Windows 7 RCs Shut Down To Force Updates

nk497 writes "The release candidate for Microsoft Windows 7 will expire June 2010, and the software giant will let users know they need to pay to upgrade by shutting down the system every two hours for three months. According to Microsoft: "The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you'll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You'll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use.""

Comments

Crackfix please

[Spazztastic]

How long until someone crackfixes this? TIA.

Re:Crackfix please

[Anonymous Coward]

Who wants to use the RC version of Windows 7 forever? The RTM version will be released and cracked long before March 2010.

Re:Crackfix please

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Providing a (free as in beer) RC version that works, uncrippled, until mid 2010, would drive down sales.

Hence the crippling.

Re:Crackfix please

[MrAngryForNoReason]

Why would people hate Microsoft for making available a free release candidate of their new OS that can be used with no restriction for the next 11 months?

At that point users of the release candidate can either pay for a license or reinstall their old OS.

This isn't some nefarious move by Microsoft it is just the end of the evaluation period of the release candidate.

Re:Crackfix please

[InsertWittyNameHere]

It's not "free as in beer." It's "free as in drugs" as in "the first hit is always free."

Re:Crackfix please

[Cowmonaut]

It's an RC. If you were fool enough to install Windows 7 and use it at a production level then you get what is coming. If you installed it at home and you only had one box you should of known from the start that something like this would happen. People who think like your comment suggests are a big problem in today's society. It represents yet again that some people want things to be provided to them for free exactly how they want it and damn anyone who does otherwise.

Re:Crackfix please

[Dog-Cow]

Piracy is nothing more than selfish humans leeching other people's work and not wanting to lose the free ride.

Modern copyright law is nothing more than selfish and greedy middlemen not wanting to lose their free ride.

Re:Crackfix please

[jonnythan]

Well, the RC1 does work, fully uncrippled, until March of 2010.

Geez. Microsoft releases a release candidate of their next major OS and lets everyone on earth use it for free for 10 months..... and people still complain because it begins to nag the user after 10 months.

Only on Slashdot.

Re:Crackfix please

[Red Flayer]

"Pushers" looking to get you hooked are a fabrication by the drug warriors

Yes and no.

Free, or discount-rate, samples are a useful marketing tool for drug dealers as well as other "legitimate" businesses. Since so many of the drugs in question are addictive, there is an element of truth to pushers 'getting people hooked'.

It's not a myth created by the "drug warriors".

Not all drug dealers fit into this stereotype, but some definitely do. It's a business; identifying your potential markets, increasing the size of those markets, and increasing your penetration into those markets are all things done by successful dealers, although they may not refer to them in those terms. Another important strategy is steering customers to your highest-margin products; this is even better when they are adding those products on top of existing products, instead of replacing the other products. "Pushing" drugs and offering free samples are a great way to do all of these things.

If you haven't personally experienced these things, well, that's probably a measure of your exposure. Or it's a measure of how mature the market is where you are; a mature market doesn't require as much development.

Re:Crackfix please

[BrokenHalo]

then you get married, and it becomes "not at any price except for purposes of procreation...
...Or so I've heard.

Well, there is another side to that story: my wife and I are in our mid 40s. She was on the pill for most of the 25 years we have been together, and our sex life declined along the lines of the jar-of-beans statistic commonly mentioned.

Since my wife stopped taking the pill (I guess gambling that if an unwanted pregnancy were to happen, there have already been multiple opportunities for such a mishap), the boot is now on the other foot (so to speak), the rampant horny hormones have taken hold, and I'm now the one who has to struggle to keep up.

You young 'uns might think there are worse ways to go than being balled to death, but there are times when I am more then happy just to sit in an armchair reading a novel, thank you very much.

Re:Crackfix please

[bill_kress]

Not disagreeing with you at all--but do you recognize that you are putting crack dealers on the same level as wineries? Many addictive drug dealers have used these techniques for years--The creators of cigarettes, wine and beer have often given their drugs away to try to create new addicts--in fact if I'm not mistaken, cigarettes were given to the military as part of rations WWII (and WWI?).

