Version: 2008

Comments on: Windows 7 beta now available

After a day-long delay, Microsoft makes the Windows 7 beta broadly available. The company has said it's looking for millions of testers for the Vista successor.

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by jordanaustino January 10, 2009 11:22 AM PST
I've been trying to download but this link that says download now does absolutely nada in chrome, or firefox. And in IE a i get a error message
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by josephscnet January 12, 2009 11:35 PM PST
go to the Windows 7 home page at , http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/ . You can download it from there . There is a link to it on that page where it say download window 7 beta . You will have to fill in a short info about yourself and chose you 32 bit or 64 bit version and then it will issue a product key write it down then click download now you will be promped to install an active x for this file it is a downloader file which links you several torrent servers it will auto start on your desktop you will need a DVD rw drive and a DVD burning software to burn it to disk. on the download page microsoft provides you with DVD burning software sugestions, after its burned thats it install on a computer you doin't use as a main computer causes beta's are sometimes problematic , Have Fun !!
by SeizeCTRL January 10, 2009 11:24 AM PST
I had problems with Firefox also... worked fine in IE. Downloaded at 1.5 MB/sec with the installed download manager. Burning it now :)
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by Penguinisto January 12, 2009 6:12 AM PST
The IE requirement is artificial. Change the User Agent string, and if you have ActiveX it works just fine (typical Live.com crap).
by rcrusoe January 12, 2009 1:09 PM PST
The download button didn't work for me, but I was able to download after I did a copy and paste of the button's link info into FF on my Mac.
by rplat January 10, 2009 11:28 AM PST
This is sick . . . you can't even get into the registration page let alone the download page. Can Microsoft ever get anything right?
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by catch23 January 10, 2009 2:27 PM PST
They are right enough to get lots and lots and lots of people wanting to download their software.
They are right enough to crush tremendous server capacity with those people.
How right can you be?

PS no one really cares if your sick or not. We are too busy attempting to download MS software.

So how 'wrong' is that?
by Auzy83 January 10, 2009 4:52 PM PST
Wow, what a fanboy you are

Microsoft products work at least.. On OSX Leopard server, the only thing that worked was Apache (which wasn't even coded by Apple). And wireless on OSX 10.4 even in late builds had issues. Even on 10.5 they can't get radius right. Also, Apple charges for windows Drivers (bootcamp beta is no longer available and you need to pay for leopard for the final) and 802.11n drivers, and everyone thought that it was acceptable (not sure why, especially considering the hardware costs MUCH more). Security in OSX is also a joke. Basic mechanisms such as automatic updates aren't there, so I have noticed MANY people (especially the older crowd), haven't installed any updates in ages. Even worse, Apple has no mechanism in place to deliver monthly antiviral checks as microsoft does (Microsoft's windows updates checks and removes the latest common viruses from peoples computers per month).

On linux, most hardware only has basic support, and well.. Not much to say. Lets just say that many diehard linux fans think endusers should use programs with less functionality simply because the programs are open source (even though many of them haven't looked at the code themselves). Also, a swap partition is still used (which has a magnitude of problems), and you STILL can't install programs on another drive (something so simple, that was solved in windows 95).

If you want to be a fanboy, at least argue with facts
by alexacker January 10, 2009 5:29 PM PST
waaaaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaa ok now you go play on separate sides of the crib. OK kids?

Grow up people. Get a life.
by gabeheim January 10, 2009 10:06 PM PST
Whoever said anything in this thread about linux and os X? rplat was just frustrated with microsoft, which considering their history, it is his right to be. Of course, the MS shill/employee has to come on and attack OS X and Linux with FUD. Auzy, go learn what a mount point is. Go learn about filesystem hierarchy. Then go have fun with a: b: c: d: etc. Try moving your Program Files directory, and System32 directory to a different partition on windows.

A standalone swap partition is a bad thing?? You mean I should have my swap memory on the same partition/disk as my programs and data? Do you even know what swap is or how it works? You probably don't even know what the difference between swap and virtual memory, let alone how they work. Go check your computer, it's page faulting as we speak.
by Auzy83 January 10, 2009 10:35 PM PST
gabeheim. Its not what he said, its how he said it. I think his implication is quite obvious.

And yes, check "Auzy" under Ubuntu brainstorm.. I think its pretty clear I know a mount point is (but by the sounds of things, you don't sound pretty experienced using them), and no, it doesn't solve the problem. Because all the programs are fudgepudged together into directories like /bin (which is for binaries, not a trash bin like users expect). And yes, a standalone swap partition is a terrible thing. It means if you run out of swap, there is nothing to do except kill programs (a swap file can be easily expanded), there is no easy way of expanding them later, it makes partitions more complex, and users can't possibly know how much swap they need (because it can't be expanded, for systems with only 16GB HDD, its important knowing exactly). I used to work in an Applecentre, and people came in all the time who were told by people like you garbage like "OSX/unix can't really get viruses". Constantly..

Sorry, but we need some people to play devils advocate and that will be me. I've seen too many OSX/linux network installations fail (due to numerous technical reasons), that I really think Microsoft deserves at least a bit of respect.

