The IT Nerd

For the 8 people who didn’t already grab this via BitTorrent, the Windows 7 beta is now available for download. It expires August 1st, but that’s okay because I figure that Windows 7 should actually be shipping by then. Of course, this is a beta so don’t use it for anything important.

Download away and leave a comment with your first impressions.

UPDATE: “Don” left a comment saying that the server was too busy. I looked into it and from a brief look at Twitter, others are having the same problem. Also, there seem to be issues getting a license key as well and the download link that I posted earlier says “Windows 7 Beta coming soon” when you surf to it.

If you really want to get your hands on the beta, try these links (confirmed working as of 4:00 PM EST):

Windows 7 x86 (32bit)

Windows 7 x64 (64 bit)

You’ll still need to get a product key (only 2.5 million of them are available so don’t delay) from Microsoft once the Windows 7 site updates. But you can at least get the ISO of your choice and burn it to DVD. Microsoft also mentions that the official path to download the beta starts here.

Thanks for the tip “Don!”

UPDATE #2: This story was posted 30 minutes ago. It looks like the web traffic brought the Microsoft server farm to its knees. As a result, they’re saying “No Windows 7 for you!” At least not for the balance of the day.

UPDATE #3: Microsoft has worked out their issues and you can now download the beta.

UPDATE #4: Remember the Microsoft imposed 2.5 million user limit? It’s been lifted for a couple of weeks.

This entry was posted on January 9, 2009 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Microsoft, Windows 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.