Windows 7 beta 1 makes early debut

[havoc802]

The first beta of Microsoft's next operating system has apparently been spotted in the wild.
The first beta of Windows 7, which is expected to hit retailer shelves
in time for the 2009 holiday shopping season, has reportedly popped up on torrent trackers as an ISO file. ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes also reports having a copy and has posted his first impressions of the beta.
While, overall Kingsley-Hughes wrote that he likes Windows 7, calling
it "solid and fast." But he does take issue with a few new features:

The new revamped taskbar is visually very interesting
(and certainly a lot easier to use at higher screen resolutions that
the Vista or XP taskbar), but it tries to do too much and as such comes
across as kludgey and counter-intuitive. One failure is that it's hard
to tell the difference between apps that are running and shortcuts that
have been pinned to the taskbar.

Microsoft demoed the forthcoming operating system at the
Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles last month, but
apparently the differences between Windows 7 and Vista were so subtle that they can go unnoticed.
Attendees to PDC 2008 received pre-beta copies of Windows 7 on DVD, as
well as a 160GB Western Digital portable hard drive packed with code.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to talk Windows 7 from
a consumer perspective during his keynote speech at the Consumer
Electronics next week. Microsoft is expected to officially distribute
the first beta to beta testers in early January.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10129334-75.html

[MGSfan32]

??? wow I never accually wanted to get into Readign News reports and all that, But since This site has Been doing it, It accually Interesting

[Red Cucumber]

Wow, the new vista! Doesn't look like much though...
If this is a beta, when are they actually planning to release the actual Operating System?

[xDanny123x]

hmm I notice this before but from what I've heard was different from what you said havoc :/

[MGSfan32]

This is beta? well I dotn know when They are releasing it? When

[White Wolf]

Blackcomb's (W7) release date depends on its final product quality, so there is no set date for this currently. Sorry though.

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