And like I said, I worked for an Applecentre before, so this is actually someone coming from the other side..
by cooper145 January 10, 2009 10:40 PM PST
I had the same problem, but the problem was that I was using Firefox, then when I switched over to IE, it worked fine.
by Auzy83 January 10, 2009 10:44 PM PST
Also, if you think there is a problem with mixing swap and data, you need your head examined. Disk defragging is a technique which was invented in the 80's. I suggest you look it up, and you will realise that a swap file can be contiguous, so you can get the same throughput as from a partition, with much less hassle or problems).

Anyway, stand up for your beliefs, but from experience, I have found Windows to be the least painful OS to deploy (the changes in fedora 10 have certainly made it much better, but as mentioned, some areas and OpenOffice is still letting it down a bit, but will get there possibly. ).
by JoeF2 January 11, 2009 7:35 PM PST
Auzy83 :
It seems it is rather _you_ who needs some basic education.
Windows has a swapfile, called pagefile.sys (or something like that, I'm not on a Windows machine at this time.)
Further, Unix systems like Linux don't even need such a broken concept as a "drive". Even if the system spreads across different partitions and/or different physical drives, it is all visible as one directory tree.
And, as anybody writing kernel drivers for Windows knows, Windows nowadays internally doesn't use drives, either. What is called / in Unix is \??\ in the WIndows kernel. The "C: drive is \??\C\.
So, next time, learn things before making a fool of yourself...
by Universal_Indie_Records January 12, 2009 7:40 AM PST
It never fails.. there's always some idiot who turns a post into a battle between Windows/OS X/Linux!!
by MrMegabyte January 10, 2009 11:29 AM PST
I was just able to download the windows 7 and get key, how ever when the download manager that is used for windows 7 will not let me download the OS it just says error...oh well i have my key that i wanted lol
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by Tedders85 January 10, 2009 11:34 AM PST
Its a good thing I just got my netbook from UPS. My main PC is an iMac, which I cant download this on. You HAVE to use IE... phew!
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by Dan7637 January 10, 2009 11:38 AM PST
yeah microsoft is pushing people to use IE just to get beta
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by rapier1 January 10, 2009 8:05 PM PST
Actually, I just used wget to get the ISO. I got the key using safari.
by oce.net January 10, 2009 11:38 AM PST
The actual download site is still down. Its been doing this since Friday- you go through the signup stage- and then it fails to find the actual download page. You can get the download from various places if you can find the right link. There are also sites that explain how to get a product key still.
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by camdef January 10, 2009 11:48 AM PST
It works, this time. Only with IE, but that's fine. Thanks for the update.
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by Teachertech January 10, 2009 11:53 AM PST
Had to switch to IE as well...worked fine.
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by Sausagebiscuit January 10, 2009 12:01 PM PST
Get the code from a torrent site (which MS should have used, a torrent) and then get your key from MS. You get the key first anyways. No need to use IE this way as well.

Who cares how you obtain the iso? (unless you are paranoid about viruses, but then just do a MD5 or CRC check on the file you downloaded and compare it with known good values which can be found on the web.)
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by MythicalMe January 10, 2009 1:58 PM PST
I doubt you'll ever see MS using bittorrent unless they write a client and tracker themselves. I don't think that will happen anytime soon as long as BT has the reputation for copyright infringement. Not only is Microsoft a content provider, but the potential for lawsuits is enormous. Too risky.

Who says that MS isn't using bittorrent anyways? Suppose Microsoft decided to help market Windows 7 by getting as many copies as possible into as many hands as possible. So leak a copy to MiniNova and Pirate Bay. Provide a trial key. When people see Windows 7 is better, which from many reports that I've heard is true, they'll be ready to abandon Windows XP and Vista when the trial key expires.
by Penguinisto January 12, 2009 6:22 AM PST
@MythicalMe:

1) World of Warcaft uses BT. RedHat and Canonical use BT.

2) FTP has been more widely used throughout computing history for copyright infringement than BT, Kazaa, gnutella/emule, and Napster ...combined, yet MSFT supplies an FTP client bundled in with IE. While you are correct about reputation, the tech itself is legit.

3) re: "Who says that MS isn't using bittorrent anyways?" Actually, MSFT has been trialling a download manager with their volume license clients. While it isn't bittorrent-based, it does use some of the tech in that it spreads the downloads among multiple (MSFT-owned) servers. Same way Sun does with Java and Sun's download manager. If anything they'll likely go only that far, and that's it.

4) The rest is speculation (though maybe it is a tool for hype, nobody with a working brain is going to trust it unless the seed is known to come straight from a legit source).

"When people see Windows 7 is better"

That's more an "if" at this stage... there are still widespread incompatibilities, and lots of bugs to get killed. IF you spec the machinery specifically for Vista, it should work, though.
by AshDK January 10, 2009 12:25 PM PST
Downloading both versions right now, no problems accessing the website using IE. Didn't work with Firefox but then again I have the same problem with MSDN downloads at work
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by jtaylorhoopla January 10, 2009 12:30 PM PST
I couldn't get it with chrome, but with ie it works just fine.
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by jabungad January 10, 2009 12:48 PM PST
I'm currently running the Beta, and i already rather use it than Vista. All my programs so far worked. I guess waiting for 22hrs was slightly worth it lol 8-)
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by ZetaZeta_ January 10, 2009 12:54 PM PST
Torrenting from PirateBay works. The 64-bit version was added a few days ago. I couldn't download from M$.com, but luckily I got the key I wanted.

