Microsoft puts the kibosh on Windows 7 beta downloads
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted February 11th 2009 12:53PM
posted February 11th 2009 12:53PM
[Via The Register]
Further reading:
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Microsoft extends Windows 7 beta downloads to February 10 Good news for those of you who haven't yet snagged a copy of the Windows 7 beta -- Microsoft's decided to extend the beta download period to February 10th. |
 |
Windows 7 multitouch: it's a gimmick (for now) We've spent some time with Windows 7 Beta's new touch and multitouch features this week, and came away largely disappointed. |
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Windows 7 Beta in-depth impressions We finally gathered together all our thoughts and impressions of the OS into one meaty pile of words and screencaps. |
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Windows 7 install roundup After resting up and settling into our post-CES golden desk chairs, team Engadget got busy at installing Windows 7 on pretty much anything they could find. |
Looking forward to trying this on a new system in a week or two.
Glad i got it.
Indeed, but... Engadget has adverts?!
I got it two days after its release and started installing it on everything. I use it as my primary OS right now on my desktop computer cause i needed an OS to test my new hardware.
what's the lastest windows 7 beta version?
Build 7032
http://keznews.com/40045=Windows_7_build_7032_screenshots_leak
I hate to tell you, but there is a new build produced *every single day*
Each day as bug fixes, changes, and additions are checked into the build tree, a new version (and hence new build number incrementing each time) is produced in order to verify the fixes worked, new changes didn't break other things, etc.
I've been using Windows 7 as my digital audio workstation. Windows Vista sucks for recording - really bad latency. MS really cleaned things up in Windows 7 and it's got no latency spikes at all.
I'll really have no choice but to upgrade when 7 is actually released.
What DAW are you running?
Everyone I know already made the switch, those that are just now figuring out they missed it don't deserve to be in the beta.
I'm using it as my main OS so yea 100% getting this the day its out.
For those who missed it - you can still torrent it.
I would be using it as my main OS, and am using it on my laptop, but for my desktop gaming/workhorse machine, I'd rather wait for more stable/official driver support, specifically for audio and video cards.
More stable and efficient driver support?
You do know that it used the exact same drivers and driver model as Vista...so it won't get any more "stable" after release, since it's using all current drivers right now don't you?
Agreed, integrated driver support is already really good, and like what was already said, it uses Vista drivers anyway.
barc0de: The gaming/workhouse computer is exactly where I'd want it first! As much as I advocate Vista for gaming (dx10 and such), Windows 7 is everything Vista is, but faster. It's nice to have a little extra speed on the laptop (mine is actually significantly faster because it's so much better with SSDs), but gaming is where you want everything you can get! I haven't run into any compatibility problems yet either, but I am playing all recent (Vista era) games for the time being, anyways.
I have downloaded it.
Maybe they will offer a free Product key for some of us... ;-)
Who knows?
Did you see the unicorn? Keep dreaming. :)
You know they only gave out like 20 or so different product keys? If you do a quick google search you can find prod keys to use. I found my prod key up on a site with the 20ish keys that they are using.
I really like it so far its been quite stabel the only real kind of re-occuring is on start up not seeing my external drive. This probably due to the USB hub I am using than 7. BTW where did our avatar pics go?
Nope its a bug, happens to my passport after coming out of hibernation.
@ZeitgeistXIII: I see you have the windows 7 spelling bug also. ;)
Nope I have that bug all on my own! :) Of course I hope that this is the only bug I ever have!
The avatar bug may be a Win7 bug as that was when it started.
Stay Clean,
Geist
Any idea if MS is going to allow patching/upgrading to retail when it comes out from beta?
My guess is, Microsoft will do the same thing they did for Vista regarding upgrading to the RTM version; that is, block beta to final upgrades for all builds except the release candidate version. So, build 7000-> Final, probably not, but RC->Final may be a possibility.
I forgot where I said it, but they said the beta will be upgradable like Vista, but they "recommend that you do a clean install from the beta".
saw*
So, how many actual downloads?
I installed it on my eee pc 900. Booted really really fast, but then as soon as I started to open up programs, the lag began. Its awesome that it can boot well on a machine with 900mhz, but the programs that run on the new operating systems need more power than that. I would guess at least a 1.6 atom. All in all I was really impressed, it booted up faster than my core 2 quad machine. Can't wait for the finished product.
Try connecting only 2gb ram (one stick), CPU, mobo, video and one SSD with Win7, disable raid, build-in audio, network and lots of other stuff in BIOS and see which one boots faster.
But you do know the 900mhz celeron is a bit more powerful than the 1.6ghz Atom??
How much RAM do you have?
I think given all the positive hype Windows 7 is getting, and considering how awful Vista was, Microsoft is sorta dumb in closing off this beta right now. Let more people use it! Let more people hype it! Seriously.
Who knows, they could do another private beta in a few months.
I ment to say public.
How did the ebbsfleet landmark project sneak in?
my only issue with winodws 7 (that i can tell) is that when i have my external hard drive connected, i can't seem to "safely remove hardware" from my notification area. everytime i click "safely remove hardware", it says that it can't because it is in use, and i know for a fact, it's not in use (i don't have any files open from the external hard drive). so i end up just turning off my external hard drive anyways.
plus, my sound driver doesn't work. there is sound on windows 7, but it's really poor quality.
I can't believe this is still a problem in Windows...
I had a sound quality issue with my X-Fi, fixed it by going into the creative audio console and turning the output sample rate down from 48kHz to 44.1kHz
I want a feature that details what program is using the externel hard drive.
HA, I routinely have that problem in XP SP2!
I'm not buying it until that theme is upgraded to Werewolf v Unicorn. Maybe that's the Ultimate SKU.. Ultimate indeed!
Haha, hey when I thought I missed it first place I went was the pirate bay...then I realized they extended it, so I went back to Microsoft.
I so desperately wanted to try the 7 beta...I downloaded from torrent twice and from MS once but did not install it. I tried it on virtualpc though, which does not give such a good experience.
The problem was I have only one pc (VAIO running Vista Home) and did not want to mess it up. I haven't had a bad experience with Vista yet. Have been using it for 4 months now.
But...if the final version is worth all the hype I will happily switch to 7...let see.
why not add a spare hdd and dual boot?
@ Karl Hackswell
Or you can set a partition from your current HDD and dual boot Vista with Win7.
Or you can format, install 7 and ditch Vista altogether. 7 is so good (even in beta form), you'll never go back to the pile that is Vista.
How do I use a 'spare' HDD with a laptop? Yeah...I could have partitioned and dual boot with 7 and Vista but was quite afraid of this because of my experience earlier with Vista RC1. I installed Vista RC1 on my old Toshiba and it was a nightmare trying to remove that and going back to XP (some boot loader issues)...don't know if there is something like this with 7.
@Loban:
Do you realize that the beta will expire in some time. Yeah...a new beta version will be available by then. But, would you want to get stuck up if there is a hole (security hole or whatever) in 7? This is the only comp I have right now. Can't depend upon a beta OS completely. Yeah...can depend upon beta versions of softwares (browser or messenger or any other) because they can be easily uninstalled and you can go back to an earlier stable version.
So...I will wait for the final release of 7 or till I buy a new pc (whichever is earlier). Till then I guess I will have to watch videos and screenshots of 7 and dream about it. :|
Vista and 7 use the same bootloader, so you just delete the 7 partition inside vista and it's gone (you might have to go into msconfig to delete "windows 7' in the bootloader after deleting the partition)
my reply is obviously meant for John Doe.
irony
... I think you need to look up irony in the dictionary