Microsoft restarts flawed Windows 7 beta

Life never seems to go smoothly for Microsoft these days. The company, with its cupboard full of complaints about Vista, originally planned to start its Windows 7 debut on Friday but had to postpone it until Saturday--24 hours late. The launch was aborted when heavy demand stalled its servers. "Due to very heavy traffic we're seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to Microsoft.com properties," a spokeswoman said Friday afternoon.

Computerworld.com said the primary beta download site was working by Saturday. In addition, the Springboard Series, another public download location, was working and targeting IT professionals.

Microsoft is offering beta activation keys to users just prior to beginning the download. Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer publicly urged everyone to download a copy of Windows 7, expressing his enthusiasm for the new product. These comments and Microsoft's announcement that it would cap the number of activation keys for the beta at 2.5 million may have contributed to the rush of users who attempted to reach the download sites Friday.

For more on Windows 7's angst:
- see this Computerworld.com article

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