Makes you think--I mean the cigarette manufactures are more aggressive in that way than dealers of every other drug (possibly even including alcohol) combined and they have killed many more people and cost society much more...

I don't know where I'm going with this, but there is a point to be made there somewhere.

You're Surprised at No Take Backs?

[eldavojohn]

First off, might I applaud Davey Winder for his even handed non-biased journalism:

Has Microsoft gone mental?

What is totally mental, and I mean running around the supermarket without your pants on shouting "where is the mustard" mad ...

Here is what Mental Microsoft has to say on the matter

I get it, you learned a new word: mental. Please, try to use it in moderation and only when discussing things with your too cool for school third grade friends.

Really, you sound surprised. Didn't they warn us about this anyway? That's why the general populace was not supposed to install this. For savvy users with their old image on a backup drive it's a minor inconvenience.

Can one automagically revert to the legal Windows (if any) they had installed before they installed Windows 7? Of course not, this would make sense. And provide an easy way out of migration. For those who need an ill formed & flawed car analogy: It is like taking a new car for a test drive only to return to the dealership to discover that your old car has been crushed into a cube.

Re:You're Surprised at No Take Backs?

[MrAngryForNoReason]

For those who need an ill formed & flawed car analogy: It is like taking a new car for a test drive only to return to the dealership to discover that your old car has been crushed into a cube.

It is clearly stated on the site where the Release Candidate is downloaded from that it is not recommended to install on your main machine as it will be necessary to reinstall a different OS at the end of the evaluation period. It is intended to be used on a testing machine, or by people who don't mind reinstalling after March next year.

It amazes me that Microsoft give away a trial version of their new OS for anyone to try out for almost a year and there are so many people whose response is negative. If you don't want to have to reinstall next year then don't use it. Or wait for the retail release and buy a copy.

If I gave you a house on a rent-free 12 month lease would you piss and whine about how inconvenient moving out would be?

Is this really new?

[Schnoogs]

Did everyone think MS was giving away a free OS??? I've come across people in other forums literally cussing out MS as if this is some dirty trick.

Never underestimate the stupidity of some people. Like they think you have two options with Windows 7...either download the free version or go the store and buy the version that costs $100.

Morons.

Who cares?

[Aliencow]

Why is this being posted over and over on very tech site?

Who cares?
You're installing a beta or a release candidate. Do you expect it to be supported forever?

And are we really surprised Microsoft put in just a tiny bit of protection to prevent the average joe from continuing to use Windows 7 RC forever?

This is a good thing

[amaiman]

I'm not sure why people keep bringing up this issue. It's a release candidate being released for evaluation of software that isn't free. If they didn't disable it after a certain date, people would continue to use it indefinitely, and then would expect support as well. By forcing people to upgrade to the release version, it ensures they're not using an old, buggy release candidate. (Whether the final release will be better remains to be seen, of course, this is a Microsoft product, after all :-)

Everyone is given fair warning about this before installing the RC (which shouldn't really be on production systems anyway). If you don't like what you see, then stop using it, otherwise upgrade to the release version when it comes out.

A method to upgrade to release without having to completely reinstall would be nice, but they've never done that in the past and I wouldn't expect to see it done this time, either.

Re:Better yet:

[Kaboom13]

Wait, so the OS initiating a shutdown (one of the OS's functions) after it passes a clearly defined date, in accordance with the licensing terms you agreed to on an OS you are getting for free to use for testing purposes is illegal? MS has been perfectly clear from the start what this release is for. They would be fully within their rights to have the os stop functioning completely after the date. The only way they would be responsible for damages is if it intentionally damaged the hardware in some way. Heck, if it accidentally destroys the hardware, they are still in the clear because they made it perfectly clear this was a no guarantees testing purposes build.

This is the ultimate non-story that makes the community look bad because it's pointless anti-ms rabble rousing instead of actual legitimate criticism.