Welcome to the Windows 7 Beta Customer Preview Program
Windows 7 is…
the next release of the Windows client operating system, built on the secure foundation of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Performance, reliability, security, and compatibility are core tenets of this release as we collect your feedback to meet our engineering goals of making Windows 7 the best-performing and most stable Windows operating system to date. New innovations in the product are designed to augment your ability as an IT professional to better provision and manage increasingly mobile PCs, protect data, and improve both end-user and personal productivity.
See Windows 7 for yourself
We are inviting IT professionals around the world to work with the Windows 7 Beta in their lab environments and secondary PCs to help ensure smooth adoption when the final product is available and to gather feedback from real-world settings.
How can you get involved?
1. Take a look at some of the new features and functionality in Windows 7 as part of our Springboard Series guidance on the Windows Client TechCenter on TechNet. As a partner you can also see additional resources on the Microsoft Partner Program portal.
2. Download the Beta for a hands-on trial. For a limited time, Microsoft is making this pre-release version of Windows 7 available to the first 2.5 million people who download. Ready to take a test drive? You can get one by trying the Windows 7 Beta. We think you’ll have the best experience if:
- You are willing to participate as an active beta tester and provide feedback to help us complete Windows 7.
- You have an extra computer available to dedicate to testing beta software.
- You can back up your PC, install and reinstall Windows, and reconfigure your home network connection.
- You’re comfortable troubleshooting your own PC problems. There’s no technical support available for the Beta.
- You understand how to burn an ISO file to a DVD using your computer’s DVD burner.
- You have a system recovery disc and know how to use it.
- You enjoy participating in an interactive community of beta testers, sharing experiences and feedback in real-time.
Microsoft isn’t providing technical support for the Beta and isn’t responsible for business-related downtime. Don’t install the Beta on your primary home or work computer. When the Beta expires on August 1, 2009, you’ll need to reinstall a released version of Windows to keep using your computer. (See Installation Instructions.)
These are the Microsoft minimum hardware recommendations for systems that will be running the Windows 7 Beta. These recommendations are specific to the beta release and are subject to change:
- Processor: 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
- Memory: 1 GB of system memory
- Hard drive: 16 GB of available disk space
- Video card: Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)
- Drive: DVD-R/W drive
- Internet connection (to download the Beta and get updates)
Note: Some product features of Windows 7, such as the ability to watch and record live TV or navigation through the use of “touch”, may require advanced or additional hardware.
To learn more, see Windows 7 Beta: Frequently Asked Questions.
Source: Microsoft TechNet
In less than 45 minutes, Windows 7 Beta links were removed!
In an earlier report “Windows 7 Beta is Now Public!” , I’ve declared that Microsoft has removed the Windows 7 Public Beta links and soon Microsoft Windows Team Blogs posted this item:
“Due to very heavy traffic we’re seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta. We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta, and I’ll be posting here again soon once the beta goes live. Stay tuned! We are excited that you are excited!”.
Microsoft reposted this message at 4 PM Pacific Time:
“Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta. The volume has been phenomenal -- we’re in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We’re sorry for the delay and we’ll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience.”
So, we’re still awaiting!
Windows 7 Beta is Now Public!
Microsoft Corporation declared the release of the new operating system Microsoft Windows 7 Beta to public testers today.
Brandon LeBlanc, one of The Windows Team Blogs team stated that:
“On January 9th, the Windows 7 Beta will be available for Windows enthusiasts to download via the Windows 7 page on Windows.com. The Windows 7 Beta is going to be available download-only (we’re not sending out physical media) and available for a limited time to the first 2.5 million people who download the beta.
The Windows 7 Beta will be available in English, German, Japanese, Arabic, and Hindi, and each language will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions (except Hindi which will only be available in 32-bit). “
Other sources from Microsoft Partners website declared the exact time when the link will get published to public as:
“Partners with a MSDN or TechNet subscription can download Windows 7 Beta now. All other partners can download Windows 7 Beta starting January 9, 2009 at 12:00 P.M. Pacific Time. “
Once it became 12 PM, people could be able to access the following link to sign up for the product and receive product keys, when you choose your preferred version (86 or 64) and language and hit the continue (>) button, you will get “Server is too busy” page and won’t be able to proceed with sign-up process.
Few minutes later (12:40), links were soon removed and visitors only get: Windows® 7 Beta coming soon!
If you’re interested in downloading Windows 7 and were lucky to get in, here’s the link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx
I hope that Microsoft would get links up again to let users enjoy the “Vista that users were looking forward to”.
