Microsoft has announced that it offer 2.5 million downloadable copies of Windows 7 beta for free! But as always there are couple of catches tagged with the “FREE” keyword 
Catch 1
The beta will expire on August 1st 2009. Wow! So generous of you Mr. Blatter. Take a bow!
Catch 2
The Beta version being released is the upgrade version, so it can only be installed on top of Vista.
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.
In case you don’t mind the 2 catches above and you do not know what Torrents and peer-to-peer systems are, then take a note that download is available from January 9th HERE. Watch out before hitting the link though: if you’ve not got the latest version of Silverlight installed, it can (and it will) cause browsers to crash.
Raju PP is the founder-editor of Technically Personal, which is one of the most widely read technology blogs on the web. He holds an Engineering degree in Electronics & Communication, and has previously worked as a Technical Specialist in Banking Software domain.
Lol… pwned. I’m posting this message from Windows 7 beta. I already got the copy.
and I know how you got the copy !
Even I got the copy…
!
Ever heard o Rapidshare
On a serious note, there is lot of risk involved in downloading software from warez than from Manufacturer site directly. Especially when the software is an OS, risks involved will be much more.
This is sooo cool !!!
Um… I will not be trying the beta. Just recently they mentioned some problems with corruption of mp3 files.
And with Microsoft’s less than stellar record, I don’t want to be their guinea pig… Remember the recent Zune fiasco? Did you forget about Vista and all of those problems?
Just to be fair from microsoft’s perspective, Windows 7’s Minimum Requirements are much lesser than what it was for Vista. That is why I believe Windows 7 to be an improved/fixed version of Vista and I predict it gonna be a huge hit. Ofcourse I won’t dare to beta test any MS product
Haha i love torrents, ive been using the beta for a while now, and i must say its very nice
ive got a question… if i put this over my vista and then it expires in august will my vista come bak or i gotta re-install?
A very thoughtful question Tomer. I am trying to get the official answer but personally I think it is not possible to downgrade to Vista. That really sucks.
@Tomer
he Beta will stop working on August 1, 2009. To continue using your PC, please be prepared to reinstall a prior version of Windows or a subsequent release of Windows 7 before the expiration date. You won’t be able to upgrade from the Beta to the final retail version of Windows 7.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-installation-instructions.aspx
I am on Windows 7 Beta as well, and it is almost in too good of a condition to be a beta, as it leaves very little to be altered for the final product to be functional. There are a couple of issues, such as Daemon Tools not working properly, that will probably be worked through in a short period of time. It is hard to see this release as a beta, as opposed to the version that will be released to the public.
@Armen,
Its hard to believe that beta is close to stable version, I haven’t tried it personally, so I can’t comment much
In your post it says that the Beta is only an upgrade version from Vista – just to let you know that it works fine as a clean install
I just meant while upgrading, you must be having Vista and not other OS like XP, 2000, ME etc. May be I should have framed my sentences better
very good
i would like to have windows 7 beta copy.to try it.
I have been using Windows xp, but when windows 7 ultimate beta was offered I decided to give it a try, did a clean install, and it worked great, just do not install zonealarm on windows 7 they do not agree and will mess the system up