Partner Otaku

Just a reminder if you aren’t already aware.  On July 1, 2009, the Beta will start to reboot every 2 hours and expire August 1, 2009.  You need to move to the Release Candidate fast. 

The RC download program closes August 15th. After that, you won’t be able to get the download, but you can still install the RC and get a key if you need one. (To get a key, just go to the Downloads page and follow the instructions.)

If you’re using the Windows 7 Release Candidate, we hope you like what you see. Let us know — go to http://input.microsoft.com and tell us what you think. You’ll be able to give feedback on various aspects of the operating system.

I’ve installed Windows 7 Beta on both of my Lenovo T61P Notebooks and I’ve been extremely happy with it’s performance.  If you haven’t had a chance to download the beta I would heartily recommend doing so.  Of course all the usual waivers apply – backup your data etc.  The good news is that the time line to download the beta has been extended to February 10, 2009.  Here is more detailed info from the Windows Team Blog:

The shutdown of general availability for the Windows 7 Beta will occur in 3 phases over the course of the next few weeks:

• Starting January 27th, the Windows 7 page will be updated with a warning that time is running out on downloading the Windows 7 Beta and that we will be limiting downloads shortly. People will be encouraged to register and start the download of the Windows 7 Beta sooner rather than later.
• February 10th, new downloads of the Windows 7 Beta will no longer be available. People who have already started their Windows 7 Beta download and have not yet finished will still be able to finish their download and are encouraged to do so.
• February 12th, people will no longer be able to complete their download of the Windows 7 Beta. Anyone who hasn’t finished downloading the Windows 7 Beta will be unable to do so.

Product keys for the Windows 7 Beta will continue to be available. So if you have the Windows 7 Beta but didn’t get a product key you will be able to do so even after February 12th.

MSDN and TechNet Subscribers will continue to have access to the Windows 7 Beta bits throughout the Windows 7 Beta phase. The above dates do not apply to MSDN and TechNet Subscribers.

If you haven’t heard yet, IE 8 Beta 2 has been released and is available for download here and the release notes are located here.