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:obligatory ....

[CannonballHead]

Same.

Re:Without warning?

[JaredOfEuropa]

If you're not going to read the article, at least glance at the summary:

Starting on Feb. 15, Windows 7 RC will display notices every few hours that the machine will periodically shut down beginning on March 1

So, you get a 15 day advance warning for the impending shutdowns. Also, Microsoft has mentioned earlier, on several occasions, that this was eventually going to happen with the RC version. It's only fair: you can try it for free, but you have to pay to keep using it. Not different from any other nagware.

Re:Without warning?

[recoiledsnake]

The dialog box you're talking about comes when you kill a critical server or via the 'shutdown' or 'shutdown -r' command in an elevated prompt. Anyway, it's better that it automagically shuts down, so that people dont' simply reboot and continue working, the less unsupported vulnerable OSes in the wild, the better for us.