Windows 7 beta now open to the public..or not [Update]

Posted Jan 9th 2009 3:30PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Hardware

If you feel like taking a leap off of a virtual cliff, Microsoft has just the car to drive. As promised earlier this week, Microsoft has now made available the first public beta of Windows 7 to anyone who wants to download the ISO filem, burn it to a DVD and then install it on your PC.

There are always caveats to downloading beta software but early reports from other sites have lots of praise for Windows 7. If you want to give the OS a test drive you had bettter hurry. Microsoft is limited this first Windows 7 public beta to the first 2.5 million downloads. The beta will also expire on August 1.

Update: Looks like Microsoft has pulled that download site for now, apparently due to heavy traffic on the site..imagine that.

Update 2: Looks like Microsoft has its act together and has got Windows 7 ready to download.
[Via Engadget]

Tags: microsoft, windows-7

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

It still says coming soon for me

also can I just make a partion on my harddrive and install Windows 7 on that?Posted at 3:50PM on Jan 9th 2009 by Alex

where can u download fromPosted at 4:28PM on Jan 9th 2009 by Nikolaj Møller

You can't download it yet. It was never officially released to the public anyway. Posted at 4:29PM on Jan 9th 2009 by Sonic

it was supposed to be released 2 hours ago, AND ITS STILL NOT UP! Microsoft is a bunch of lazy s.o.b.'sPosted at 4:47PM on Jan 9th 2009 by Sam

Um... Sam, you obviously has no idea what is going on. Microsoft probably doesn't have the capacity to take upwards of millions of people hitting refresh 50 times a minute. Posted at 6:03PM on Jan 9th 2009 by Sonic

If they put it on torrent they wouldnt even need a server for it. Posted at 6:18PM on Jan 9th 2009 by Dragan

Exactly. Why do companies like Microsoft not use the BitTorrent protocol to spread such large downloads? It would make things go much more smoothly.Posted at 6:30PM on Jan 9th 2009 by KyleK

http://www.overclock.net/windows/439839-official-windows-7-beta-links.html

Pssstt... you can download them herePosted at 6:41PM on Jan 9th 2009 by Alex

direct download links for the beta http://www.lockergnome.com/griffin/2009/01/09/windows-7-public-beta-direct-download-links/ .

Without the key its only good for 30 days.

http://snipurl.com/9qfia

Posted at 3:08AM on Jan 10th 2009 by toddlorensinclair

The beta is actually available now. Hurry! And if not, you can still download the ISO, but like the above commenter said, it'll only last for 30 days (plus you don't any of the inevitable updates).Posted at 3:46PM on Jan 10th 2009 by Brian

I got a key and had Windows 7 running, but I can't get online with it, it seems my wireless dogle is not compatible with Windows 7 :(

Does anyone have any clue if there is some type of program that will allow me to use my wireless dogle with Windows 7. I am just using the program that it came with.Posted at 4:02PM on Jan 10th 2009 by Alex