Windows 7 Beta Available January 9th, 2009

[rayzoredge 2]

Source

So who's in on it? It's funny that I just read the article about it and went back to Xisto only to find that Saint Michael mentioned it in the Shoutbox.

For those of you who don't know, Microsoft is officially releasing the beta download of Windows 7 this Friday to the public, and is only releasing 2.5 million keys for the beta. After all those keys have been released, Microsoft will not issue any more. The beta version of Windows 7 will work until August of this year, in which it will not be available for usage and the operating system will just be a 16+ GB "paperweight" on your hard drive.

I for one am not even going to try, considering that I'm already hard-pressed to snag a computer that would run Vista efficiently, and from the sounds of it, Windows 7 is pretty much a "better" Vista. The suspicion almost seems confirmed since you need Windows Vista with SP1 to even install the beta version being released... Windows XP users are out of luck. Sad, really... I thought that Microsoft was actually ditching Vista and actually putting something out worthwhile...

It's funny how Steve Ballmer had to throw out some features of the new Windows OS to show that it was the "best Windows yet," but with some of the most drab and lame features like transparent windows that we've had with Linux's Compiz/Beryl. Right now, I just am very skeptical of how good the latest "best" version of Windows is going to be.

If you miss the 2.5 million keys that will be issued starting Friday, I'm sure you can actually just snag a pirated copy off of a torrent site, just like the thousands of other people that already have Windows 7 prior to this announcement.

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

I hate saying this but windows-7? They have not really worked out the bugs yet for vista! Why do another OS when they still should fix problems with there other, and xp I might add. I feel as all Microsoft is doing is putting out there what I call worthless Operating systems. Why can't they just leave one alone, fix all the little and big bugs that they knew about in the 1st place before they put out another one? I feel it's all about the Dollor. Bill Gates is so money hungry he is not thinking of his buyers. We the public should have a say in this. As for windows-7? I will download it only after the movie comes out. Why waist disk space for something that is "beta" also why download something we all know will be loaded with problems and have to delete it when time runs out.

[Tramposch 1]

Vista was like those babies you hear people hiding that are very different and people are embarrassed by them. Windows 7 offers drastic improvements in every way. I used the pre-beta builds and, boy, are they promising. I am for sure getting the beta. Windows actually shows promise with this OS. I am sure it will overtake XP and Vista.

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

I heard a lot say that same thing about Vista when it was in beta. so it's gonna be a wait and see type of thing I know. But there will be someone that will once they download it break it apart and find things to fuss about in someway. My point was though Vista just came out. why so soon in bringing out windows 7 why not just work with what they have and not put something out when they have too many bugs on the other. thats like with IE 5 through 7. fix all the bugs before you realese another. it is pointless and a waste of time effort and money.

[rayzoredge 2]

I'm sure that support for Vista will be continuous, but the focus is moreso on the development of Windows 7. The aim is probably to ditch the reputation of Vista and abandon the name altogether to focus on marketing the next new Windows experience... which really seems to be Vista anyway, renamed to Windows 7.There wasn't a lot of adaptation to Vista thanks to all of its problems, naysay, and whatnot. If Microsoft is going to make a positive turnaround, it makes sense to market something that actually rivals Apple's Leopard and the more-prominent flavors of Linux like Ubuntu.I remember when I was wary of moving from Windows 98 SE to XP... and I didn't make the jump until SP1. After SP2, I was convinced that XP Professional was the most stable and usable Windows operating system to date... and I'm still convinced that it is. If Windows 7 is really just a husk over the Vista core, let's hope that they at least work on the core enough to make a viable replacement for XP.

