Microsoft announces availability of Windows 7 Beta and Windows Live
In a keynote address at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced the beta availability of the Windows 7 operating system as well as the availability of the latest version of the Windows Live, a suite of personal communications services and applications.
You can download it as a ISO image (.iso file) January 9 2009 – Friday from here as well as the availability of the latest version of the Windows Live, a suite of personal communications services and applications. Windows 7 Beta will be available in English, German, Japanese, Arabic, and Hindi, each language will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
If you don’t have a CD/DVD burner program, you can download ImgBurn which is free and can be downloaded here. Windows 7 Beta only supports Windows Vista SP1 to Windows 7 upgrades. So if your going to perform this upgrade be sure you are running Vista with Service Pack 1.
Here is an important note, Windows 7 Beta will expire on August 1, 2009. Don’t forget to back-up all your important data prior to installation. I recommend you use the back-up and restore option in Windows Vista. For several methods of backing up your data in Windows Vista Click here.
If your not sure how to do this, I would suggest you do not attempt to install Windows 7 Beta.
UPDATE
As promised Microsoft today released the beta version of Windows 7 for download. The download gives users a look at the next-generation operating system. Remember, Microsoft has set the software to expire on August 1, 2009. Microsoft warns that the software isn’t officially supported and that downloads will be limited to the first 2.5 million.
