Well tomorrow (or today if you’re reading this on the 9th) See’s the public release of Windows 7 to the public.
Some people have already had access to the beta, but i expect tomorrow they’re be a surge of traffic over at Microsoft’s site with people (including myself) downloading the preview of Windows 7. So expect slow download rates of the new beta with a frenzy of downloaders. Early reviewers say that Windows 7 is a pretty stable release for a beta, and some tests suggest it outperforms vista and even XP! But I’ll give it a go on an old Celeron D 2.53 GHz Dell machine and see what happens.The download will be in the ISO format, so you’ll need to burn the image using programs like Nero or the free burning tool CD Burner XP.
I’ve no idea the size of the download yet, i guess it must be a few gigabytes and its unclear whether Microsoft will release it in the 32 and 64bit versions, but from the extract below it appears that both versions are available, but we’ll see tomorrow! Its also worth noting that only 2.5 Million downloads are available so get there nice and early!!!
I cant wait for the surge of mac boys and Linux fan boys slamming the os – its always humours! By the way I’m no Microsoft fan boy – i just believe there’s more important things in life to stupid arguments like “my os-is-better-than-yours” – those people need a life!.
Ive taken an extract from the official windows blog with details on Windows 7 Beta:
Download Windows 7 Beta ISO files Here (will only be available from the 9th Jan!!)
The Windows 7 Beta is going to be available download-only (we’re not sending out physical media) and available for a limited time to the first 2.5 million people who download the beta.
The Windows 7 Beta will be available in English, German, Japanese, Arabic, and Hindi, and each language will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions (except Hindi which will only be available in 32-bit). Because the Windows 7 Beta will be offered download-only, it will be provided to you as an ISO image (an .iso file) that you download. After downloading either the 32-bit or 64-bit ISO image of the Windows 7 Beta, you will be required to burn the ISO image to a DVD to install Windows 7. So you want to be sure you have a DVD burner before spending the time downloading the ISO image.
To burn the ISO image of the Windows 7 Beta to DVD, if your PC comes with Nero or Roxio products – you should be able to burn the ISO image to DVD. If you don’t already have DVD burning software on your PC, you can also check out ImgBurn which is free and can be downloaded here.
The Windows 7 Beta only supports Windows Vista SP1 to Windows 7 upgrades. So if you intend to do an upgrade – be sure it is on a PC running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. We are not yet announcing anything regarding finalized upgrade paths for Windows 7.
The Windows 7 Beta will be only available in one edition, which is roughly equivalent the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista.
Also, another important thing to keep in mind is that the Windows 7 Beta will expire on August 1st, 2009.
I also need to emphasize that this is a beta of an unreleased operating system. Be sure to backup all your important data. As much as the Windows 7 Beta completely rocks, part of the beta process is discovering bugs and reporting those bugs. Some of those bugs could possibly lead to data loss. I tend to be a risk-taker myself and have gone all-out with the Windows 7 Beta by putting it on almost all my PCs both at work and at home, but not everyone should do this. I recommend using Windows Vista’s Backup and Restore features to ensure your information is backed up before trying out the Windows 7 Beta. Click here for several methods of backing up your data in Windows Vista.
The Windows 7 Beta is targeted toward the enthusiast crowd – people excited and knowledgeable with technology. If you don’t quite understand much of what I’ve written above, it is probably best you don’t try to install the Windows 7 Beta.
