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Windows 7 RC Rush Crashes MSDN, TechNet Pages
CWmike writes "Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) and TechNet paid subscribers were supposed to find the 32- and 64-bit editions of Windows 7 RC available for download today. But in a snafu reminiscent of the problems Microsoft had in January when it tried to launch Windows 7 Beta, the download pages for the release candidate were inaccessible, despite numerous attempts over an hour-long span up until about noon Eastern. TechNet and MSDN subscribers were not happy. 'Man, this stinks,' said a user identified as Lyle Pratt, on a TechNet message forum at 10 a.m. ET. 'I can't believe we can still bring MSDN to its knees!' said John Butler, a Microsoft partner. 'Surely, they should be able to deal with this? Not a good advert for Microsoft.' The Windows 7 RC is slated to be available for public download next Tuesday, May 5. Meanwhile, Microsoft said today that the RC would operate until June 2010, for 13 months of free use — a significantly longer time than it did with Vista's previews."
Torrent links anyone?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Microsoft releases Vista/2008 SP2 AND Windows 7 RC AND Windows 2008 R2 RC AND Virtual PC RC AND the Windows 7 SDK on the same day and they don't expect to have bandwidth problems?
Geez, what were they thinking? SP2 should have come out on RTM day, that would at least cut a few hundred mb downloads out of the picture.
I'm a PC... Windows with no boundaries... er.. well...um...
Buncha consumerist lemmings :)
Consider this, you download and install the Win 7 RC OS, and you like it. So you keep it on your computer cuz hey its free, for now. 2010 comes around, windows 7 is officially launched, you boot up your computer and ... nothing. Now you have to pay $200 (or 300 or 400). Oops, probably should have kept XP around eh?
Because it's what 80% of the world will be running in about a year?
If there is so much interest for the RC then it seems that Windows 7 will be VERY successful!
Because it's what 80% of the world will be running in about a year?
Not if it doesn't sell better than Vista didn't.
No joke. They should have provided a torrent. This type of distribution is what bittorrent excels at. It would have provided everyone with a better experience and saved MS some bandwidth.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
'Man, this stinks,' said a user identified as Lyle Pratt
could this report pretend to be more professionally written?
Slashdot - I went there to fix their grammar that they're so bad at.
East Coast developer tries to download the ISO during his lunch break. It ain't gonna happen.
Seems Microsoft might be trying to make the best of a bad situation when it comes to people pirating their software, but turning them into beta testers. Sure you have to give them something for free but in the end you'll get a whole lot of people who would just pirate your software anyway doing a whole lot of free QA for you. Pretty smart move if you ask me.
Funnily enough I didn't hear anything about Microsoft pursuing the Pirate Bay for hosting the torrent of their latest builds, which seems to support this theory. Anyone seen anything?
The Refined Geek - Technology, Finance, Space and everything in between
Nobody can blame them for not offering a torrent though. Thanks to MPAA/RIAA and various ISPs, P2P, especially torrent is an issue for large companies.
Steam uses torrents.
Most large companies do not use torrents because they are a little complex for most users - the equivilent is that they use a CDN to distribute the content across many servers, served locally to the user (I know it's not exactly the same but it has a similar effect of distributing load). I wonder if Microsoft was using a CDN or trying to host everything locally.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Anyone surprised Microsoft screwed this one up? Seeing as Vista was a total flop they are rushing to get the new version out there.
Looks like this story was right!
Except my computer hasn't started to freeze and jitter. What's up with that?
The one the internets seemed to distribute (probably via Sweden) for a week now?
MS is doing it wrong.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
They must be drinking their own cool-aid...running their MSDN/TechNet servers on Windows7 RC1...
"My immediate reaction is "WTF? What kind of moron doesn't make things 64-bit safe to begin with?" Linus
Which part of "insert credit card to continue" is confusing you?
No sig today...
Apple could embed libtorrent and use its functionality (just like rtorrent) in Software Update which is a dedicated GUI application.
True, since Steam also has basically an embedded torrent client... I think another possible reason might be they don't want the possibility of anyone injecting anything into the torrent. A CDN keeps things simple from their end and locks things down a little more.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
probably the fact that microsoft has said that you can't switch directly from the RC to the full version, same as you can't go directly from the beta to the RC.
Forget everything, can you believe the lemmings download it from Pirate sites? An operating system? Give me an NSA SE Linux ISO and I can modify it (with my low knowledge) the best trojan, spying, listening, watching OS ever. You got the OS install image to modify, can it get easier? :)
Even the highest of highest end antiviruses which can still sell for money gives no guarantee if they are installed to an already trojaned/wormed/rootkit infected system. That is why they always want to do a complete low level (with their own io drivers and zero cache), long scan when they get installed.
Well, when downloading Linux or other FOSS stuff you can check the md5 against the "official" md5 on the project site.
installed it a few days ago.
quite nice.
