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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 :)
Because it's what 80% of the world will be running in about a year?
Does your XP disc dissolve at some point in the next 13 months?
If you're smart enough to get the RC running, you know how to re-install XP.
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.
East Coast developer tries to download the ISO during his lunch break. It ain't gonna happen.
I thought most computers nowadays aren't even sold with a disc...they come with software to help you burn a backup disc of your own but the vast majority of people never even bother to do it.
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
If you're smart enough to get the RC running, you know how to re-install XP.
Also, if you're smart enough to get the RC running, you know how to get your data off a hard drive with a disabled OS.
Convert FLACs to a portable format with FlacSquisher
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
How is this a screw up on their part again? They release a preview of the next os and there is so much interest in it that they can't keep up with demand. That sounds like they did something right to get that kind of attention. Also Vista was released 2 years ago. I know it's fashionable to complain about MS but a 2 year cycle doesn't sound like rushing it out.
Which part of "insert credit card to continue" is confusing you?
No sig today...
(unless it's just a Microsoft trick to make people believe exactly that...)
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.
If you ignore the zillions of warning messages you get between now and next year, you deserve to have a disabled OS.
Which, by the way won't be disabled, you'll still be able to boot up to copy files.
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.
Or they simply lowered some of priorities in their servers? I mean, yes, Windows 7 has generated a lot of talk around but this is MSDN we talk about. Do you know how much some companies, developers pay for premium access to that system? Ask a Windows developer, you may be very surprised.
Well, when downloading Linux or other FOSS stuff you can check the md5 against the "official" md5 on the project site.
You can often count on MSFT to sell you a partial solution to a problem they sold you.
-=Maggie Leber=-
installed it a few days ago.
quite nice.
They're using their grammar skills there.
Yes. A "total flop" as you put it, with 36% of players on Steam using it. I guess 36% of players enjoy games with more crashes, less performance, more blue screens... am I missing anything here? You're probably better at this than I am. Give me some more baseless claims I can throw out there for good effect.
"When you see a unixer brainwashed beyond saving, kick him out of the door." - Xah Lee
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
Actually you can
Microsoft even tell you how! (last bit)
Copy of this i downloaded off usenet 6 days ago matches that hash ;)
Dell went through a phase of making you burn the CDs yourself (and my parents own a couple of dells from that era) but they seem to have gone back to shipping them now (and unlike some vendors it's a proper windows CD/DVD that they ship).
I think every other PC new PC i've seen came with some form of reinstall CD/DVDs. Sometimes it's only a "wipe everything and restore to factory stage" CD/DVD though :( (and one downgraded optiplex I ordered through uni for a project there only seemed to come with the vista CD not the XP CD, OTOH the downgraded vostro my brother bought more recently came with both CDs)
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
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.
Screwed up? Would YOU be commenting on it if everything went smoothly?
There is no such thing as bad press. Or, so Hollywood would have me believe, anyway.
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead." A. Huxley
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?
MSDN is only expensive for people who buy it straight from Microsoft's web site. Any company with volume licensing agreement or individuals going through a reseller can get it for like 900$/year for the premium edition (Team System are more expensive, but are actually cheaper, but a LOT, than the non-MS commercial alternatives...)
And that gives you a support contract and a bunch of other things. Really, its peanuts.
Anyway, point is, MSDN's private servers are arguably slower than the public ones a lot of the time. Thats not where most of the cost of the subscription goes. (If anyone, especially a company, buys a bunch of MSDN subscriptions for the downloads, they're doing it wrong)
What I find interesting on that page is the graph titled "directx 10 systems"
It shows that of the people who have DX10 capable GPUs only about half are using vista despite the fact that XP doesn't support DX10.
To me that says a lot of gamers are deliberately avoiding vista.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Maybe they need to upgrade their web servers?
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Oh, that's right, they sell anti-virus software now, don't they?
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
You could spin it that way, but that ignores the rest of the story. Many gamers will upgrade their video card before buying a new computer (with OS included).
"When you see a unixer brainwashed beyond saving, kick him out of the door." - Xah Lee
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.....
...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?
I'm pretty sure this is exactly what MS is counting on.
-I only code in BASIC.-
a geforce 8XXX serie is DX10 compatible, and its starting to be kindda outdated. I have one and it still runs most games very well, but a 7XXX serie would seriously be pushing it.
So it basically just means that all videocards that don't suck have DX10...doesn't give you much choice here, hmm?
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.
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.
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
You Sir, are an Anonymous Coward.
I'm pretty sure anyone installing the RC isn't expecting to be using it a year from now.
Of those who *like* this OS:
Those who are willing to buy an OS will buy it, those who are not will pirate it or go back to Linux.
Those who won't do either...don't even know what an RC is, much less MSDN, or technet and won't be using it.
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?
Imbecile. It's common (nay, EXPECTED) in the software industry to use one's own products. It's referred to as "eating your own dog food". Fuck off with the "cool-aid" shit.
Also, the servers would be running on a server class OS. Windows 2008 Server, unless Windows 2010 Server has gone RC recently (it hasn't) - Microsoft actually does tend to use RCs of their own products on their servers, as most software companies do. I assume Apple does the same thing, and it wouldn't surprise me if Canonical updated to RC versions of Ubuntu Server.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
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.
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.
Windows Server 2008 R2 (as the Windows 7 server equivalent is called) has RCd at the same time Windows 7 has.
(If anyone, especially a company, buys a bunch of MSDN subscriptions for the downloads, they're doing it wrong)
Actually they are doing it right - the MSDN subscription not only gives you access to the download, it gives you a perpetual license to use the download. One MSDN license per company does not give each developer a license to use the download for development - each developer needs their own MSDN subscription to get the license.
So, if a company buys a bunch of MSDN subscriptions for the downloads, they are most certainly doing it right.
Seeing as how there has been overwhelmingly more positive press than negative for Windows 7, could it be *gasp* that the issue is with your qemu emulator and samba PDC?
Lots of people. Millions, probably. This happens whenever there's a windows beta/rc.
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.
At the risk of ruining my karma, I agree completely with you. That post and the subsequent one are worthless, and the only reason I am replying here is because I wish /. worked better to naturally limit those comments through mods.
no comment
I guess ASP.net and SQL server don't scale so well after all!
WOW! You sure don't understand when someone is joking do you? How about you go fuck yourself with a chain saw?!?
"My immediate reaction is "WTF? What kind of moron doesn't make things 64-bit safe to begin with?" Linus
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.
No, they are doing it wrong, because for development purpose software, companies can get better deals for bulk purchases. MSDN subscriptions are a package deal with pseudo-software insurance, support contract and other benefits, which are far more valuable than the software themselves. Actually, if you're good at convincing Microsoft its in their best interest, they'll give you the stuff free.