Windows 7 beta free for public 1-9-09As was widely expected, at last night's CES keynote speech, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave Windows 7 the full dog and pony show, formally announcing the availability of the upcoming operating system as a public beta.
Want to see what the fuss is all about? You can download it starting January 9 at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows7 and give it a spin on your own PC. (You will have to burn the OS to a DVD in order to install it, so prepare accordingly.)
Ballmer acquitted himself admirably in his first CES keynote (a job that's been diligently performed by Bill Gates every year for as long as anyone can remember), but aside from the beta news, there was little that was truly earth-shaking in the presentation
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Microsoft has officially confirmed the name of its next operating system. The OS that was known by its codename,
"Windows 7", will be officially called:
Windows 7.
Source:
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/13/introducing-windows-7.aspxQuote:
Hi there, Mike Nash here.
For me, one of the most exciting times in the release of a new product is right before we show it to the world for the first time. And that time is right now.
In a few weeks we are going to be talking about the details of this release at the PDC and at WinHEC. We will be sharing a pre-beta "developer only release" with attendees of both shows and giving them the first broad in-depth look at what we've been up to. I can't wait for them to see it.
And, as you probably know, since we began development of the next version of the Windows client operating system we have been referring to it by a codename, "Windows 7." But now is a good time to announce that we've decided to officially call the next version of Windows, "Windows 7."
While I know there have been a few cases at Microsoft when the codename of a product was used for the final release, I am pretty sure that this is a first for Windows. You might wonder about the decision.
The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We've used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or "aspirational" monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new "aspirational" name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.
Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore "Windows 7" just makes sense.
We are very excited about the opportunity to tell you more about Windows 7 in the coming weeks, and show you how we have continued to build on investments begun in Windows Vista to deliver on the next release of the Windows operating system.
I look forward to sharing more with you in the coming weeks and months.
--Mike