Triple threat targets Word users
Users of Microsoft Word are being urged to be careful as malicious hackers target the word processing software. Three unpatched bugs in Word have been uncovered in the last few weeks and two are already being exploited by attackers. The loopholes being exploited allow attackers to create booby-trapped documents that steal information or take over a PC when they are opened. Microsoft has yet to release patches to fix the bugs in the Word software.
Attack pattern
Information about the latest problem in Word was posted only a couple of days after Microsoft released its latest security update. Over the last year malicious hackers have taken to releasing code soon after the regularly-scheduled monthly Microsoft security update to give them the biggest chance to abuse it before a patch appears.
So far the latest Word exploit, which revolves around the way the information describing formatting is handled, is only a proof-of-concept flaw but Symantec and McAfee have confirmed that it will work. Abusing the flaw could allow attackers to take over a PC or run malicious code on a compromised machine. The latest flaw joins two others that Microsoft has acknowledged are already being exploited in attacks which it describes as “limited and targeted”. To avoid falling victim it said: “users should always exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments from both known and unknown sources”. Malicious Word documents exploiting one bug discovered in early December are known to have been spammed out to firms in Asia. Together the three vulnerabilities are found in Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, Office 2003, Word Viewer 2003, Word 2004 for Mac, and Word v. X for Mac and Works 2004, 2005, and 2006. Microsoft pointed out that to fall victim to the attacks users must receive and then open a booby-trapped Word document. On its security blog Microsoft said it was actively investigating the three problems and would release patches when work was complete.
Windows Media Still Rules Video Streaming
Despite the hype around YouTube and other Flash-based sites, a new report from Research and Markets still puts Windows Media way ahead in the video streaming market.
Microsoft Offers Free Trial Of Office 2007 Enterprise
Microsoft has posted a free trial of Office 2007 Enterprise, the corporate edition of the new productivity suite, for a try-out by developers and IT professionals. Office 2007 applications will run in full-feature mode for approximately 60 days, said Microsoft, a time span similar to the other Office 2007 trials that have been available on the Microsoft’s Web site since Dec. 1. Registration keys must be obtained by registering using either a developer or IT professional form, also available online.
At the end of the trial run, Office 2007 Enterprise will downgrade to a crippled edition that bars users from creating, changing, or saving documents and files. Users will still be able to view and print documents, however. The 502-Mbyte download installs Office 2007 Enterprise, which contains Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access, InfoPath, Groove, OneNote, and Communicator. Non-trial copies of the Enterprise suite, a new addition to the Office line, are available only to volume license customers. You can convert this trail copy to full one if you inserted a corporate or Volume Licence Key “VLK” that would skip the activation process.
Microsoft Calls on Geek Squad
Who says Microsoft can’t bring people together? Maybe Best Buy and Winternals know different. This morning, Microsoft issued a press release about Best Buy using Dynamics CRM 3.0 to keep the Gek Squad on call and on time. The 11,000 technicians also use 3,000 Windows Mobile smartphones (What? Do they share?). Best Buy uses Exchange Server 2003 and Point of Sale 2.0, too. For Christmas in July, Microsoft announced acquisition of Winternals and got some heck of talent in Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell. Ten years ago, I used Russinovich’s software for cracking open Windows NT 4. Without his software, I would have lost data following several fatal questions (there seemed to be lots of those in 1996).
Eight days before the July 2006 acquisition, Winternals settled a lawsuit with Best Buy over software piracy. I suppose the acquisition and settlement might not be related. Surely, Microsoft wouldn’t want to be in position to sue a customer, especially one worthy of a press release? Whatever the backstory, Best Buy, Microsoft and Winternals are a big, happy partnership now. What Microsoft flaunts as good news, other parties might interpret another way. No doubt the good folks over at BadVista could say the Geek Squad service calls wouldn’t be necessary if Microsoft software wasn’t so bad. I challenge any normal mortal to quickly and efficiently install wireless drivers on notebooks running Linux? Free software=you get what you pay for. If you pay nothing, well…
The worst security vulnerability is ignorance. I’m stunned every time I find yet another open wireless router–provided by the broadband provider, no less–in somebody’s home. The consumer wrongly assumes the Internet service provider secures its own device. They don’t know better. Last week, I cataloged some software security vulnerabilities, which are on the rise across all categories for most developers. Microsoft isn’t the problem; on the hand are the criminals and the other hand end-user ignorance, whether in the home or office.
