Microsoft To Kill Windows 7 Beta Februrary 10th 216
mamaphoenix writes "Paul McDougall of InformationWeek reports Computer enthusiasts who want to get their hands on the trial version of Microsoft's next operating system have just two more weeks to do so.
The company says it will end availability of Windows 7 Beta on Feb. 10.
There are a couple of loopholes, however. Users who started to download the OS before that date will have until Feb. 12 to complete the process. Also, Microsoft will continue to distribute product keys beyond Feb. 12 to users who have previously downloaded Windows 7 Beta but have yet to obtain a key.
'We are at a point where we have more than enough beta testers and feedback coming in to meet our engineering needs, so we are beginning to plan the end of general availability for Windows 7 Beta,' said Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's in-house Windows blogger, in a post Friday.
Microsoft will post warnings on its Web site that the download program for Windows 7 is about to end starting Tuesday. A final version of Windows 7, Microsoft's follow-up to Windows Vista, is expected to be available in late 2009 or early 2010."
Re:Oops (Score:4, Insightful)
Last Call = Renewed Interest (Score:1, Insightful)
I guess the free press was starting to wind down so they needed to do something big to get people talking again.
Desktop Readiness (Score:5, Insightful)
It's quite clever having this hugely open beta; they get masses of free testing, but under the guise of "Well it's beta...of course [prod_name] doesn't work!".
It's users that whine the loudest when software breaks; so letting every-day users test their hardware/software with W7 is as much about getting the Joe Sixpacks' to whine at their software vendors early on...rather than just Microsoft applying pressure alone.
Rather clever I think; it should make for a stable RTM all round.
The world is their test site (Score:5, Insightful)
Why have Beta when you can charge people for the first two or three test versions?
Wow that's a misleading headline (Score:5, Insightful)
Shouldn't the word "distribution" be somewhere in there?
Re:Oops (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow. Has "KDE doesn't need users" been a Slashdot story yet? I know it's out of date, but really, that deserves some exposure...
artificial scarcity (Score:4, Insightful)
In economics, it's generally known that reduced supply creates more demand, simply by the fact that we are "wired" to believe that rare equals valuable. It's also generally known that you can artifically create scarcity, to boost demand. That's the theory behind all the "just this week" or "sale ends on 31st" or even "only as long as supply lasts" sales labels.
Just saying, you know.
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Given that Microsoft has had a massive PR success with Windows 7 beta, why not just let anyone and everyone download it?
A bigger BETA test is better for Microsoft. More people using the Windows 7 beta means that more more bugs will be reported, it will lead to more positive press about the product and that will probably translate to more sales.
So I'll ask the question: Why kill downloads of the beta?
What purpose does it serve other than disenfranchising people who are hearing about Windows 7 through their geek friends?
Re:Oops (Score:5, Insightful)
Thanks, Tanktalus. You will see that a lot of KDE devs responded to Harris's post with "we _do_ need users!" posts of their own. And Aaron Seigo's refusal to remove the "cashew" turned out to be the right move after all. However, I feel that there are roadblocks _everywhere_ in KDE now, especially in the usability department. The HIG is being broken all the time, in fact, the HIG specifically forbids MDI but Dolphin, Konqueror, Kopete, and many other applications have tabbed interfaces. The person responsible for the HIG takes no outside suggestions and when people have asked how they can help contribute to the HIG, she either does not respond or she insists that users cannot be involved in the development of the HIG. She says that it is a "conflict of interest".
I also have filed hundreds of bugs for KDE in the past few years, and only lately have I felt that my input is not appreciated nor wanted. Of course there are exceptions, such as Aaron from Plasma, Peter from Dolphin, and the entire Digikam team. But Kontact is near abandonment, when the Bug Team tried to organize a Kontact Bug Day they were not interested. There are outstanding issues in moving events in Korganizer from years past, and they just keep adding up to the point where I am afraid to move appointments now. Kmail has certainly improved, though.
Little by little I am bleeding off KDE. I have moved from Knowit to Basket, found Basket terrible, and have settled on the terrific Zim. Digikam is being replaced by F-Spot next month. Thunderbird has already replaced Kmail, and to be honest I always used Opera or Firefox instead of Konqueror for browsing. With the exception of the KDE desktop, I still use Kate (VIM could easily replace it) and Kontact (which due to abandonment from the devs may need to be replaced anyway). So instead of the unified desktop that KDE was supposed to be, I am right back with a hodge-podge of unrelated applications and frankly, Window 7 is starting to look rather good. I have no problem paying for the software if it does what I need, and vendor lock in is not an issue in Windows any more than in KDE. I don't _want_ to leave the secure environment that is Linux, but I want a complete package that does what I need. KDE seems to have no interest in providing that anymore.
Re:Oops (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Oops (Score:3, Insightful)
KDE has a released product that many people hate (KDE 4.x).
Give it a rest. KDE has released a product that many people absolutely love, but as is typical in the free software echo chamber, the haters get way more airtime. Feel free to hang out in the late 90s as long as you want (really, it's cool, I've got a closet full of red flannels too), but the rest of us are moving on.
Re:Oops (Score:3, Insightful)
So you call the people using the Google servers "not enough"? And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The good thing about Linux is,its diversity, which makes it very hard for virus developers, to find a generic "solution". Unfortunately, this is a bit true for all Linux development. (Except that you have real access to the system when you're doing normal software.)