Using Windows 7 RC? Pay Up Or Auto Shutdown Warned

CWmike writes with a warning that free preview copies of Windows 7 in the wild will start nagging users to pay up in a couple of weeks until ultimately shutting down the PC altogether in a month. "Microsoft unveiled the schedule for Windows 7 Release Candidate's retirement in May 2009, when it issued the early look to the public. At the time, it said Windows 7 RC would expire June 1, 2010. Before that date, however, users are to receive warnings of the impending end. Starting on Feb. 15, Windows 7 RC will display notices every few hours that the machine will periodically shut down beginning on March 1. As of March 1, PCs running Windows 7 RC will automatically shut down every two hours. Those shutdowns will come without warning."

Comments

Re:Without warning?

[Arthur Grumbine]

Ahh, lets attack the messenger instead of the message. Lets call anyone posting anything that can be construed as pro MS a paid shill and hound them out so that we can all revel in our circle jerk. Anything not conforming must go. No wonder many sane non-haters of MS have already left this place.

Dude, seriously? I was pointing out an observation that led to a suspicion that I felt would be good for the /. community to vet. Did you not catch the first sentence of my post where I mentioned that I was interested in the points he made.

I'm sorry, though, if you don't believe that knowing the potentially extreme bias of a messenger is useful for having productive discussion. I think of it kind of like if we were in a book club, discussing our favorite literature, and there was paid shills harping on the benefits of their publisher's books, while picking apart all flaws in their competitors books. Everything they say may be true, but it seems like there should be a kind of assumption of honesty\fairness amongst the participants of a discussion, without having to constantly suspect ulterior motives.

Re:Without warning?

[Arthur Grumbine]

What you are describing are not shills, but caricatures of shills. If I was to pay someone to astroturf on a site that rewards (usually) rational discussion, I would make sure to instruct them not to just troll, but to present rational, but one-sided, arguments to promote my product/service, while using satire/sarcasm/witticisms to denigrate my competitors/opposition. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page of comments, and click on the "363 more" button a couple times it adds more and more comments from further back in time. Almost all his comments are defending a Microsoft product or action, or attacking Apple/Linux/FOSS. The funny part is - I agree with him frequently in his defense of MS stuff, as well as some of his criticisms of FOSS and Apple. He just seems too extreme to be legitimate and he doesn't seem to talk about anything else.

Check it out, man, and let me know what you think.