What's weird is **every time I visited the ISO download page, it gave me a DIFFERENT product key**.
I'm wondering if M$ is giving away only 2.5 million product keys, or infinite to 2.5 million Live accounts.
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by Lerianis January 11, 2009 1:27 PM PST
According to new reports, there are only 5 and 5 respective download keys for the 32-bit and 64-bit edition of Windows 7.
by SebDavies January 10, 2009 1:16 PM PST
I just got W7B from the pirate bay, was easier. And then got product key today from Microsoft! Love it, works perfectly!
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by drew38930 January 10, 2009 1:21 PM PST
@ZetaZeta_
It's been hinted on the Windows Team Blog that the download limit was either removed or there never was one to begin with. In fact, I think there are only 10 unique beta keys, 5 for 32-bit and 5 for 64-bit.
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by ZetaZeta_ January 10, 2009 1:30 PM PST
OK, cool. Thanks. So that means I can use the same key on each of my hardware configurations.
by  Brian January 10, 2009 1:30 PM PST
If you can't use any browser to simply download a file, can you imagine the nightmares you will have when you attempt to install it ??
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by Seaspray0 January 11, 2009 10:06 AM PST
Nope. Installing has nothing to do with the browser used to download it.
by tcr071 January 11, 2009 12:42 PM PST
If by "nightmare" you mean a seamless upgrade that took 40 minutes and didn't once require me to look at the screen then I agree.
by sebastien.kalonji January 10, 2009 1:36 PM PST
Been there, done that and switched back to OSX.
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by D3vildog699 January 10, 2009 1:43 PM PST
Nobody cares, cause this isn't an article comparing the Two OS's, its about the release of the new WINDOWS OS. It has nothing to do with Apple. If you don't care, don't read it.
by  Brian January 10, 2009 1:57 PM PST
I love OS X so much better than Winblows.

But seriously, if users of other competing web browsers are unable to access the files, then Microhoooo will have a heck of a time getting Mac users to switch.

In other words, it won't happen!
by ferretboy88 January 10, 2009 3:48 PM PST
I like windows way better than OSX. I can't build my own computer and run mac software on it. I stay away from over priced apple stuff. $5200 for their new 17" macbook pro with the features I wanted. I will pass.
by  Brian January 10, 2009 4:28 PM PST
@Greg465:

Mr. Ignorant: Plenty of games are available for the Mac (you really should visit an Apple retail store before posting nonsense on CNET).

@ferretboy88:

Running OS X on a generic PC is illegal.
Good luck in prison!
by lixpaulian January 10, 2009 4:34 PM PST
@ferretboy88:
You probably ordered two 17" Macbooks, this may explain the $5200 price tags.
by pithenumber January 10, 2009 4:37 PM PST
@Brian
Apple is too strict about their EULA, Psystar is already launching lawsuits at Apple

Games on Mac are existent, but come on, Mac hardware isn't gaming hardware
by gabeheim January 10, 2009 10:17 PM PST
Greg the homophobe: I mean really, bringing up anti-gay hate speech in an OS war? What other group are you going to attack now? I guess you're too busy at your rallies wearing white hoods and burning crosses. Idiot, no need to bring up hate speech in an os war. It just shows the weakness of your poor, simple, and pathetic mind.
by Seaspray0 January 11, 2009 10:31 AM PST
Been where, done what? Since windows 7 beta was just released (just the beta, mind you) you certainly haven't been there, done that.
by tcr071 January 12, 2009 7:01 PM PST
@ Brian

Why in the world would Microsoft worry about getting Mac users to switch? Apple has less than 4% worldwide market share. The only thing Microsoft cares about is retaining its customers and despite all the Mac fanboys bashing Vista and all the negative press it has gotten Microsoft isn't losing ground.

The best thing about OSX is that it can run Windows.
by Dewman4life January 13, 2009 6:24 PM PST
@ Brian

Hey Machom go hang out at a apple store .......do us all a favor.
by xZero2007x January 10, 2009 1:39 PM PST
Lol I thought it was funny how everything but IE failed.

@ZetaZeta_:

Yeah, it generated a new key sometimes while giving me an already issued key that I had already obtained other times. I just grabbed five of each and closed the window lol.
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by Dewman4life January 13, 2009 6:18 PM PST
hahaha thats funny because they only issued 5 keys for 32 bit and 5 keys for 64 bit
by Greg465 January 10, 2009 2:23 PM PST
Direct download here
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/01/09/direct-download-links-for-windows-7-beta-iso-surface/
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by piermaranza January 12, 2009 7:09 AM PST
simply great .... is 3 day that try to download this ****** software and redirect, register ..... redirect and nothing ...... tanks
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