Microsoft: No plans to release public Vista app-compat checklist
If you were wondering when Microsoft plans to publish an official list of applications that don’t work well with Windows Vista, the answer is never. When Microsoft released Windows XP Service Pack 2, the company subsequently published a list of applications that didn’t work properly (or at all) with the SP2 update. But with Windows Vista, Microsoft has decided not to issue a public list. Instead, the company is advising both business and home users with compatibility concerns to get a copy of the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), which includes technology that will allow users to log compatibility problems and cross-check (privately, with Microsoft and other customers) compatibility results for selected applications.
Until this month, Microsoft officials had been noncommittal when asked about plans for publishing a full Vista app-compat list, like they did with Windows XP SP 2. But just over a week ago, when I asked Brad Goldberg, Microsoft’s general manager for Windows client product management, about Microsoft’s plans to make such a list public, I got a more definitive answer. “We have no plan for publishing a (Vista compatibility) list,” Goldberg said. “Instead, we are trying to do things differently than we did with XP SP2, such as releasing the ACT earlier.”
Hackers Selling Vista Zero-Day Exploit
Underground hackers are hawking zero-day exploits for Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system at $50,000 a pop, according to computer security researchers at Trend Micro. The Windows Vista exploit—which has not been independently verified—was just one of many zero-days available for sale at an auction-style marketplace infiltrated by the Tokyo-based anti-virus vendor. In an interview with eWEEK, Trend Micro’s chief technology officer, Raimund Genes, said prices for exploits for unpatched code execution flaws are in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, depending on the popularity of the software and the reliability of the attack code. Bots and Trojan downloaders that typically hijack Windows machines for use in spam-spewing botnets were being sold for about $5,000, Genes said.
The Trend Micro discovery highlights the true financial value of software vulnerability information and serves as further confirmation that a lucrative underground market exists for exploit code targeting unpatched flaws. Back in December 2005, researchers at Kaspersky Lab in Moscow found evidence that the exploit code used in the
WMF (Windows Metafile) attack was being
peddled by Russian hacker groups for $4,000. However, according to Genes, the typical price of a destructive exploit has increased dramatically, driving an underground market that could exceed the value of the legitimate security software business. “I think the malware industry is making more money than the anti-malware industry,” Genes said.
Microsoft to kick off 2007 with 8 security patches
Microsoft said Thursday that it will begin 2007’s security update season with a bang by releasing eight bulletins next week to patch problems in Windows, Office, and Visual Studio. In the advance notification posted Thursday, Microsoft announced it would issue three updates for Windows, three for its Office productivity suite, one that affects both Windows and Office, and another that impacts both Windows and the Visual Studio development platform.
At least two of the updates will be labeled “critical,” Microsoft’s highest warning. As is its practice, Microsoft did not disclose details of the updates, but only offered clues about what it plans to fix. Some hints, however, can be gleaned from third-party security vendors that track zero-day, or unpatched, vulnerabilities. According to eEye Digital Security’s Zero-Day Tracker, three bugs in Microsoft Word and one in PowerPoint remain unpatched, while two more in Windows and another in Internet Explorer need fixing. One of the Windows zero-days was acknowledged by Microsoft only on Dec. 22, and affects all supported editions of Windows, including the not-yet-released-to-retail Windows Vista.
It’s possible that a fix for this MessageBox bug may be among the updates released Jan. 9. A rival list of missing patches kept by the SANS Institute’s Internet Storm Center organization shows 10 Microsoft bugs outstanding. The updates will be available for manual download from the Microsoft Web site Tuesday at about 10 a.m. PDT. As usual, automatic updates to users’ computers will begin shortly after that.
Vista and Office: The WOW Starts Now!
It’s official! The consumer release of Windows Vista and Office 2007 will be celebrated in New York on January 29 at a launch event the software giant has dubbed “The WOW starts now.” The invitation to “The “WOW starts now” event includes a note signed by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, in which he says that, “on January 29th, Microsoft will celebrate the launch of two amazing products that represent the culmination of a tremendous team effort.” Attendees will be treated to a celebratory lunch at Manhattan’s famous Cipriani restaurant, followed by the actual launch event at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square later in the day.
Gates goes on to say that millions of people–Microsoft employees, developers, customers, bloggers, families, media, the entire industry–”have come together like never before and added their own individual imprints to help make Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office system the most tested products in Microsoft history.” Microsoft’s goal with Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office system is to make people’s digital lives easier, more entertaining, better connected, as well as safer and more reliable, he said. “Our celebration is dedicated to the millions of people who helped transform the operating system into a rich experience that’s more exciting and more powerful than ever before. Because of the immense personal contributions of so many, we hope you will help us celebrate a new digital lifestyle and a new era in personal computing,” he concludes.
