2.5 million not quite enough

Microsoft scraps download limit for Windows 7 beta.

Microsoft has finally gotten its head round the concept of supply and demand, admitting that limiting downloads of the Windows 7 public beta to 2.5 million "was not ideal".

Conceding there had been an "enormous surge in demand", Windows Bogger, Brandon LeBlanc, noted the firm was aware "the download experience was not ideal" and had now taken steps to rectify the situation. This rectification seems to involve Mighty-Soft forgoing the software's 2.5 million download limit for all of two weeks until January 24th.

"During that time you will have access to the beta even if the download number exceeds the 2.5 million unit limit" wrote LeBlanc magnanimously on the company's blog. Microsoft is apparently hoping to get several million people to test Windows 7, a seemingly more-of-the-same patch with no actual serious problems addressed.

Things certainly haven't got off to a good start for the Redmond Giant's new software, with the release already being delayed due to a website snafu on Friday.

MS had hoped to get Win 7 completely up and running before the third anniversary of Vista's January 2007 mainstream launch, but Windows Chief Bill Veghte reckoned it was still too early to tell whether that aim was still realistic.

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7 Comments

SquallStrife Jan 13, 2009 10:47 AM	"a seemingly more-of-the-same patch with no actual serious problems addressed" I think this is a bit unfair, synthetic and real-world benchmarks have already shown dramatic improvements on Vista...
Trekker Jan 13, 2009 2:10 PM	i might be able to upgrade now from xp
Girvo Jan 13, 2009 4:13 PM	"... a seemingly more-of-the-same patch with no actual serious problems addressed." God the Inquirer is biased, horrid tripe.
anon.irisX Jan 13, 2009 4:18 PM	I'm still trying to get my crappy copy to install properly :@
thesorehead Jan 14, 2009 9:58 AM	Considering downloading this to try on my T40. Supposedly useable on hardware all the way down to Netbooks. Interesting. BTW Vista's voice recognition rocks. Hope they keep it in Win7
AIMBOT Jan 14, 2009 12:55 PM	So far it feels more like a buggy service pack for Vista. Same old, same old.
djshotty Feb 25, 2009 4:57 PM	As much as I love the new GUI in Seven, my Longhorn X64 Ultimate SP1 install I cut down with vLite is still much more stable and just as fast. Hopefully by allowing more end-users to trial the new OS, Billy gets it completely right this time.

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