[onscreen 0]

I am in for the beta and since the OS will expire on my birthday so its worth the harddisk space . Looking forward to it since i am curious on how well will Win7 improve things like memory managements and steady transfer rate as confirmed by some tech site reviewers.IMO, Vista is more like a technology guinea pig and also a OS fill gap between XP and the future. So, its predicted that its prone to fail. First attempt on anything new things will not always a success. At least Microsoft is learning to understand their mistakes.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I'm going to skip Windows 7 for now.What I learned from XP and Vista is that you should give each new version about a year to get the kinks out of them.Until then they will have complications, whether it be crashing, memory issues, incompatibilities(both hardware and software), or anything else.Once Windows 7 is out for long enough and I feel more confident with its progress, I will then possibly jump in.It took me until Vista SP1 came out and was fully analyzed before I made a true step into its direction.

[triplebtalk 0]

I cannot wait to try it out, in fact I am downloading now and I hope I am within the 2.5 Million people mark. Has anyone else tried this yet?

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I cannot wait to try it out, in fact I am downloading now and I hope I am within the 2.5 Million people mark. Has anyone else tried this yet?

I was reading online that there are very few differences between it and Vista anyways. They said really the only things that are different are graphical changes.

Based on everything relating to Windows 7 I don't see a reason to really upgrade to begin with.

As long as XP and Vista are still supported 100%, why would they even make a new OS? And supposably Vista will be 100% compatible with Windows 7 and vice versa.

So...People will be paying money for looks?

[kudmus 0]

 Why do another OS when they still should fix problems with there other, and xp I might add.

Because it's a well known fact that Vista was a flop. That's why the Window "Fixta" 7 project had to be accelerated. That's why they released the SP1 faster than they had been doing before. They know there are people who just wanted to skip Vista that's why they are forcing us to install Vista SP1 first hoping that we may say "Hmmm, Vista's not that bad after all.

I'm not sure if they will succede.

[_Dustin 0]

Yes Vista was a joke. I probably will not be around in the time they release these 2.5 million keys and with the hour and 30 minutes between the release and when I get home I'm sure they will be gone. I was looking forward to trying it, even though it's probably going to be mostly the same thing is Vista. Good luck to anyone who goes for it, hopefully they didn't mess up on this one majorly.

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

well for the heck of it all I went by the windows-7 site and took a peek. Did not see any place for downloading it. or even tellling you wear to go. but I will admit some of the screen shots of windows 7 did look sweet. But looking nice and being nice are a horse of a differnt color.

[SiUK 0]

The opinion I've got so far on Windows 7 is apart from a few minor tweaks and some different graphics it's more or less the same as Vista. I know Vista has been widely seen as a failure but wouldn't it of been more logical for them to concentrate on improving that instead of rushing out a new OS?As for the whole touch-screen thing, lol.. I HATE it when people touch my screen, and I can only imagine how often you'd need to clean a monitor after dragging your finger round on it day after day. It's good technology for things such as phones but PCs? I figured I'd stick with XP when Vista was released and I'm glad I did, I'll most likely be doing the same when Windows 7 is in the shops and Microsoft are trying to hype up how brilliant it is before the cracks show.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

On the touch screen aspect, I have a question...Is it supposed to convert monitors into touch-screen or are we supposed to go out and buy new $7000 monitors?lolAnd yes, I am pretty sure I already know the answer to that.But if we have to buy new monitors anyways, why worry about an OS that has touch-screen capabilities? Just buy a touch-screen PC that has all the software needed on it already installed.Or am I missing something here?

[Tramposch 1]

You will need a new touch screen monitor to take advantage of the touch screen features. They aren't even THAT expensive. They still cost a fair amount, but they aren't ridiculous. You can convert a monitor into a touch screen, but you need to add hardware on to it, which can cost a lot and be ugly and not as a responsive.If you were to buy a new PC for Windows 7 with a touch screen, it may come with those abilities, but it is limited. Windows 7 is designed to be able to use touch screen technology efficiently and as a complete replacement for a mouse and such. Most touch screen computers can function fine using the touch screen, but not all features work as they would with a normal mouse and keyboard. Most of that touch screen software is just additional software that works with the touch screen, then if you want to use it when interfacing with Windows, it doesn't work as well.