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.

[macadato]

The first day the site opened. Microsoft's servers crashed!

[Brian]

Obviously, a website is not the only thing that will crash with ANY software produced/distributed by Micro$**t.

[D3vildog699]

obviously they weren't expecting a huge amount of people to download their beta OS.

[metturr]

Guys,
Successfully downloaded, burned it to DVD and Finally, I am postin this message after installing Win 7 on my laptop. Installation was super fast when compared to XP and Vista. It took less than 20 mins on my Dell 1.8 GHz Dual Core with 2.5GB RAM. I loved the way they improved the installation. I also love the new task bar. It automatically adjusted to the actual screen resolution and sound. It;s really gr8. Still exploring the features.....

[testjohm]

It would be great t see how efficient it runs

[hongsungone]

I dont like the fact that it requires 1gb of memory. We want a light, fast, efficient OS microsoft. Don't give us garbage vista 2.0

[Seaspray0]

I saw 1 GB RAM on sale for $20... Yep, that's way too expensive.

[dennisl59]

You could always go to Windows NT and run with 256MB and a 800Mhz processor, 56Kb Modem and Mosaic. Just go to ebay under the vintage equipment section.

By the way, the build would be more than $20.

Just a suggestion.

[wolivere]

I used FireFox with no issue, I acually was using firefox to recheck the page on get the key for me. And it had no issues nada zip.

Download was done in 1 hour for the 32 bit and 1.5 for the 64 bit.

[joosepR]

works as a charm

[Wei_Zhu]

I downloaded both ISO from Firefox fast and w/o any problems. Before I have a test laptop ready next week, I installed the 32 bit version on VPC. I noticed that the OS consumes only 378MB of memory. That's pretty cool.

[ferretboy88]

Why would you think you would be able to download from the microsoft site with Chrome, Safari, Firefox etc? If you didn't know that you needed to use IE then you might want to skip beta software. It might be over your head a bit. Windows updates use IE don't they? Come on people.

[Seaspray0]

Automatic updates do not use IE, it uses an update service. You can manually run the service by executing the program for the service... and it's not IE (it's an actual executeable). I commonly do this on a new OS load to grab updates from the corporate WSUS server (yes, you can specify the update server). Within a matter of a couple of minutes, the computer is completely up-to-date without even opening a browser.

[mediateck]

mine just finished downloading. wouldn't work in firefox but i tried IE and it worked... So thanks microsoft for finally getting it working.

[ppgreat]

So MS is trying to artificially drive up their IE usage numbers? They must really pay attention to those Net Applications numbers.

[Seaspray0]

So, how is this different than apple requiring apple's application to download from itunes?

[Sabroson]

Wow Auzy83 !! Are you ignorant or what ?

I am sorry you do not like Unix ... it serves 90% of the Internet website traffic. Windows server makes a very small portion. Basically Windows is the consumer OS, with its popularity based on cheap PCs and availability of pirated software. People do not buy Windows because it is better ... they buy it because its cheaper and they can copy software for it.

As far as radius, who the heck runs that on Windows !! It is a Unix thing !! I can tell you ISPs do not trust Windows Server at all. Not even Microsoft ... they used to use Sun Microsystems servers with Solaris.

As far as Windows 7, PC users are desperate. They waited more than 5 years to get Vista and in general got disappointed with it. Now Microsoft is trying to patch things up with Windows 7 ... I wish them luck as if they screw it up again, it would be very bad for the company.

Long term it will not matter which OS you use. The browser is becoming the "terminal" and the Internet the "mainframe". We are converging back to super-computers (Google, etc) with terminals (Internet browsers).

If you like Windows .. that is fine. But don't come here making stupid comments about Unix and OS-X just to make Windows look better. You do not make a better product by lying about the competitors.

[yuval08]

Downloading right now @ 2.5 MBPS, verify stable, I installed the 64 bit on my sony, dosen't have more then a month and it worked fine but I can get sony's drivers working (lack of support from them, love the machine but next time going for alienware), so now I'm downloading the 32bit directly from Microsoft, got my key, and I already have a list of complains to send them, jajaja, the task bar is nice but doesn't work for me, I tweaked it so it works like vista.