They're using their grammar skills there.
But that was the point of Vista: to make whatever came next look revolutionary.
Forget everything, can you believe the lemmings download it from Pirate sites? An operating system?
I downloaded a copy of Vista 64 from a demonoid.com torrent. Already had a legit key from MSDNAA, just didn't have a copy of the x64 version. Microsoft puts the SHA1 sum for the ISO file on their MSDN site, so you can verify that it's an untampered copy. A bit like that cheesy scene (one of many) from the movie Swordfish, where Travolta barks to one of his cronies "Verify this!" and, after a pause, the computer dude says "Verified!". Fuck, that movie was fucking awful.
Or are you suggesting that you can slip in a trojan and still get the SHA1 sum to match, using some collision that nobody else knows about?
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/default.aspx?PV=36:350:DVD:en:x64
SHA1: FC867FE1AB2E0A9796F9E4D155B44EA6998F4874
Yoyoyo!
Actually you can
Microsoft even tell you how! (last bit)
Copy of this i downloaded off usenet 6 days ago matches that hash ;)
Wow. Microsoft really pwned everyone with this!
Doesn't everyone realize that Microsoft *faked* this crash as a publicity stunt?
Seriously. Who would download Windows 7? And, of those people, who would download it *legally*???
Are you kidding? Microsoft's paying *customers* have been their beta testers for years. It's a great business model, your beta testers pay YOU to find bugs...and sometimes if you feel like it you might even fix them.
Microsoft may know how to make software (hic), but they have demonstrated time and again that they do not know how to operate online services. Keep that in mind when they try and sell their cloud platform, Azure.
Hah. You'd think they could have found a better quote that "Man, this stinks". I had just been trying to get to the MSDN downloads sections off and on at work for two hours.
Yet, Vista's market share is still growing. GNU/Linux? Comatose, like always.
Good God, the Microsoft astroturfers are out in force today, aren't they?
And if someone has hacked the site to provide malicious .ISO files, you would think they'd replace the MD5 hashes as well.
Thanks for the correction, it was WOW I was thinking of and not steam. Got them mixed up as I don't really use either myself...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maybe they need to upgrade their web servers?
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Yep. My good buddy YEnc Power Poster seems to have uploaded the right file.
> from MSDNAA
Goodness gracious, I sat here for about 5 minutes re-reading your comment
and thinking "sick fucker" until I got it.
I need to get off the internets for a while.
No, what the GP said is true.
You just have to look at the reason why: it's pre-installed on new computers from the major brands (Dell, HP, etc...) by default.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
If there is so much interest for the RC then it seems that Windows 7 will be VERY successful!
Windows 7 can already claim a 0.21% share of the desktop or about 1/5 that of Linux, all flavors. Operating System Market Share
Just a tad embarrassing for the geek should the RC overtake Linux over the next thirteen months.
I would like to see an XP VM in all OEM consumer versions of 64 bit Win 7.
That kind of double whammy - have your cake and eat it too - in the home and SOHO markets would be very tough to beat.
Development models don't interest users. Programs interest users.
The Mac-app can have a distinctive identity.
iWorks. iEverything-Else.
The Linux app is The GIMP, "the next best thing" for the guy who can't afford Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro and it has already been ported to Windows.
Windows is the software mega-mall and that counts for more than apt-get.
Windows Server just cannot handle the load.....
Now I know that the .iso I downloaded a week ago is the exact copy offered straight from MS. Just didn't have to wait.
fc867fe1ab2e0a9796f9e4d155b44ea6998f4874
7100.0.090421-1700_x64fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culxfrer_en_dvd.iso
Surely, they should be able to deal with this? Not a good advert for Microsoft
Or you could say that it's actually an excellent advert, because now MS can say that so many people suddenly wanted to download it.
are you suggesting that you can slip in a trojan and still get the SHA1 sum to match
It is called the Birthday Attack.
The MDSN users are clearly to blame here. They are probably using Vista and IE8. They should be using a Mac and Safari.
As did I. Someone at MS is being nice, anyway.
Which part of "insert credit card to continue" is confusing you?
The "insert" part.
Just for verifying that the ISO download with BitTorrent is the real deal, would somebody please share the MD5 hash of the ISO downloaded from MSDN, TechNet?
w00t
Well AC, this comment chain was about third party sites hosting modified ISOs claiming them to be legit. Not sites being totally hijacked.
Hah! Hah!!
Try Wubi.exe'
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Got it from a torrent this morning and now it's up and running in a qemu VM (That's as close as I let Microsoft's bug ladden bloatware get to my hardware). Host OS is a customized CentOS 5.3 installation. Customizations include running a 2.6.28.7 kernel, kvm-84, qemu-0.9.1 and SDL-1.2.13 (and you need gcc 3.x to compile SDL). I'll bump to 2.6.30 if/when I can get HAL working with it.
