How To Get Your Mitts On The Windows 7 Beta

[Peaches]

How to Get Your Mitts on the Windows 7 Beta

Late Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled the public beta for Windows 7, the follow-on and follow-up to Vista, which from all signs the company is trying to forget as fast as possible.

CEO Steve Ballmer, in a surprisingly subdued keynote -- no real shouting -- made the announcement Wednesday night at the International CES. It wasn't much of a surprise, what with leaks to file-sharing sites and hints posted on Microsoft's own site in recent weeks.

Still, it's a new version of Windows, even if some have dubbed it "Vista, a lot better." Oh, wait, that was Ballmer himself, back in October.

And because it's fresh and shiny, there are plenty of people eager to try it out, wanting to decide for themselves whether Microsoft's hit a home run this time or just smacked another Vista. But where can you get it, how do you install it and what do you need to patch after you have it on your PC?

Questions, everyone has questions. We have some of the answers.

When can I download the beta? Starting Friday, Jan. 9. Microsoft hasn't said exactly when during the day, but in the past it has sometimes opened download gates worldwide at the same time and other times a rolling local time to spread out the load.

If you subscribe to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) or TechNet, you can grab it today from here .- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscri....aspx?pv=36:350

[Peaches]

Review: Windows 7 Beta 1 shows off new task bar, more UI goodies

Goodbye, Quick Launch bar -- there's a new task bar in town.

January 7, 2009 (Computerworld)

The just-released Beta 1 version of Windows 7 is a solid, fast-performing, stable operating system that appears to be just about fully baked and ready for prime time. It is much further along than Windows Vista was during its initial beta phase, and it appears to be feature-complete. Based on the stability and speed of this beta, don't be surprised if Microsoft Corp. releases Windows 7 before 2010 rolls around.

The new, powered-up task bar makes an appearance for the first time in this beta, and it proves to be something of a mixed bag. As I'll explain later in this review, the task bar makes it much easier to manage and switch between open windows and applications, but it also mixes icons for launching applications with icons for managing open windows

Note that this review covers only the features that made their debut with Beta 1 of Windows 7. For an overall review of all of Windows 7, see "Windows 7 in-depth review and video: This time Microsoft gets it right." Also see my blog "Hacking Windows 7 beta problems" for help fixing some problems with the current release.â€

Story & screenshots: http://www.computerworld.com/action/articl...tsrc=hm_ts_head