Tech & Biz

CES 2009: Windows 7 Enters Beta

by Jordan Yerman | January 9, 2009 at 07:43 am

225 views | 12 Recommendations | 7 comments

Update: the deadline for downloading Windows 7 beta has been extended:

New ISO dowloads not available after Feb. 10: But those who "already started their Windows 7 Beta download and have not yet finished will still be able to finish their download and are encouraged to do so," according to the Windows 7 team. We're assuming that means those with registration keys can jump in and grab their file, but registration keys will stop being available after this day.

All downloads stop after Feb. 12: Even if you've got a key handy, Microsoft will not be providing the ISOs for download. You'll have to look to BitTorrent or other file-swapping locations; from what we've seen, registration keys work on non-official "M1" betas.

Update: tomorrow is now today. Windows 7 is out in the wild (legitimately, this time). If any of you are using it, let us know your initial (and deeper) impressions.

Windows 7 download page: the message says "Want to try the Beta? Come back the afternoon of January 9".

Which time zone?! Who the %$#@ do they think they are, Apple? Anyway, here are the system requirements:

Processor: 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor

Memory: 1 GB of system memory

Hard drive: 16 GB of available disk space

Video card: Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)

Drive: DVD-R/W drive

Internet connection (to download the Beta and get updates)

The link above also breaks down the somewhat-fiddly download and registration process. Ostensibly, the install takes aroudn 15 minutes, but your mileage may vary.

Sam Diaz at ZDNet is not aboard the beta train:

The beta of Windows 7 (or is it really just a great big Vista service pack?) will be available to the first 2.5 million people who download it on Jan. 9. I know it seems silly to ask but… is there a specific time on Jan. 9? Here in Silicon Valley, our clocks will be among the last in the world to reach the midnight hour.

Windows 7 Beta will expire on Aug. 1, 2009. Huh? Expire? So everything just resorts back to the older crappy version of Windows?

Be prepared to lose data.

That last bit is important: OS-level beta means that bugs could be far more pernicious than a dodgy pageload or a crashed app. Stuff could get swallowed up. Back up your entire profile and all of your files before you even think about thinking about beta-testing an operating system. If I get off my butt and try this, it'll be on a virtual machine that I can revert back to an earlier snapshot if (and when) necessary.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the beginning of the end for Vista, and the end of the beginning for Windows 7. Microsoft's newest operating system will be available for limited beta testing tomorrow, formally replacing the much-reviled Vista within a year.

Microsoft will make the beta test version of its new Windows 7 operating system available to the public for download on Friday. The beta, which is available immediately to Microsoft's business partners, will be capped at 2.5 million downloads. The official launch is scheduled for 2010, although many industry analysts expect it will be sooner.

I'm excited to try this new OS out, actually, though I'm definitely installing it on a virtual machine, you know, just in case...

Aside from some partnership deals, Ballmer also announced two forthcoming Halo titles for Xbox 360, so Master Chief fans will be chuffed.

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altrugon

at 12:52 on January 8th, 2009

I hope it comes with an anti-virus integrated. :P

That my friend will be a very good feature and not all those fancy effects they added in Vista for nothing.

Müllmann

at 13:50 on January 8th, 2009

What should i say? It's the Windows-Flag with "Windows 7" on the bottom of it....

Müllmann has contributed a photo to this story.

Paschen

at 02:01 on January 9th, 2009

What is or will be the advantage and why?

Jordan Yerman

at 14:52 on January 9th, 2009

The advantages would be better stability and memory management... but the test OS itself is 16GB! Also... Microsoft Beta OS! What could possibly go wrong? Heh. I think I just talked myself out of testing it.

car1edb

at 14:25 on January 9th, 2009

Hah, give it a ~12mths after release/public testing and will probably be a pretty nice OS like XP...

ps. Vista was an interim os, like windows millennium - just to keep the sheeps happy till they bring out the real replacement OS ;)

Jordan Yerman

at 14:53 on January 9th, 2009

Even cleaning up the memory management for dormant apps would be a huge improvement... I wanted to like Vista, but I just couldn't! Though primarily a Mac person, I don't have a knee-jerk hatred of MS, and I want Windows 7 to be good.

car1edb

at 15:14 on January 9th, 2009

I try not to touch Vista with a barge pole, whats to like... Hopefully they get it right again, although Ubuntu is looking pre'tty friendly these days, hrmmm.