Microsoft Windows 7 finally ready for download

CES 2009, which was in Las Vegas last week, was the backdrop for the announcement of the anticipated public beta of Windows 7. While the download was originally slated to be on Friday, the fanfare and excitement over the public debut of the Windows 7 beta was mired by the sheer number of folks eager to get their hands on it.

What started as slowdowns and intermittent errors on Microsoft's website, led to a sporadic inability to cross its properties hours before the official launch. Finally, Microsoft postponed the launch, citing "very heavy traffic." In a statement, a spokeswoman said on Friday afternoon: "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."

The wait ended on Saturday, when Microsoft announced that it has restarted the roll out of its Windows 7 beta.  Part of the reason for the initial crush of users trying to secure a download could be traced back to Microsoft's original plan to cap the number of activation keys for the beta at 2.5 million.

As of this moment, Microsoft will now allow unlimited downloads of Windows 7 Beta 1 through Jan. 24, according to Brandon LeBlanc, a communications manager on the Windows Client Communications Team. Users can head toward this page on the Windows 7 site to download the new operating system.

So far user feedback has been largely positive. Check it out, and let me know what you think of it.

To read more about this story:
- check out this article at Computerworld
- check out the article at Network World
- check out the article at Ars Technica

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