The consumer launch of the products follows their business release last November, an event company CEO Steve Ballmer said was the “biggest launch we’ve ever done.” But analysts have cautioned that getting the company’s large installed base to upgrade to the latest wave of products is one of the biggest challenges facing Microsoft in 2007.
Vista: What will you say when you see it?
It’s not surprising Microsoft will be
touting Windows Vista at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. But the slogan the company has chosen to tout its new version of Windows may catch some off-guard. There will be an entire Vista pavillion (a fancy tent) outside the main convention center, dedicated to showing off Vista and new Vista machines. Additionally. according to a couple of sources, Microsoft is using as a key component of its Vista marketing material the phrase: “WOW!” “When you see it, you’ll say it.”
Supposedly, we’ll all see a lot of that message over the next week on banners all over Vegas. (I asked a Microsoft Vista spokesperson for confirmation. No word yet.) I’ve never been a huge fan of Microsoft’s advertising. It always seemed either too techie and complicated to reach the masses, or too plain-vanilla and uninspired to me. But the whole Wow thing leaves me … wow-less. While it’s true Vista does have that shiny Aero interface, to me, the real value-add is the under-the-covers stuff, like new diagnostic tools, improved encryption, clearer error messages, more than gadgets and transparent windowing effects. What would have made a better Vista slogan? Maybe something emphasizing the improved security might have made more sense. Or whatever happened to
Vista’s three C’s (clear, confident and connected)?
Windows Defender Beta 2 Expiration Irks Users
The beta version of Microsoft’s free anti-spyware software expired Sunday, leaving Windows 2000 users out in the cold and some Windows XP owners confused by cryptic error messages. Windows Defender, the Redmond, Wash., developer’s free-of-charge anti-spyware program for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, went final in late October. However, the last beta — dubbed Beta 2 — continued to work on systems, including PCs running Windows 2000, until Dec. 31, 2006. Although Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 users can upgrade to the final program by downloading it from the Microsoft Web site, Windows 2000 users are out of luck, Microsoft said. “Windows Defender no longer supports Windows 2000 as [Windows 2000] went out of mainstream support in June 2005,” the download site stated. The company had announced the end of support for Windows 2000 when it released the final two months ago.
Even so, many Windows 2000 users were either caught unaware or expressed dismay at the software’s expiration. “For them to take away windows defender just like that is bad business i got a bad taste in my mouth from microsoft,” wrote someone identified as “vincentvinyyc” on a
Microsoft-hosted newsgroup. Numerous Windows XP users, meanwhile, also reported problems with Defender Beta 2 expiration. Several users posted comments describing enigmatic error messages they started seeing as of Jan. 1, while others were unable to install the final even after uninstalling the beta. The solution for the former is to upgrade to the final edition; the latter problem can be solved by running a program called Windows Installer Cleanup Utility, which can be downloaded from the
Microsoft support site. Windows Defender — which launched as Windows AntiSpyware two years ago after Microsoft acquired New York-based Giant Company Software in 2004 — has also been integrated with Windows Vista, the new OS that hits retail later this month.
Taking aim at Vista’s security
Bloggers, at least those sneaking away to their computers on Christmas weekend, are having fun with an article focusing on potentially serious security flaws in Microsoft’s Windows Vista.
The article, which ran in The New York Times, focuses on a flaw first discovered by a Russian programmer in mid-December. That programmer’s posting got a bit of attention at the time. But on Friday, Microsoft actually acknowledged that it is “closely monitoring” the vulnerability. Such an acknowledgment raises the profile of the flaw, which apparently makes it possible to increase a person’s privileges on all of the company’s recent operating systems, including Vista.
Some bloggers are positing the typical Microsoft-never-does-anything-right opinion. Others are saying that even Microsoft deserves a break when it comes to creating a new operating system.
Now Is Not the Time for Vista
"With nearly a month of Vista availability behind us, businesses don't seem to be in any rush to take the leap. An article on ITworld cites two significant
reasons for the foot-dragging. First, Microsoft's case-by-case approach to Vista patches, which is leaving some problems unpatched until after the consumer release in January.
Second, application (in)compatibility. From the article: "Some of the applications that still aren't compatible with Vista include IBM Corp.'s Lotus Notes e-mail and collaboration suite; Cisco Systems Inc.'s and Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.'s VPN clients; Intuit Corp.'s accounting software QuickBooks 2006 and earlier versions; and anti-virus (AV) software from Trend Micro Inc.'"