[OlsenKevin]

I've installed the Windows 7 Beta on both my MacBook using Boot Camp and my Desktop PC. So far, I'd have to say it's incredible. Much more stable than Vista. Smooth, fast, and innovative (never thought I'd say innovative when talking about Windows but there you go). Anyways, I always prefer using Mac OS on my MacBook but once Windows 7 hits the shelf, it's going straight on to my Desktop PC. Great job Microsoft.

[mikemcw]

So I've loaded Windows 7 on a spare computer; a relatively old machine. I have to say, I'm impressed. I've had no issues at all! The interface is great, runs smooth, boots pretty fast, it's great! And this is a computer that started out as an XP machine!

[ewelch]

Good:

Best-looking Windows yet.
Fast and snappy on my machine.
Install was a no-brainer.
Best Windows beta I've used since WIndows 2000 beta.
Runs great in VMWare on my Mac Pro.

Bad:

Can't touch OS X for looks. Still looks too cartoonish and icons still too one-dimensional.
What's with the fish?
A certain online game in beta won't work with it.

[Brian]

Hey, thanks for the quick review!

I've been wondering about Windows 7 myself.

While I do enjoy OS X for my daily computing very much, I admit that Windows 7 does look visually appealing for some strange reason (the grass is usually greener on the other side of the keyboard).

Cheers!

[Seaspray0]

Keep the reviews comming, ewelch.

[Dan7637]

call me crazy but i like vista taskbar better than 7's

[lilochris]

@Auzy83

I don't know why u **** & moan so much about OS X not have automatic updates like Windows. Mac os X 10.4 Tiger & 10.5 Leopard does have an automatic update ( And Maybe even 10.3 Panther but I haven't used it long enough to recall it). You can choose it to check for updates Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. & usually it pops up loading up the list of updates after boot-up when updates are available. What you stated there is so untrue.

And the issue about paying for 802.11n hasn't been an issue. I have the new Base station & I have a Core 2 Duo iMac. If you have an intel based mac, and current base station, you are safe. Only my 2 other PPC Macs don't get it even if I payed since they're not compatible. Paying for it is pointless really as ever Mac & Base Station they sell has 802.11n.

XP drivers is no issue. Most people who have Tiger will eventually upgrade to Leopard. & you can access XP/Vista drivers with the Leopard install disk which I consider that Apple gives users Windows Drivers for Free.. People who don't even need Windows get the drivers even without knowing it.

Haven't had any Virus issues @ all. On my PPC Macs, I use ClamX AntiVirus which is Free. I use Intego AV on my intel Mac just in case & it's only found potential Harmful files/viruses from the windows partition which is mounted on the desktop. That happened even after I performed a Windows Virus Check & a Norton Internet Security Virus Scan which both missed. And I keep both Windows & Mac Up to date.

[efisher22]

After 25 years as a Die hard P.C./Microsoft user, I switched to Mac this Christmas, I love my new macbook, the hardware is better then any p.c. on the market. Of course you get what you pay for. I was so frustrated with Vista and it's quirks. It's is useable, but after so many system restores, i just got fed up. I am running Wondows 7 in VMware and I am very impressed. It amazes me how in the vm, windows is smoking osX is almost all aspects, of course some of this has to do with the klinkiness of office on the Mac, but windows 7 so far is on the Money. THanks for finally listening MicroDeathStar..

Things are always better on the other side of the Fence!

[knerdy]

"Microsoft has ... made the code available for the Windows 7 beta."

Haha, really? Microsoft has made the code available for all of Windows 7 Beta which all the millions of people are asked to download? How exactly are the supposed to use this code? Setup a build env. and start compiling all the code?

Hey Ina - you better get you basics right: Microsoft does not release code for it's OS - it release the binaries that constitutes the OS. Windows isn't open-source like Linux. Hope you understand the difference between code and binary excutables that are generated by the compilier and linker.

[pixael]

Yeah Ive been looking for this code all day so I can build Ext3 and RieserFS support into Win 7 and release a fork but its nowhere to be found. Bummer... guess I'll have to use some third party scamware to access my USB disk.

[PCDUDE]

Vista jokes, I can agree. I've been on Windows 7 most of the day and it never hard froze once, but did briefly hang itself for about 45 seconds. That's better than Vista could do in one hour!

[sebastien.kalonji]

Dear D3vildog699, I cared to download and istall it didn't I? If you don't care don't read the comment.

[D3vildog699]

Dear Seabastien: Go buy a mac and be happy if thats what you want. Nobody cares.