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
You Sir, are an Anonymous Coward.
Did you even read the wiki article you linked to? How exactly does the birthday attack help you generate a differing image with an identical SHA1 sum to that of the original?
Good thing im downloading the torrent at pretty fast speeds, peer to peer wins again!
Windows 7 RC Crashes MSDN, Some Pratt Complains.
"Microsoft now unable to GIVE Windows away" jokes aside, it's kind of sad that a self-proclaimed super-successful IT company is still so far out of touch that they couldn't predict this. It's not as if they couldn't afford all manner of solutions well in advance.
So where IS the torrent with that exact hash?
I knew these "card readers" on my laptop had a second use after all...
Can I put a spell on those who can't spell?
Your wheels are loose and they're losing their grip, good you're there.
If you look closely at Vista and Windows 7, you'll notice that there are very few "new features" in Windows 7, just a polish and brush up of many features that were already in Vista.
Most of the backend, like the WIM images, the Windows PE based installer, the component based servicing, the SxS Store, security enhancements, GPO settings, etc. pp. were all already part of Vista.
This is not a bad thing, mind you. Windows Vista fixed most issues that Windows XP had (and still has) and finally modernized a lot of legacy crap that Microsoft has been carrying around.
Now, the Windows Vista launch had it's fair share of issues, and some of those were purely Microsoft's fault - but hardware- and software vendors were just as guilty - now, with Windows 7 there is much more activity from those vendors.
Vista will probably go down in history as Windows ME Mark II, but that doesn't change the fact that Vista was the first Windows released that fixed most of the issues that plagued XP.
Yes you can, but they strongly recommended against it. It tried it, and it worked on one out of three machines.
And the machine where it worked on, strange issues have cropped up.
So the recommendation to do a clean reinstall should be taken seriously.
http://www.mininova.org/tor/2521354
But there are more, obviously.
Of course, if this had happened during an RC release of a major Linux distro, the comments would be more along the lines of "zomgwtfbbq, Linux is so popular now the masses can't get hold of it fast enough" whereas since it's a Windows RC being released, people are taking the opportunity to flame like idiots instead.
Doesn't paint a very pretty picture of the FOSS community.
Quality, performance, value; you get only two, and you don't always get to pick.
I guess ASP.net and SQL server don't scale so well after all!
Come on, this is hacking201. You make the changes you want to make, then you replace a large unused file (a readme, etc.) or add a new one with whatever it takes to make the hash correct.
You either choose a file near the end of the ISO or you modify it to move the chosen file there. Then you calculate the hash *up to* that file. Using that as the starting point, you have a smaller binary to work with for generating your hash attack making it much quicker.
If MS put out torrents, it's virtually guaranteed they would be modified in a day. Not enough people would verify the hash on the MS site -- it's not good enough to check the hash on the 3rd party site. Of course that will match!
In all fairness, Apple's situation is different from Microsoft. Because they're dealing with much smaller numbers, it's harder for them to adequately predict demand. As someone who used to provide support for Macs, I'm generally very quick to climb all over Apple's back and scream bloody murder (they're far more draconian with developers and customers than Microsoft is), but I am not going to get all over their case about occasionally underestimating demand.
Microsoft on the other hand is dealing with larger numbers, so it's easier to predict demand when they do something, like release a beta for a much-anticipated update to their operating system.
No offense, but this is the RC, and Microsoft is rushing to get Windows 7 out of the door. Furthermore, they have a strong motive to not make any major changes to the OS between now and release after the driver fiasco with Windows Vista's release.
Microsoft is not using previewers as free QA. Any feedback users of Win7RC give will probably be ignored. It's not just Microsoft, it's most of the software industry: late-stage beta is no longer about finding bugs, it's about marketing. The sole purpose of all of this is to generate buzz, and it seems to be working quite well.
I was able to download from Technet without incident in the early afternoon (Pacific time). Just goes to show that the early bird doesn't always get the (file) :-)
Rob
The Windows/Office Activation servers are REALLY flakey this morning. Was not able to activate one copy of Office.
eOpen is most often eClosed
Sometimes for days or a week at a time.
And that's for people who've actually PAID for a license to a product and chosen that as the method of delivery.
So this really comes as no surprise.
"Oh drat, these computers, they're so naughty and so complex." Marvin the Martian
Easy answer, their site is hosted on IIS, rather than a stable open source webserver like apache ;-)
just to clarify, this file 7100.0.090421-1700_x64fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRC1CULXFRER_EN_DVD.iso definately generates the following hashes: CRC32: 58FB2BE0 MD5: 98341AF35655137966E382C4FEAA282D SHA-1: FC867FE1AB2E0A9796F9E4D155B44EA6998F4874 which are on the official ms page under the details for the iso