight)
I'm at work right now, but I thought those steps take you to the checklist of items to turn on or off. Does it actually give you the ability to add menus and remove the search?
@nerdtalker: So, I'm wondering if you could point me to the setting to remove the X'd areas in the following picture as well as the option to add folder to the right pane and remove the image...
I got it to run in boot camp but I was having some audio issues.. It runs better than vista. Its just more aesthetically appealing. The whole aero?(windows + tab) looks pretty awesome but I can do that on vista too. I just like the whole snappyness of the OS. IE loaded up in like 2 secs on all three occasions I used it before I installed Firefox. All in all if you haven't tried it yet, you should definitely give it a go. I'm happy to see Microsoft is doing better this time around. On another note, I just wish Microsoft would incorporate more convenient features like Spaces.. maybe they already idk. anywhoo. I'll stick to leopard for now and just boot up W7 whenever I need me some windows action.
There are a load of 3rd party programs to give you spaces, don't know why you would want to though along with stacks I find spaces to be a pretty half-assed feature in leopard, I would at least like to have a different wallpaper on each of my spaces would that be so hard ?
I have it running on an AMD dual core machine with a integrated graphics chip mobo sharing from the 1 gig of system memory and it runs DAMN good with Aero fully active. I love it so far, everything I've tried has worked except I got an error when installing a driver to an old PCI wireless card (but it still worked!).
Great going people, you brought down Microsoft servers (and those are some of the best servers in existence).
Did you forget the sarcasm tag?
No, I'm quite sincere.
I've never gotten download speeds less than 2mbps from any MS site.
I can't decide if you're a troll or just plain stupid.
A bit of both, maybe?
Seriously, I have never had any problems with Microsoft's download servers. And I've downloaded a lot of stuff over the years from MS's downloads section.
The messenger servers are another thing, they're really crappy.
I don't see how thats trolling. He's stating a fact. Microsoft is the single largest software distributor in the world - and they have one of the largest Data Center Infrastructures on the planet.
The fact that the traffic has been overwhelming enough to crash such a robust infrastructure is worth noting.
I am also a System Admin .. And i am using Win7 64x exclusively on my home PC .. I had it duel booted from a E-sata ext. drive but i wanted to take advantage of my raptor raid set up so i went full time clean install .. So far so good .. Love the Win 7 Media center upgrade ... love the task bar .... All my normal software loaded fine and a couple of drivers i needed i had to use the vista mode
I think they have a winner here
Couple small bugs i found , If you completely turn UAC off sidebar gadgets will not work .. so i have it at the second to last level .. and Had a small issue with a HP photo printer , but that was HP fault i suppose
But all and all no biggie
Theres an easy fix:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/12/30/fix-gadgets-not-working-or-showing-when-uac-is-set-to-not-notify-or-disabled-in-windows-7-beta/
You are so cutting edge.
If Windows developers are reading, here are my main complaints:
- still a pain to hook up secondary display (need to restart to plug my plasma screen to my laptop)
- need third party software to mount iso images
- no embedded print to pdf (vain attempt with that unpractical xps format)
I can't go back to Windows if those aren't fix.
The problem is that MS would get in trouble if they bundled everything with there OS, is it to hard to download a few small utilities?
isoburn
cutepdf
two free utilities among probably hundreds you could use.
but you keep waiting for them to be included in an OS before you use it, that makes sense.
If Microsoft wants to compete with Apple, they need to bundle what they can. The XPS format is dead on arrival. Everyone is using PDF formats, be it business AND home. All of this should have been built into Windows a decade ago. Yet here we are with some goofy XPS format that is a huge pain to get working properly.
Yes, it is too much of a hassle to download some utilities. PDF printing should have been built in a long.. long time ago.
Other than the "If Microsoft wants to compete with Apple" statement, I agree - it should be built in. But downloading a free 1mb utility to print to PDF isn't what I'd call a hardship. I also think burning ISOs should be part of the built-in burning capability. But I'm not going to dismiss an entire OS based on two quibbles that can be solved in 3 minutes.
I doubt Microsoft are checking Engadget for feedback on Win7 - that's what the provide feedback link on every window is for.
Also, its not Microsoft's fault that they don't include default PDF functionality, Adobe would sue them if they did.
Windows 7 can burn ISOs. It just can't mount them.
I agree that it's not a big deal to download apps to do these things.
I had no problems connecting my Samsung HDTV as a 2nd monitor. Actually, it already detected it. All I had to do was select extend desktop. It also detected my HP printer right away.
Last time MS bundled a bunch of software in their system, they had anti-trust lawsuits thrown on them.
