Windows 7 Will Be Free For a Year

Barence writes "Microsoft is effectively giving away Windows 7 free for a year with the launch of the Release Candidate. The Release Candidate is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, and will go on unlimited, general release on 5 May. The software will not expire until 1 June 2010, giving testers more than a year's free access to Windows 7. 'It's available to as many people who see fit to use it, although we wouldn't recommend it to just your average user,' John Curran, director of the Windows Client Group told PC Pro. 'We'd very strongly encourage anyone on the beta to move to the Release Candidate.'"

Comments

So close...

[cnvandev]

It's just one more step to open source! I'll start holding my breath now!

Re:So close...

[ionix5891]

i can only imagine what the inside of windows looks like

----------

if( ::isBalmers() == true ){

  throw ChairException();
}
else{

    System.Win32.bsod();
}

Re:So close...

[JustOK]

...waiting for blue face of death...

Re:So close...

[not already in use]

It amazes me what passes for funny around here.

Re:Good idea

[platypussrex]

Didn't your mom warn you about that? "They give you one for free, and then when they have you hooked....wham!"

At least a year

[sskagent]

Well it will take me at least a year to get all my drivers updated and installed, so this really doesn't help me.

Re:Offline Gaming machine

[Chrisq]

Your 4-year-old's account shouldn't have administrator access.

If you gave his account administrator access, neither should you.

Funny you should say that. A while ago I took my four year old daughter to a museum, and let her play with a touch-screen information terminal. In a couple of seconds she (somehow) had control panel up! It may take a thousand monkeys a million years to write Shakespeare, but it seems to take ten seconds for a four-year old to find any "backdoor access" or other options that should not be available.

Re:XP Free for a year?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I see what you did there. By implying it's not for everyone, you're hoping to get everyone to try it so that they feel a cut above the average user.

Well it works for Linux. Oh no, wait...

Re:Good idea

[Kell Bengal]

First they start you on 7, then Windows Server and Vista, and before you know it you have a full install of Windows ME.

You've got to love this

[FritzSolms]

Absolutely love this on today's BBC article on Windows 7. "We were able to shave 400 milliseconds off the shutdown time by slightly trimming the WAV file shutdown music. "It's indicative of really the level and detail and scrutiny on Windows 7."

Re:You've got to love this

[Shrike82]

You can mock it all you want. Those 400 milliseconds will add up, and after a few years you'll have saved enough time to make a cup of coffee, or chat to a co-worker about your plans for the weekend.

Man, that's something to look forward to...

Re:You've got to love this

[FritzSolms]

What I love is that this is the main if not only concrete enhancement listed in the BBC article.

Re:You've got to love this

[idontgno]

"We were able to shave 400 milliseconds off the shutdown time

BRILLIANT!

That will easily save me.... let's see... um... (google math)... 7.2 seconds in the coming year! YES! Time enough for sex!

Re:You've got to love this

[kseise]

Braggart. We don't like your kind around here. Next thing you will claim is that it is with a woman... some geek you are.

Re:You've got to love this

[sharkey]

He's probably not counting the time he sits on his hand to make it go numb first, so that he can do "The Stranger".

Re:Offline Gaming machine

[houghi]

Please ask her to document it. ;-)

Re:Good idea

[Gerzel]

ME if you're lucky. MS Bob if you're not.

Re:Fascinating

[Hadlock]

Well then I guess you should have kept all your files secretly backed up on your C, E and F drives along with terrestrial and orbital off site backups. I recommend two satellites orbiting on opposite sides of the earth, that way your data is less likely to be corrupted in the event of solar flares(!).

You know you failed...

[Hurricane78]

...when you give something away for free, and people don't want it anyway. ^^

(Ignore their obviously coming "OMFG! It sells like crazy!!1!one(lim x->0 ((sin x)/x))" messages. They did that with Vista too. And look how it turned out.)

Re:Good idea

[amoeba1911]

I heard MS Bob makes your teeth rot fall out, and makes disfiguring lesions on your face.

Re:Good idea

[Amouth]

lagging is in the sence of

click and wait oh shit there it is..

click desktop..

click and wait oh shit there it is..

it has nothing to do with the hdd as everything it needs is cached in memory.

it has everything to do with the shiny interface being poorly written.

Re:Offline Gaming machine

[adonoman]

First you say:

I see absolutely no problem

and then you say:

I ended up an engineer

Seems like a dire enough consequence to me.

Re:Good idea

[TheDauthi]

I was thinking it was a gateway bug

Re:Imagine this

[Mordok-DestroyerOfWo]

3d Exceleration.

I just died a little inside...

Re:Good idea

[Kbac]

Hi, My name is Kbac and... I have been... MS Bob free for... three weeks now.