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Infrared
Jan 9, 2009, 05:15 AM
Windows 7 is now supposedly available as a public beta. So I've been
searching for an official download link. I have found a technet plus link,
but you have to be a technet plus subscriber to use it. So my question
is: is the beta available more widely than that and is there another link?

Notes:

(a) I tried going here:
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/07/information-on-downloading-and-installing-windows-7-beta.aspx
I get "Server is too busy".

(b) I'm only interested in official links, not torrents and the like.

Thanks.


Stridder44
Jan 9, 2009, 05:29 AM
Windows 7 is now supposedly available as a public beta. So I've been
searching for an official download link. I have found a technet plus link,
but you have to be a technet plus subscriber to use it. So my question
is: is the beta available more widely than that and is there another link?

Notes:

(a) I tried going here:
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/07/information-on-downloading-and-installing-windows-7-beta.aspx
I get "Server is too busy".

(b) I'm only interested in official links, not torrents and the like.

Thanks.

Bump on this. I keep checking the official Windows 7 site on Microsoft.com but no links (yet?).
fluidedge
Jan 9, 2009, 05:36 AM
I'm hunting too.

I read on the MS website to come back on the afternoon of January 9th when the download will become available.
Infrared
Jan 9, 2009, 06:15 AM
I'm hunting too.

I read on the MS website to come back on the afternoon of January 9th when the download will become available.

Ah, OK. So would that be afternoon Seattle time (PST)?

In which case, it looks like GMT - 8, if I'm not mistaken.
fluidedge
Jan 9, 2009, 06:20 AM
yeh looks like it. I'll stop bashing my refresh button now and wait for tonight. It'll have to download overnight anyway.
dwright1974
Jan 9, 2009, 06:31 AM
yeh looks like it. I'll stop bashing my refresh button now and wait for tonight. It'll have to download overnight anyway.

Remember it's limited to the first 2.5million downloads though, so even though it sounds a lot, with lots of 'Server Too Busy' pages being displayed it may well get to that number quickly.

In short, keep bashing ;)

- D
fluidedge
Jan 9, 2009, 06:35 AM
wasn't the vista beta avaliable to 3m and remained open for a good 3 or 4 weeks.

I think i should be ok for 24 hours!
dwright1974
Jan 9, 2009, 06:36 AM
wasn't the vista beta avaliable to 3m and remained open for a good 3 or 4 weeks.

I think i should be ok for 24 hours!

Could be, but how many of those 3m are desperate to get rid of Vista :D

- D
OllyW
Jan 9, 2009, 06:48 AM
Remember it's limited to the first 2.5million downloads though, so even though it sounds a lot, with lots of 'Server Too Busy' pages being displayed it may well get to that number quickly.

In short, keep bashing ;)

- D

You have to register to receive a product key so I would imagine they will only be handing out 2.5 million keys. Even if you miss the official download, I'm sure it will be on the torrent sites, so as long as you have registered for a product key you will be ok.

In fact, the beta release is Build 7000 which is already available as a torrent.
edesignuk
Jan 9, 2009, 06:49 AM
(a) I tried going here:
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/07/information-on-downloading-and-installing-windows-7-beta.aspx
I get "Server is too busy".Google Cache (http://74.125.77.132/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwindowsteamblog.com%2Fblogs%2Fwindows7%2Farchive%2F2009%2F01%2F07%2Finformati on-on-downloading-and-installing-windows-7-beta.aspx&btnG=Google+Search&meta=lr%3D).

Still took ages to load, but it got there in the end.
fluidedge
Jan 9, 2009, 07:15 AM
You have to register to receive a product key so I would imagine they will only be handing out 2.5 million keys. Even if you miss the official download, I'm sure it will be on the torrent sites, so as long as you have registered for a product key you will be ok.

In fact, the beta release is Build 7000 which is already available as a torrent.

Do you really want to trust a torrent for something as critical as an operating system? Downloading an episode of Lost is one thing downloading an OS is another.
sammich
Jan 9, 2009, 07:36 AM
Do you really want to trust a torrent for something as critical as an operating system? Downloading an episode of Lost is one thing downloading an OS is another.

Data is data is data. Frankly I like how bittorrent hash checks every piece downloaded. But if you're referring to the quality of the data that is being shared, comments at most torrent sites will have comments.
Guiyon
Jan 9, 2009, 07:37 AM
Do you really want to trust a torrent for something as critical as an operating system? Downloading an episode of Lost is one thing downloading an OS is another.

As long as the hashes match you should be fine; I don't think anyone had come up with an efficient attack on SHA1 yet...

From the MSDN site, this info is freely available if you have a Windows Live account (all are SHA1 hashes):
Windows 7 x64: E09FDBC1CB3A92CF6CC872040FDAF65553AB62A5
Windows 7 x32: 6071184282B2156FF61CDC5260545C078CCA31EE
KB961367 - x64: 5228F60EDAE124203AC08CCED57539CA0EEB1113
KB961367 - x32: 5D89B057874F5D10A4C90EB2021F23EA9850DEB9