Whining on the internet takes as long to download the application.
I still can't get the Microsoft download button to work.... I'm turning to Mr. Mininova for me boot camping shenanigans!
Use IE, some firefox plugs in prevent it from working.
Microsoft uses ActiveX controls to verify you are using IE. That is why it won't work on firefox.
I don't think Microsoft is filtering any browser at all... here's what Google Chrome reported when trying to download the ISO:
"Error 8 (net::ERR_FILE_TOO_BIG): Unknown error."
File too big? Now how 'bout that? FlashGet worked perfectly though - just use any download manager.
I hope this wont be vista 2.
wow, this is old news
Anyone installing this on their netbooks? Would like to get w7 on my wind... can you put the iso on a flash drive and install it that way?
Yea, you can load the files onto a flash drive, but you need to make the drive bootable.
Or you can use an external DVD drive and install it that way, like i did for my Aspire. Just get one of those IDE/SATA to USB converters (which cost very little) and a spare drive and you're set.
BTW, it runs extremely fast on the One.
You can just mount the ISO and install it from within windows itself.
I installed it on my samsung nc10. flawless install. check out sammynetbook.com for info on drivers for ethernet and sound.
You can get it from https://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/productkeys/win7-32/enus/default.aspx remembering that as this is Microsoft its IE only (I tried in Firefox)
and use any one of these:
TQ32R-WFBDM-GFHD2-QGVMH-3P9GC
QXV7B-K78W2-QGPR6-9FWH9-KGMM7
4HJRK-X6Q28-HWRFY-WDYHJ-K8HDH
GG4MQ-MGK72-HVXFW-KHCRF-KW6KY
6JKV2-QPB8H-RQ893-FW7TM-PBJ73
all legit, it seams that they are only using a few, these were grabbed from the page using [ctrl] + R
??? Worked in Firefox for me.....wait....I think I used Chrome. Never mind.
Damn...you're right.
in addition, 64bit is
https://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/productkeys/win7-64/enus/default.aspx
I got my download and my key using Firefox too.
I downloaded (from MS) this yesterday and installed clean off a DVD. No problems, except the LAN port on my ASUS P5KSE mobo is STILL not supported by Windows drivers (XP, Vista and now 7 all missing this one driver).
Once I got that sorted, it's working well. Biggest dissapointment for me was they haven't "improved" the picture importing over Vista. By "improve" I mean going back to the version included in XP.
Runs much better than Vista, using my XFX 7600GT video card. On Vista, NFS Underground ran horribly, but ran great under XP. Under 7 it runs almost as well as under XP.
The removal of Windows Mail isn't a big deal, but my wife liked her Outlook Express so now she has to get used to Thunderbird.
Just download Live Mail, that's what they want you to do anyway.
Stick with thunderbird , although i personally prefer web mail through my browser then i don't lose mail in a crash.
Friends don't let friend use live mail.
@Major:
There are many ways to do both. I like the immediacy and alerts of mail in my browser (Opera), or an email client. I've just never liked the web interfaces. I use IMAP mail so it leaves it on the server to be accessed by unlimited mail clients, as well as online. Gmail does this brilliantly.
@Major4Play: What's wrong with Windows Live Mail? It never crashes on me, and it does a great job at what it does. I've heard of some issues with Thundermail though, regarding Hotmail and other stuff. No need to hate. It works fine, especially the latest version.
Uh ooo they used fortnight again. :P
And
I Don't see the problem.
Its a drinking game. When Engadget tries to look sophisticated take a drink. Thankfully it doesn't happen enough that I get wasted at work.
Now if I was to take a drink every time the mention the God phone....That would be another matter.
Indeed; they have some sort of bizarre need to use 'fortnight' constantly. I'm not sure if they think it's clever/witty, if it's some sort of inside joke, or what.
For those of you who can't download, try using IE. That's right, you need to install some activeX control to download this. Glad to see them moving to standards!
Thanks Microsoft for the Win7 Beta. As a Vista user who is frustrated with general responsiveness (I have a quad-core, so my hardware is not the issue), I'm anxious to see if Win7 is a winner. Unfortunately, I'm afraid to use it because as a McAfee user, there isn't a McAfee beta to run on the WIn7 Beta. Who wants to open a connection to the internet now-a-days without running virus scanning software. What good is this beta if the major Virus detection software vendors don't support it yet?
You can just go ahead and install it on Windows 7.
OR
Since you have a quad core, install it in a virtual PC (using MS VirtualPC - free software)
I have a dual core and my Vista is snappy as hell. You must have other problems.