back to article Microsoft delays first Windows 7 public beta

An update to this story can be found here Microsoft has postponed broad availability of the first Windows 7 beta in order to keep up with anticipated download demand. According to reports from across the web, both the Windows 7 download page and Microsoft.com were intermittently unreachable earlier today as would-be …

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  1. Joe Earl
    Gates Halo

    Seems to be working now

    It worked for me about 4-5 hours ago (19:00 10/01 GMT), just got the x86 version and 4 product keys

  2. Shusui

    What language do these guys speak?

    "... we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta"

    The Plain English Campaign should offer their services to Redmond.

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Chris C

    Beta testing

    "The reality is, though, that no beta can be regarded as "feature complete". The beta process designed to thrash features and also take feedback on potential additions - although such additions are rare as much of the fundamental build work is considered finished by beta-test time."

    I must respectfully disagree. (Historically, at least) the beta testing process, like the alpha testing process before it, is designed to find and fix bugs, not to add or remove features.

    The beta, like the alpha, is supposed to be a full-featured, complete version of the product. First, you create the product. Then you run it through the (small user base) alpha testing phase to find bugs. Then you fix the bugs. Then you run it through the (expanded user base) beta testing phase to find bugs. Then you fix those bugs. Then you release the product. At no time during the alpha or beta testing phases should new features be added, and existing features should only be removed if they contain bugs which cannot be fixed within reasonable time/resource constraints.

    It's only because coders are lazy and (more importantly) corporations are greedy that "beta" is the new alpha testing, and "release to manufacturing" is the new beta testing.

  5. Martin Lyne
    Heart

    Sounds like..

    Vista SP2 has been made even more Fantastifail!

    The only things that have made Vista better over XP for me were the Start Bar search functionality (necessary because the start menu programs seems to be unmanageable now, but still easier than trawling) and.. er.

    Having to make 4 clicks to get to my network connections rarther than XP's 2? No

    Having to Confirm 3 UAC dialogs when making and renaming a new folder? Not that either.

    Having to go to "More" then search for "type" when I want to organise a folder by "Type"? Nope.

    But at least I still have my beloved customised Quick Launch! Windows 7 is doing what now?

    32-bit limits people to 3Gb RAM, XP or Vista will keep everyone happy. Bullshit additions like new Media player (I use Winamp), better DRM (always a selling point..) and lower memory footprint (that should be a sodding fix, not a new OS, just install XP again) won't sell. Especially not at silly prices that MS loves.

    Patches and compatibility and drivers are what we need from microsoft, not another 20 operating systems. Or something actually *different*. But they've done themselves in, the users are used to the norm, anything too revolutionary won't sell, anything too similar isn't worth buying.

    Oh and no more IEs, please? If you can't get it right after 7 attempts, just fucking give up.

  6. Ross Fleming
    Thumb Down

    Marketing spin

    Call me cynical, but MS not having enough infrastructure to support a release? Please pull the other one - they pump out service packs and patches like it's water. Win XP service packs must be downloaded millions of times on release - granted they'll be smaller than Win 7 (6), but the frequency must exponentially greater.

    What's more likely, it's a spin. "Look how many people want this, why aren't you interested yet?". Or to put it in a South Park style, it's the Eric Cartman "You Can't Come" technique.

  7. Earl Kubaskie

    Seems to be up...

    I got it downloaded (3.5 gigs) in about an hour and a half this evening. Congestion must not be THAT bad.

  8. Tony Paulazzo
    Thumb Up

    Windows 7

    Been mucking around with it some and I gotta say, I think MS is heading for a world of hurt. This is what Vista should have been and the fact that people are showing such interest in it means they want the new improved Vista - sorry, Win7, but I doubt they'll wanna pay twice for it (and I include those like me who bought new hardware with Vista preinstalled).

    Whilst having no hard numbers it feels more responsive and drivers (so far) written for Vista work on it (inc my old Audigy2). WMP kind'a glitched out on me, and Zoom player causes Aero to turn off (which doesn't happen in Vista), but overall I think this is the real XP replacer.

    And like XP, I predict it'll be the most pirated piece of software on the planet - this will prove to be a morally grey area as anybody with Vista should be automatically upgraded to Win7 for free.

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