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Microsoft went live with the public release of Windows 7 Beta on January 9, 2009, just to discontinue downloads by the end of the very same day, citing server overload due to the high volume of traffic and the need to beef up its infrastructure. However, fact is that, while all the official sources of Windows 7 Beta have stopped offering the operating system, the bits continue to be available via direct download links. In this context, Windows 7 Beta is available for download right here on Softpedia, both the 32-bit version 7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULFRE_EN_DVD, and the 64-bit flavor 7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULXFRE_EN_DVD.
Initially, the company planned to deliver Win 7 Beta to up to 2.5 million users starting January 9. Windows 7 Server (Windows Server 2008 R2) was indeed released to the general public ahead of the weekend, with the public Beta program of the server edition of Win 7 offering a smooth experience. Not the same could be said about Windows 7 client Beta, with Microsoft.com servers incapable of dealing with the huge traffic numbers, a scenario which prompted the Redmond company to announce that the availability of the public Beta was postponed.
With the software giant flexing its server muscles and rebuilding the Microsoft.com infrastructure dedicated to Windows 7 Beta, users have been left in the dark as to when the bits of the operating system will be made available again. At the same time, Microsoft has failed to disclose the exact volume of traffic that left the Windows 7 hotspots on Microsoft.com and TechNet useless throughout January 9. Fact is that there have been no reports of successful downloads of Windows 7 Beta from any official Microsoft sources, or of the product keys for the operating system, for that matter.
“When we update you - we want to make sure the entire process is online and working. Unfortunately, we’re not at that point yet, and some things (like getting product keys) may or may not work, or may work sometimes and not other times,” Brandon LeBlanc, Windows communications manager on the Windows Client Communications Team, revealed. “I have no ETA on when everything will be online at Windows.com for you to start downloading and accessing product keys, but I can assure you when we have another update I will be posting it. We are fully committed to keeping you updated, which is why we made this post earlier today. When we have more to add, we will do so. I apologize for the delay and it is great to see so many people excited to test out Windows 7.”
Downloading Windows 7 Beta
On January 09, 2009, at 8:38PM, LeBlanc stated that “As far as I know, it’s still Jan. 9th here in Redmond and I didn’t give out a specific time here in my blog posts on when we’d go live with the Windows 7 Beta,” in response to users who were reporting not being able to access the Beta.
However, Windows 7 Beta was and still is, in fact, available for download. The direct download links were initially published by Tweakers, and remained live at the time this article was written, despite Microsoft officially shutting down downloads of Windows 7 Beta. All you have to do in order to grab the Beta bits, is to navigate to this page on Softpedia, hit the Download button, and then choose between the x86 or x64 versions of the platform. As you will be able to see, both of the links belong to Microsoft.com.
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